Isaiah 5

1 Let me make a song about my loved one, a song of love for his vine-garden. My loved one had a vine-garden on a fertile hill:

I will sing now for my beloved, the song of my dear one touching his vineyard. A vineyard had my beloved on a rich hill-top;

2 And after working the earth of it with a spade, he took away its stones, and put in it a very special vine; and he put up a watchtower in the middle of it, hollowing out in the rock a place for the grape-crushing; and he was hoping that it would give the best grapes, but it gave common grapes.

And he fenced it in, and cleared it of stones, and planted it with the choicest vines, and built a tower in its midst, and also a winepress he hewed out therein: and he hoped that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth worthless fruit.

3 And now, you people of Jerusalem and you men of Judah, be the judges between me and my vine-garden.

And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard.

4 Is there anything which might have been done for my vine-garden which I have not done? why then, when I was hoping for the best grapes did it give me common grapes?

What more was to be done to my vineyard, that I had not done in it? Why then did I hope that it should bring forth grapes, while it brought forth worthless fruit?

5 And now, this is what I will do to my vine-garden: I will take away the circle of thorns round it, and it will be burned up; its wall will be broken down and the beasts of the field will go through it;

And now I will let you know also what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be eaten off; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trodden down;

6 And I will make it waste; its branches will not be touched with the knife, or the earth worked with the spade; but blackberries and thorns will come up in it: and I will give orders to the clouds not to send rain on it.

And I will lay it quite waste; it shall not be pruned, nor hoed around; and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns; and the clouds will I command that they send down no rain upon it.

7 For the vine-garden of the Lord of armies is the people of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of his delight: and he was looking for upright judging, and there was blood; for righteousness, and there was a cry for help.

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of his delight: and he hoped for justice, but behold injustice; for equity, but behold iniquity.

8 Cursed are those who are joining house to house, and putting field to field, till there is no more living-space for any but themselves in all the land!

Woe unto those that cause house to join on house, bring field near to field, till there is no more room, so that ye may be left alone as the inhabitants in the midst of the land!

9 The Lord of armies has said to me secretly, Truly, numbers of great and fair houses will be waste, with no one living in them.

In my ears [spoke] the Lord of hosts, Truly many houses shall become desolate, yea, great and beautiful ones without an inhabitant.

10 For ten fields of vines will only give one measure of wine, and a great amount of seed will only give a small measure of grain.

Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield [but] one bath, and a chomer-seed shall yield [but] an ephah.

11 Cursed are those who get up early in the morning to give themselves up to strong drink; who keep on drinking far into the night till they are heated with wine!

Woe unto those that rise up early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink; that continue until late in the twilight, till wine inflame them!

12 And corded instruments and wind-instruments and wine are in their feasts: but they give no thought to the work of the Lord, and they are not interested in what his hands are doing.

And there are harp and psaltery, tambourine and flute, and wine at their drinking-feasts; but the deeds of the Lord they regard not, and the works of his hands they behold not.

13 For this cause my people are taken away as prisoners into strange countries for need of knowledge: and their rulers are wasted for need of food, and their loud-voiced feasters are dry for need of water.

Therefore are my people led into exile, for want of knowledge: and their honorable men suffer of famine, and their multitude are panting with thirst.

14 For this cause the underworld has made wide its throat, opening its mouth without limit: and her glory, and the noise of her masses, and her loud-voiced feasters, will go down into it. (Sheol h7585)

Therefore hath the deep enlarged her desire, and opened her mouth without measure: and there descend [Jerusalem's] glory, and her multitude, and her noise, and whoever rejoiced therein. (Sheol h7585)

15 And the poor man's head is bent, and the great man goes down on his face, and the eyes of pride are put to shame:

And bent down shall be the son of earth, and humbled shall be the man, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled;

16 But the Lord of armies is lifted up as judge, and the Holy God is seen to be holy in righteousness.

And the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and the holy God shall be sanctified by [displaying his] righteousness.

17 Then the lambs will get food as in their grass-lands, and the fat cattle will be feasting in the waste places.

Then shall the sheep feed according to their wont, and the ruins of the fat ones shall sojourners eat.

18 Cursed are those who make use of ox-cords for pulling the evil thing, and the bands of a young ox for their sin!

Woe unto those that draw iniquity with the cords of falsehood, and as with a wagon-rope, sinfulness;

19 Who say, Let him do his work quickly, let him make it sudden, so that we may see it: let the design of the Holy One of Israel come near, so that it may be clear to us.

That say, Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it: and let draw nigh and come the counsel of the Holy One of Israel, that we may know it!

20 Cursed are those who give the name of good to evil, and of evil to what is good: who make light dark, and dark light: who make bitter sweet, and sweet bitter!

Woe unto those that say of the evil it is good, and of the good it is evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

21 Cursed are those who seem wise to themselves, and who take pride in their knowledge!

Woe unto those that are wise in their own eyes, and intelligent in their own esteem!

22 Cursed are those who are strong to take wine, and great in making mixed drinks!

Woe unto those that are heroes to drink wine, and men of might to mingle strong drink;

23 Who for a reward give support to the cause of the sinner, and who take away the righteousness of the upright from him.

Who justify the wicked in lieu of a bribe, and who deprive the righteous of their right!

24 For this cause, as the waste of the grain is burned up by tongues of fire, and as the dry grass goes down before the flame, so their root will be like the dry stems of grain, and their flower will go up in dust: because they have gone against the law of the Lord of armies, and have given no honour to the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Therefore as the tongue of the fire devoureth the stubble, and dry hay sinketh before the flame: so shall their root be as rotten things, and their blossom shall fly up as the dust; because they have despised the law of the Lord of hosts, and the word of the Holy One of Israel they have rejected.

25 For this reason the wrath of the Lord has been burning against his people, and his hand has been stretched out against them in punishment, and the hills were shaking, and their dead bodies were like waste in the open places of the town.

For this cause is kindled the anger of the Lord against his people, and he stretcheth forth his hand against them, and he smiteth them; and the mountains tremble, and their carcasses lie like sweepings in the midst of the streets: with all this his anger is not turned away, but still is his hand stretched out.

26 And he will let a flag be lifted up as a sign to a far-off nation, whistling to them from the ends of the earth: and they will come quickly and suddenly.

And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from afar, and will call for one of them from the end of the earth; and, behold, with speed, swiftly, it cometh;

27 There is no weariness among them, and no man is feeble-footed: they come without resting or sleeping, and the cord of their shoes is not broken.

There is none weary, nor stumbling among its men; it slumbereth not, it sleepeth not; not loosened is the girdle of its loins, not broken is the latchet of its shoes;

28 Their arrows are sharp, and every bow is bent: the feet of their horses are like rock, and their wheels are like a rushing storm.

Whose arrows are sharpened, and all whose bows are bent; its horses hoofs are hard like the flint, and its wheels like the whirlwind;

29 The sound of their armies will be like the voice of a lion, and their war-cry like the noise of young lions: with loud cries they will come down on their food and will take it away safely, and there will be no one to take it out of their hands.

It hath a roar like the lioness, it roareth like the young lions: yea, it growleth, and layeth hold of the prey, and carrieth it safely off, with none to deliver.

30 And his voice will be loud over him in that day like the sounding of the sea: and if a man's eyes are turned to the earth, it is all dark and full of trouble; and the light is made dark by thick clouds.

And it will rage against them on that day like with the raging of the sea: and if one look unto the earth, behold, there is darkness, oppression, and the light is darkened through the darkness of its clouds.