Isaiah 5
1 Now will I sing to my well beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well beloved has a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
Let me sing a song for my love, about his vineyard. My love owned a vineyard on a productive hill.
2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the middle of it, and also made a wine press therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
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.
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard.
“Now, you people who live in Jerusalem and Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard.
4 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, brought it forth wild grapes?
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?
5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
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.
6 And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor dig; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.
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.”
7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
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.
8 Woe to them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the middle of the earth!
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.
9 In my ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
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.
10 Yes, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.
Ten acres of vineyard will only produce a six gallons of wine, and a measure of seed only a tenth of that in grain.
11 Woe to them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!
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.
12 And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.
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.
13 Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.
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.
14 Therefore hell has enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoices, shall descend into it. (Sheol h7585)
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)
15 And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:
Everyone will be brought down, everyone will be humbled; the proud will lower their eyes in humiliation.
16 But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.
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.
17 Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
Lambs will graze as in their own pasture; fattened livestock and goats will feed among the ruins of the rich.
18 Woe to them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
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.
19 That say, Let him make speed, and 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!
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!”
20 Woe to them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
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.
21 Woe to them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
Tragedy is coming to you who are wise in your own eyes and think you're so clever.
22 Woe to them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
Tragedy is coming to you who are wine-drinking champions, and experts at mixing alcoholic drinks;
23 Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
you who set the guilty free for a bribe, and yet deny justice to the innocent.
24 Therefore as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
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.
25 Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he has stretched forth his hand against them, and has smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcasses were torn in the middle of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
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.
26 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss to them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:
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!
27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the lace of their shoes be broken:
None of them gets tired or stumbles; none of them rests or sleeps. No belt comes loose, and no sandal strap breaks.
28 Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:
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.
29 Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yes, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.
They roar like lions, like young lions. They growl, and pounce on their prey. They drag it off so it can't be rescued.
30 And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look to the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.
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.
