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:
Now let me sing for my Beloved, A song of my Beloved as to His vineyard: My beloved has a vineyard in a fruitful hill,
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 fences it, and casts out its stones, And plants it [with] a choice vine, And builds a tower in its midst, And has also hewn out a winepress in it, And He waits for the yielding of grapes, And it yields bad ones!
3 And now, you people of Jerusalem and you men of Judah, be the judges between me and my vine-garden.
And now, O inhabitant of Jerusalem and man of Judah, Please judge 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 [is there] to do still to My vineyard, That I have not done in it? For what reason have I waited for the yielding of grapes, And it yields [only] bad ones?
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, pray, let Me cause you to know, That which I am doing to My vineyard, To turn its hedge aside, And it has been for consumption, To break down its wall, And it has been for a treading-place.
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 make it a waste, It is not pruned, nor arranged, And brier and thorn have gone up, And I lay a charge on the thick clouds, From raining on it rain.
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.
Because the vineyard of YHWH of Hosts [Is] the house of Israel, And the man of Judah His pleasant plant, And He waits for judgment, and behold, oppression, For righteousness, and behold, a cry.
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 [to] those joining house to house, They bring field near to field, Until there is no place, And you have been settled by yourselves 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.
Do many houses not become a desolation by the weapons of YHWH of Hosts? Great and good without 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.
For ten acres of vineyard yield one bath, And a homer of seed yields 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 [to] those rising early in the morning, They pursue strong drink! Lingering in twilight, wine inflames 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 harp, and stringed instrument, tambourine, and pipe, And wine, have been their banquets, And they do not behold the work of YHWH, Indeed, they have not seen the work of His hands.
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 my people removed without knowledge, And its honorable ones are famished, And its multitude dried up of 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 Sheol has enlarged herself, And has opened her mouth without limit. And its honor has gone down, and its multitude, And its noise, and its exulting one—into her. (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 the low is bowed down, and the high humbled, And the eyes of the haughty become low,
16 But the Lord of armies is lifted up as judge, and the Holy God is seen to be holy in righteousness.
And YHWH of Hosts is high in judgment, And the Holy God sanctified in righteousness,
17 Then the lambs will get food as in their grass-lands, and the fat cattle will be feasting in the waste places.
And lambs have fed according to their leading, And sojourners consume wastelands of the fat ones.
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 [to] those drawing out iniquity with cords of vanity, And as [with] thick ropes of the cart—sin.
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.
Who are saying, “Let Him hurry, Let Him hurry His work, that we may see, And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel Draw near and come, and we know.”
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 [to] those saying to evil “good,” and to good “evil,” Putting darkness for light, and light for darkness, Putting bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.
21 Cursed are those who seem wise to themselves, and who take pride in their knowledge!
Woe [to] the wise in their own eyes, And—before their own faces—intelligent!
22 Cursed are those who are strong to take wine, and great in making mixed drinks!
Woe [to] the mighty to drink wine, And men of strength 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.
Declaring righteous the wicked for a bribe, And the righteousness of the righteous They turn aside from him.
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 a tongue of fire devours stubble, And flaming hay falls, Their root is as muck, And their flower goes up as dust. Because they have rejected the Law of YHWH of Hosts, And despised the saying of the Holy One of Israel.
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.
Therefore the anger of YHWH has burned among His people, And He stretches out His hand against it, And strikes it, and the mountains tremble, And their carcass is as filth in the midst of the out-places. With all this His anger did not turn back, And still His hand is 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 lifted up an ensign to the far-off nations, And hissed to it from the end of the earth, And behold, with haste, it comes swiftly.
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 in it, It does not slumber, nor sleep, Nor has the girdle of its loins been opened, Nor the strap of its sandals drawn away.
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] sharp, and all its bows bent, Hooves of its horses have been reckoned as flint, And its wheels as a windstorm!
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.
Its roaring [is] like a lioness, It roars like young lions, And it howls, and seizes prey, And carries away safely, and there is none delivering.
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 howls against it in that day as the howling of a sea, And it has looked attentively to the land, And behold, darkness—distress, And light has been darkened by its abundance!
