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.

Now I will sing to [my] beloved a song of my beloved concerning my vineyard. [My] beloved had a vineyard on a high hill in a fertile 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 I made a hedge round it, and dug a trench, and planted a choice vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and dug a place for the wine-vat in it: and I waited [for it] to bring forth grapes, and it brought forth thorns.

3 So now, inhabitant of Jerusalem and man of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.

And now, you dwellers in Jerusalem, and [every] man 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 shall I do any more to my vineyard, that I have not done to it? Whereas I expected [it] to bring forth grapes, but it has brought forth thorns.

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 tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be for a spoil; and I will pull down its walls, and it shall be [left] to 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 forsake my vineyard; and it shall not be pruned, nor dug, and thorns shall come up upon it as on barren land; 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 men of Juda [his] beloved plant: I expected [it] to bring forth judgment, and it brought forth iniquity; and not righteousness, but 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 them] that join house to house, and add field to field, that they may take away something of their neighbor's: will you dwell alone upon the land?

9 Yahweh of hosts told me, many houses will be empty, even great and impressive ones, without any inhabitant.

For these things have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts: for though many houses should be built, many and fair houses shall be desolate, and there shall be no inhabitants in them.

10 For a ten-yoke vineyard will yield only one bath, and one homer of seed will yield only an ephah.

For where ten yoke of oxen plow [the land] shall yield one, and he that sows six homers shall produce three measures.

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 them] that rise up in the morning, and follow strong drink; who wait [at it till] evening: for the wine shall inflame them.

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.

For they drink wine with harp, and lute, and drums, and pipes: but they regard not the works of the Lord, and consider not 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 my people have been taken captive, because they know not the Lord: and there has been a multitude of dead [bodies], because of hunger and of thirst for water.

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 hell has enlarged its desire and opened its mouth without ceasing: and her glorious and great, and her rich and her pestilent men 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 the mean man shall be brought low, and the great man shall be disgraced, and the lofty eyes 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.

But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and the holy God shall be glorified in righteousness.

17 Then the sheep will feed as in their own pasture, and in the ruins, lambs will graze as foreigners.

And they that were spoiled shall be fed as bulls, and lambs shall feed on the waste places of them that are taken away.

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 them] that draw sins to them as with a long rope, and iniquities as with a thong of the heifer's yoke:

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.”

who say, Let him speedily hasten what he will do, 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 them] that call evil good, and good evil; who make darkness light, and light darkness; who make bitter sweet, and sweet bitter.

21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own understanding!

Woe [to them] that are wise in their own conceit, and knowing in their own sight.

22 Woe to those who are champions at drinking wine, and masters at mixing strong drinks;

Woe to the strong [ones] of you that drink wine, and the mighty [ones] that mingle strong drink:

23 who acquit the wicked for payment, and deprive the innocent of his rights!

who justify the ungodly for rewards, and take away the righteousness of the righteous.

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 stubble shall be burnt by a coal of fire, and shall be consumed by a violent flame, their root shall be as chaff, and their flower shall go up as dust: for they rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and insulted 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 the Lord of hosts was greatly angered against his people, and he reached forth his hand upon them, and struck them: and the mountains were troubled, and their carcasses were as dung in the midst of the way: yet for all this his anger has not been turned away, but his hand is yet raised.

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.

Therefore shall he lift up a signal to the nations that are afar, and shall hiss for them from the end of the earth; and, behold, they are coming very quickly.

27 None tire or stumble among them; none slumbers or sleeps. Nor are their belts loose, or the thongs of their sandals broken.

They shall not hunger nor be weary, neither shall they slumber nor sleep; neither shall they loose their girdles from their loins, neither shall their shoe-latchets 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.

Whose arrows are sharp, and their bows bent; their horses' hoofs are counted as solid rock: their chariot-wheels are as a storm.

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.

They rage as lions, and draw near as a lion's whelps: and he shall seize, and roar as a wild beast, and he shall cast [them] forth, and there shall be none to deliver them.

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 he shall roar on account of them in that day, as the sound of the swelling sea; and they shall look to the land, and, behold, [there shall be] thick darkness in their perplexity.