Isaiah 5
1 Let me sing a song for my love, about his vineyard. My love owned a vineyard on a productive hill.
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 He dug it over, cleared the ground of stones, and planted it with the very best vines. In the middle of it he built a watchtower, and he also cut out a winepress from the rock. Then he waited for a good harvest of grapes, but it only produced wild, sour grapes.
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, you people who live in Jerusalem and Judah, please 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 could I have done for my vineyard than I've already done? When I looked for sweet grapes, why did it only produce sour ones?
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 So let me tell you what I'm going to do to my vineyard. I'll remove its hedge, and it will be destroyed. I'll tear down its wall, and it will be trampled underfoot.
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 I'll turn it into a wasteland. It won't be pruned or weeded—it will be overgrown with brambles and thorns. I'll order the clouds not to rain on 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 Israel is the vineyard of the Lord Almighty, and the people of Judah are the plants in his garden that made him happy. Yet while he hoped for justice, he only saw injustice; he hoped people would live right, but he only heard the cries of those who were suffering.
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 Tragedy is coming to you who buy house upon house and field upon field, joining them all together until no one else has anywhere to live and you live alone in the land.
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 I heard the Lord Almighty declare: You can be sure that many houses are destined to become ruins, and beautiful mansions destined to become uninhabited.
In my ears says Jehovah of hosts, of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
10 Ten acres of vineyard will only produce a six gallons of wine, and a measure of seed only a tenth of that in grain.
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.
11 Tragedy is coming to you who get up early in the morning wanting a drink, and who stay up late drinking wine until you're drunk.
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 At their feasts you have lyres and harps, tambourines and flutes, and wine, but you don't ever consider what the Lord is doing, and you don't recognize his help.
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 As a result my people will be exiled for their lack of understanding. Their honored leaders will starve, and the crowds will be dying of 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 The grave's appetite increases, its mouth opens wide, and Jerusalem's nobility and the masses will go down into it, along with the rowdy, drunken mobs. (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 Everyone will be brought down, everyone will be humbled; the proud will lower their eyes in humiliation.
And the common man is bowed down, and the great man is debased, and the eyes of the lofty are humbled,
16 But the Lord Almighty will be vindicated because he does what is right; the holy God will be shown to be holy because of his goodness.
but Jehovah of hosts is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.
17 Lambs will graze as in their own pasture; fattened livestock and goats will feed among the ruins of the rich.
Then the lambs shall feed as in their pasture, and wanderers shall eat the waste places of the fat ones.
18 Tragedy is coming to you who pull along your sins behind you with iniquity with cords made of lies, and pulling with ropes a cartful of wickedness.
Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and sin as it were with a cart rope,
19 You are among the people who say, “God should hurry up! Why doesn't God get a move on with what he's doing so we can see it? Why doesn't the Holy One of Israel execute his plan? Let's see it happen so we can understand what it is!”
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 Tragedy is coming to you who say evil is good, and good is evil; who turn darkness into light and light into darkness; who make bitter sweet, and sweet 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 Tragedy is coming to you who are wise in your own eyes and think you're so clever.
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
22 Tragedy is coming to you who are wine-drinking champions, and experts at mixing alcoholic drinks;
Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink,
23 you who set the guilty free for a bribe, and yet deny justice to the innocent.
who justify the wicked for rewards, and take away the justice of the righteous man from him!
24 In the same way fire burns up stubble and dry grass falls down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers disintegrate into dust. For they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty, and have treated with contempt what the Holy One of Israel has said.
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 That's why the Lord burns with anger against his people. He has lifted up his hand and hit them, shaking the mountains, and leaving their corpses lying like refuse in the streets. Despite all this, his anger is not finished, and his hand is still lifted up.
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 He will send a signal to the distant nations, and will whistle for those living at the ends of the earth. See how quickly they respond, how speedily they come!
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 None of them gets tired or stumbles; none of them rests or sleeps. No belt comes loose, and no sandal strap breaks.
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 already sharpened, and all their bows have been strung. The hooves of their horses are hard as flint; their chariot wheels spin like a whirlwind.
whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent. Their horses' hoofs shall be accounted as flint, and their wheels as a whirlwind.
29 They roar like lions, like young lions. They growl, and pounce on their prey. They drag it off so it can't be rescued.
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 At that time they will roar over their prey like the roaring of the sea. Anyone who looks out over the land will see only darkness and distress—even the sunlight will be darkened by clouds.
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.
