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, I pray you, for my beloved, A song of my beloved as to his vineyard: My beloved hath a vineyard in a 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 fenceth it, and casteth out its stones, And planteth it [with] a choice vine, And buildeth a tower in its midst, And also a wine press hath hewn out in it, And he waiteth for the yielding of grapes, And it yieldeth bad ones!
3 “Now, you people who live in Jerusalem and Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard.
And now, O inhabitant of Jerusalem, and man 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 — to do still to my vineyard, That I have not done in it! Wherefore, I waited to the yielding of grapes, And it yieldeth bad ones!
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, pray, let me cause you to know, That which I am doing to my vineyard, To turn aside its hedge, And it hath been for consumption, To break down its wall, And it hath been for a treading-place.
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 make it a waste, It is not pruned, nor arranged, And gone up have brier and thorn, And on the thick clouds I lay a charge, From raining upon it rain.
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.
Because the vineyard of Jehovah of Hosts [Is] the house of Israel, And the man of Judah His pleasant plant, And He waiteth for judgment, and lo, oppression, For righteousness, and lo, 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 joining house to house, Field to field they bring near, till there is no place, And ye have been settled by yourselves 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.
By the weapons of Jehovah of Hosts Do not many houses a desolation become? Great and good 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 do yield one bath, And an homer of seed yieldeth 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 rising early in the morning, Strong drink they pursue! Tarrying in twilight, wine inflameth 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 harp, and psaltery, tabret, and pipe, And wine, have been their banquets, And the work of Jehovah they behold not, Yea, the work of His hands they have not seen.
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 removed without knowledge, And its honourable ones are famished, And its multitude dried up of 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 hath Sheol enlarged herself, And hath opened her mouth without limit. And gone down hath its honour, and its multitude, And its noise, and its exulting one — into her. (Sheol h7585)
15 Everyone will be brought down, everyone will be humbled; the proud will lower their eyes in humiliation.
And bowed down is the low, and humbled the high, And the eyes of the haughty become low,
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.
And Jehovah of Hosts is high in judgment, And the Holy God sanctified in righteousness,
17 Lambs will graze as in their own pasture; fattened livestock and goats will feed among the ruins of the rich.
And fed have lambs according to their leading, And waste places of the fat ones Do sojourners consume.
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 drawing out iniquity with cords of vanity, And as [with] thick ropes of the cart — sin.
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 are saying, 'Let Him hurry, Let Him hasten His work, that we may see, And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel Draw near and come, and we know.'
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 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 Tragedy is coming to you who are wise in your own eyes and think you're so clever.
Woe [to] the wise in their own eyes, And — before their own faces — intelligent!
22 Tragedy is coming to you who are wine-drinking champions, and experts at mixing alcoholic drinks;
Woe [to] the 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.
Declaring righteous the wicked for a bribe, And the righteousness of the righteous They turn aside 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 a tongue of fire devoureth stubble, And flaming hay falleth, Their root is as muck, And their flower as dust goeth up. Because they have rejected the law of Jehovah of Hosts, And the saying of the Holy One of Israel despised.
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 hath the anger of Jehovah burned among His people, And He stretcheth out His hand against it, And smiteth it, and the mountains tremble, And their carcase 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 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 lifted up an ensign to nations afar off, And hissed to it from the end of the earth, And lo, with haste, swift it cometh.
27 None of them gets tired or stumbles; none of them rests or sleeps. No belt comes loose, and no sandal strap breaks.
There is none weary, nor stumbling in it, It doth not slumber, nor sleep, Nor opened hath been the girdle of its loins, Nor drawn away the latchet of its sandals.
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 its bows bent, Hoofs of its horses as flint have been reckoned, And its wheels as a hurricane!
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.
Its roaring [is] like a lioness, It roareth like young lions, And it howleth, and seizeth prey, And carrieth away safely, and there is none delivering.
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 it howleth against it in that day as the howling of a sea, And it hath looked attentively to the land, And lo, darkness — distress, And light hath been darkened by its abundance!
