Isaiah 5
1 Let me sing for my well beloved, a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My well beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
I will sing to my beloved the canticle of my cousin concerning his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a hill in a fruitful place.
2 He spaded it, removed the stones, and planted it with an excellent kind of vine. He built a tower in the middle of it, and also built a winepress. He waited for it to produce grapes, but it only produced wild grapes.
And he fenced it in, and picked the stones out of it, and planted it with the choicest vines, and built a tower in the midst thereof, and set up a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it broutht forth wild grapes.
3 So now, inhabitant of Jerusalem and man of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.
And now, O ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and ye men of Juda, judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more could have been done for my vineyard, that I have not done for it? When I looked for it to produce grapes, why did it produce wild grapes?
What is there that I ought to do more to my vineyard, that I have not done to it?
5 Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will remove the hedge, I will turn it into a pasture, I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled down.
And now I will shew you wnat I will do to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be wasted: I will break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down.
6 I will lay it waste, and it will not be pruned nor hoed. Instead, briers and thorns will spring up. I will also command the clouds not to rain on it.
And I will make it desolate: it shall not be pruned, and it shall not be digged: but briers and thorns shall come up: and I will command the clouds to rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah his pleasant planting; he waited for justice, but instead, there was killing; for righteousness, but, instead, a shout for help.
For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel: and the man of Juda, his pleasant plant: and I looked that he should do judgment, and behold iniquity: and do justice, and behold a cry.
8 Woe to those who join house to house, who join field to field, until no room remains, and you alone remain in the land!
Woe to you that join house to house and lay field to field, even to the end of the place: shall you alone dwell in the midst of the earth?
9 Yahweh of hosts told me, many houses will be empty, even great and impressive ones, without any inhabitant.
These things are in my ears, saith the Lord of hosts: unless many great and fair houses shall become desolate, without an inhabitant.
10 For a ten-yoke vineyard will yield only one bath, and one homer of seed will yield only an ephah.
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one little measure, and thirty bushels of seed shall yield three bushels.
11 Woe to those who rise up early in the morning to obtain strong drink, those who linger late into the night until wine inflames them.
Woe to you that rise up early in the morning to follow drunkenness, and to drink till the evening, to be inflamed with wine.
12 They banquet with harp, lute, tambourine, flute, and wine, but they do not recognize the work of Yahweh, nor have they considered the doings of his hands.
The harp, and the lyre, and the timbrel, and the pipe, and wine are in your feasts: and the work of the Lord you regard not, nor do you consider the works of his hands.
13 Therefore my people have gone into captivity for lack of understanding; their honored leaders go hungry, and their common people have nothing to drink.
Therefore is my people led away captive, because they had not knowledge, and their nobles have perished with famine, and their multitude were dried up with thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol has made its appetite greater and has opened its mouth very wide; their elite, the people, their leaders, and the revelers and those who are happy among them, descend into Sheol. (Sheol h7585)
Therefore hath hell enlarged her soul, and opened her mouth without any bounds, and their strong ones, and their people, and their high and glorious ones shall go down into it. (Sheol h7585)
15 Man will be forced to bend down, and mankind will be humbled; the eyes of the lofty will be cast down.
And man shall be brought down, and man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be brought low.
16 Yahweh of hosts will be exalted in his justice, and God the Holy One will show himself holy by his righteousness.
And the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and the holy God shall be sanctified in justice.
17 Then the sheep will feed as in their own pasture, and in the ruins, lambs will graze as foreigners.
And the lambs shall feed according to their order, and strangers shall eat the deserts turned into fruitfulness.
18 Woe to those who pull along iniquity with useless cords and who pull along sin as if it were with a cart rope.
Woe to you that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as the rope of a cart.
19 Woe to those who say, “Let God hurry, let him act quickly, so we can see it happen; and let the plans of the Holy One of Israel come, so that we may know them.”
That say: Let him make haste, and let his work come quickly, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel come, that we may know it.
20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who represent darkness as light, and light as darkness; who represent bitter as sweet, and sweet as bitter!
Woe to you 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.
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own understanding!
Woe to you that rue wise in your own eyes, and prudent in your own conceits.
22 Woe to those who are champions at drinking wine, and masters at mixing strong drinks;
Woe to you that are mighty to drink wine, and stout men at drunkenness.
23 who acquit the wicked for payment, and deprive the innocent of his rights!
That justify the wicked for gifts, and take away the justice of the just from him.
24 Therefore as the tongue of fire devours stubble, and as the dry grass goes down in flame, so their root will rot, and their blossom will blow away like dust. This will happen because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of hosts, and because they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Therefore as the tongue of the fire devoureth the stubble, and the heat of the dame consumeth it: so shall their root be as ashes, and their bud shall go up as dust: for they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and have blasphemed the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore the anger of Yahweh is kindled against his people. He has reached out with his hand against them and has punished them. The mountains tremble, and their corpses are like garbage in the streets. In all these things, his anger does not subside; instead, his hand is still stretched out.
Therefore is the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath stretched out his hand upon them, and struck them: and the mountains were troubled, and their carcasses became as dung 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 lift up a signal flag for far away nations and will whistle for those at the end of the earth. Look, they will come speedily and promptly.
And he will lift up a sign to the nations afar off, and will whistle to them from the ends of the earth: and behold they shall come with speed swiftly.
27 None tire or stumble among them; none slumbers or sleeps. Nor are their belts loose, or the thongs of their sandals broken.
There is none that shall faint, nor labour among them: they shall not slumber nor sleep, neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken.
28 Their arrows are sharp and all their bows are bent; their horses' hooves are like flint, and their chariot wheels like storms.
Their arrows are sharp, and all their bows are bent. The hoofs of their horses shall be like the hint, and their wheels like the violence of a tempest.
29 Their roaring will be like a lion; they will roar like young lions. They will growl and seize the prey and drag it away, with none to rescue.
Their roaring like that of a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea they shall roar, and take hold of the prey, and they shall keep fast hold of it, and there shall be none to deliver it.
30 On that day they will roar against the prey as the sea roars. If anyone looks over the land, he will see darkness and suffering; even the light will be made dark by the clouds.
And they shall make a noise against them that day, like the roaring of the sea; we shall look towards the land, and behold darkness of tribulation, and the light is darkened with the mist thereof.
