Isaiah 5
1 I will sing to my beloved the canticle of my paternal cousin, about his vineyard. A vineyard was made for my beloved, at the horn in the son of oil.
Let me sing for my well-beloved a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill.
2 And he fenced it in, and he picked the stones out of it, and he planted it with the best vines, and he built a tower in the middle of it, and he set up a winepress within it. And he expected it to produce grapes, but it produced wild vines.
And he dug it, and gathered out the stones of it, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a winepress in it. And he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
3 Now then, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah: judge between me and my vineyard.
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard.
4 What more should I have done for my vineyard that I did not do for it? Should I not have expected it to produce grapes, though it produced wild vines?
What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, it brought forth wild grapes?
5 And now, I will reveal to you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its fence, and it will be plundered. I will pull down its wall, and it will be trampled.
And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge of it, and it shall be eaten up. I will break down the wall of it, and it shall be trodden down.
6 And I will make it desolate. It will not be pruned, and it will not be dug. And briers and thorns will rise up. And I will command the clouds not to rain upon it.
And I will lay it waste. It shall not be pruned nor hoed, but there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel. And the man of Judah is his delightful seedling. And I expected that he would do judgment, and behold iniquity, and that he would do justice, and behold an outcry.
For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant. And he looked for justice, but behold, oppression, for righteousness, but behold, a cry.
8 Woe to you who join house to house, and who combine field to field, even to the limits of the place! Do you intend to live alone in the midst of the earth?
Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, till there is no room, and ye be made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!
9 These things are in my ears, says the Lord of hosts. Otherwise, many houses, great and beautiful, will become desolate, without an inhabitant.
In my ears says Jehovah of hosts, of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
10 Then ten acres of vineyard will produce one small bottle of wine, and thirty measures of seed will produce three measures of grain.
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.
11 Woe to you who rise up in the morning to pursue drunkenness, and to drink even until evening, so as to be inflamed with wine.
Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink, who tarry late into the night, till wine inflame them!
12 Harp and lyre and timbrel and pipe, as well as wine, are at your feasts. But you do not respect the work of the Lord, nor do you consider the works of his hands.
And the harp and the lute, the tambourine and the pipe, and wine, are in their feasts, but they do not regard the work of Jehovah, nor have they considered the operation of his hands.
13 Because of this, my people have been led away as captives, for they did not have knowledge, and their nobles have passed away from famine, and their multitudes have dried up from thirst.
Therefore my people have gone into captivity for lack of knowledge, and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude are parched with thirst.
14 For this reason, Hell has expanded its soul, and has opened its mouth without any limits. And their strong ones, and their people, and their exalted and glorious ones will descend into it. (Sheol h7585)
Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire, and opened its mouth without measure. And their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend into it. (Sheol h7585)
15 And man will be bowed down, and man will be humbled, and the eyes of the exalted will be brought low.
And the common man is bowed down, and the great man is debased, and the eyes of the lofty are humbled,
16 And the Lord of hosts will be exalted in judgment, and the holy God will be sanctified in justice.
but Jehovah of hosts is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.
17 And the lambs will pasture in proper order, and new arrivals will eat from the deserts turned into fertile lands.
Then the lambs shall feed as in their pasture, and wanderers shall eat the waste places of the fat ones.
18 Woe to you who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and who draw sin as if with the rope of a cart,
Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and sin as it were with a cart rope,
19 and who say: “Let him hurry, and let his work arrive soon, so that we may see it. And let the plan of the Holy One of Israel approach and arrive, so that we may know it.”
who say, Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it. And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it!
20 Woe to you who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light, and light for darkness; who exchange bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who put darkness for light, and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to you who are wise in your own eyes, and prudent in your own sight!
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
22 Woe to you who are powerful at drinking wine, who are strong men in contriving inebriation!
Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink,
23 For you justify an impious man in exchange for bribes, and you carry away the justice of a just man from him.
who justify the wicked for rewards, and take away the justice of the righteous man from him!
24 Because of this, as the tongue of fire devours stubble, and as the heat of a flame burns it completely, so will their root become like glowing embers, and so will their offshoot ascend like dust. For they have cast aside the law of the Lord of hosts, and they have blasphemed the eloquence of the Holy One of Israel.
Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust, because they have rejected the law of Jehovah of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 For this reason, the fury of the Lord has been enraged against his people, and he has extended his hand over them, and he has struck them. And the mountains were disturbed. And their carcasses became like dung in the midst of the streets. After all this, his fury was not turned away; instead, his hand was still extended.
Therefore the anger of Jehovah is kindled against his people, and he has stretched forth his hand against them, and has smitten them. And the mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
26 And he will lift up a sign to nations far away, and he will whistle to them from the ends of the earth. And behold, they will rush forward speedily.
And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will whistle for them from the end of the earth, and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly.
27 There is no one weak or struggling among them. They will not become drowsy, and they will not sleep. Neither will the belt around their waist be loosened, nor the laces of their boots be broken.
None shall be weary nor stumble among them. None shall slumber nor sleep, nor shall the belt of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken,
28 Their arrows are sharp, and all their bows are taut. The hoofs of their horses are like flint, and their wheels are like the force of a tempest.
whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent. Their horses' hoofs shall be accounted as flint, and their wheels as a whirlwind.
29 Their roaring is like the lion; they will roar like young lions. They will both roar and seize their prey. And they will wrap themselves around it, and there will be no one who can rescue it.
Their roaring shall be like a lioness. They shall roar like young lions. Yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and carry it away safe, and there shall be none to deliver.
30 And in that day, they will make a noise over it, like the sound of the sea. We will gaze out toward the land, and behold, the darkness of the tribulation, and even the light has been darkened by its gloom.
And they shall roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea. And if a man looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress, and the light is darkened in the clouds of it.
