Isaiah 5

1 [Now] I will sing a song about my dear friend, and about his vineyard. The vineyard was on a very fertile hillside.

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.

2 My friend plowed the ground and cleared away the stones. Then he planted very good grapevines on that ground. In the middle of the vineyard, he built a watchtower, and he dug a (winepress/pit for squeezing the grapes). Then he waited [each year] to harvest some good grapes, but the vines produced [only] sour grapes.

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.

3 Now [this is what Yahweh says]: “You people of Jerusalem and [other places in] Judah, I [am like the friend, and you are like] my vineyard; [so] you judge which of us [has done what is right].

Now then, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah: judge between me and my vineyard.

4 What more could I have done for you than what I have already done? I expected you to be doing good deeds [MET], so it is disgusting that [RHQ] you were [doing only evil things] like the vineyard that produced only sour grapes!

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?

5 [So], I will now tell you what I will do to [Judah, the place that is like] my vineyard. I will cut down the hedges, and they will be destroyed. I will tear down the walls [of the cities] and allow [wild animals] to trample the land.

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.

6 I will cause it to become a wasteland where the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed. It will be a place where briers and thorns [DOU] grow. And I will command that no rain will fall on it.”

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.

7 The nation of Israel is [like] [MET] the vineyard of the Commander of the armies of angels. The people of Judah are [like] the garden that was pleasing to him. He expected you to be doing what is just/fair, but instead, [what he saw was people] murdering [MTY] others. [He expected that you would be doing] righteous deeds, but instead, he heard cries from people who were being [attacked] violently.

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.

8 Terrible things will happen to you who continually [illegally] acquire houses and fields. You force one family after another to leave their homes until you are the only ones [HYP] [still] living in the land.

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?

9 [But] I heard the Commander of the armies of angels solemnly declare this: “[Some day], many of those huge houses will be empty/deserted; no one will be living in those beautiful mansions.

These things are in my ears, says the Lord of hosts. Otherwise, many houses, great and beautiful, will become desolate, without an inhabitant.

10 The vines on ten acres of land will not produce enough grapes to make (six gallons/22 liters) [of juice/wine], and ten baskets of seed will produce only one basket [of grain].”

Then ten acres of vineyard will produce one small bottle of wine, and thirty measures of seed will produce three measures of grain.

11 Terrible things will happen to those who get up early [each] morning to begin drinking alcoholic drinks, and who stay awake until late at night [drinking a lot of wine] until they are completely drunk.

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.

12 They have [big parties and provide lots of] wine. At their parties, there are [people playing] harps and lyres and tambourines and flutes, but they never think about what Yahweh does or appreciate what he has created.

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.

13 So, my people will be (exiled/taken to other countries) [far away] because they do not know [about me]. Those who are [now very important and] honored will starve, and the other people will die from thirst.

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.

14 [It is as though] [PRS] the place where the dead people are is eagerly looking for more Israeli people, opening its mouth to swallow them, and a huge number of people will be thrown into that place, including their leaders as well as a noisy crowd of people who enjoy living in Jerusalem. (Sheol h7585)

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)

15 [Yahweh] will get rid of a huge number of people; and he will humble [many more] people who [now] are proud/arrogant.

And man will be bowed down, and man will be humbled, and the eyes of the exalted will be brought low.

16 But the Commander of the armies of angels will be exalted/praised because of his acting justly. God will show that he is holy by doing righteous/just deeds.

And the Lord of hosts will be exalted in judgment, and the holy God will be sanctified in justice.

17 Then lambs and fat sheep will [be able to] find good grass to eat, [even] among the ruins [of the houses of rich people].

And the lambs will pasture in proper order, and new arrivals will eat from the deserts turned into fertile lands.

18 Some people constantly tell lies, and [it is as though] they are dragging behind them the wrong things that they have done. Terrible things will happen to them!

Woe to you who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and who draw sin as if with the rope of a cart,

19 They [make fun of God and] say [to him, ] “Go ahead, do something [to punish us]! We want to see what you will do. You, the Holy One of Israel, should do what you are planning to do, because we want to know what it is.”

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.”

20 Terrible things will happen to those who say that evil is good, and that good is evil, that darkness is light and that light is darkness, that what is bitter is sweet and what is sweet is bitter.

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!

21 Terrible things will happen to those who think that they are wise and that they (are very clever/know everything).

Woe to you who are wise in your own eyes, and prudent in your own sight!

22 Terrible things will happen to those who [think that] [IRO] they are great/heroes because they are able to drink [lots of] wine, and boast about being able to mix good alcoholic drinks.

Woe to you who are powerful at drinking wine, who are strong men in contriving inebriation!

23 If people offer them bribes in order that they will enable wicked people not to be punished, they accept those bribes, and they cause people who are innocent to be punished.

For you justify an impious man in exchange for bribes, and you carry away the justice of a just man from him.

24 Therefore, just like [SIM] fires burn up stubble and dry grass shrivels up and quickly burns in flames, [it will be as though] those people have roots that will rot and have flowers that will wither. [That will happen] because they rejected the laws of the Commander of the armies of angels; they have despised the messages of the Holy One of Israel.

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.

25 That is why Yahweh is [extremely] angry [with his people]; [it is as though] his hand is raised [and he is ready to smash them]. [When he does that], the mountains will shake, and the corpses of people will be scattered in the streets like [SIM] manure. But even when that happens, Yahweh will still be very angry; he will be ready to punish his people [MET] again.

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.

26 Yahweh will send a signal to summon [armies of] nations far away; [it is as though] he will whistle [to summon those soldiers who are] in very remote places on the earth. They will come very swiftly [DOU] [to Jerusalem].

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.

27 They will not get tired or stumble. They will not [stop to] rest or to sleep. None of their belts will be loose, and none of them will have sandals with broken straps, [so they will all be ready to fight in battles].

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.

28 Their arrows will be sharp, and their bows will be ready [to shoot those arrows in a battle]. [Because their horses pull the chariots fast], sparks will shoot out from their hooves, and the wheels of the chariots will spin like a whirlwind.

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.

29 They will roar like [very strong] lions [DOU] that growl and [then] pounce on the animals they want to kill and carry them off, and no one is able to rescue them.

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.

30 [Similarly, your enemies] will roar when they see the people they are about to kill, like [SIM] the sea roars. [On that day], if someone looks across the land, he will see [only people who are in] darkness and distressed; [it will be as though] even the sunlight is hidden by dark clouds.

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.