Isaiah 5

1 Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:

I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones of it, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a wine-press therein: and he expected that it would bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

He dug it up and cleared the stones and planted the finest vines. He built a watchtower in the middle and dug out a winepress as well. He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes, but the fruit it produced was sour!

3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.

“And now, O dwellers of Jerusalem and men of Judah, I exhort you to judge between Me and My vineyard.

4 What more could have been done to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected that it would bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?

What more could I have done for My vineyard than I already did for it? Why, when I expected sweet grapes, did it bring forth sour fruit?

5 And now come; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be eaten up; [and] break down the wall of it, and it shall be trodden down:

Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled.

6 And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and thorns and briers will grow up. I will command the clouds that rain shall not fall 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.

For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of His delight. He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard a cry of distress.

8 Woe to them that join house to house, [that] lay field to field, till [there is] no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!

Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field until no place is left 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 of Hosts declare: “Surely many houses will become desolate, great mansions left unoccupied.

10 Yes, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of a homer shall yield an ephah.

For ten acres of vineyard will yield but a bath of wine, and a homer of seed only an ephah of grain.”

11 Woe to them that rise early in the morning, [that] they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, [till] wine inflameth them!

Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of strong drink, who linger into the evening, to be inflamed by wine.

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 are the lyre and harp, tambourines and flutes and wine. They disregard the actions of the LORD and fail to see the work of His hands.

13 Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because [they have] no knowledge: and their honorable men [are] famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.

Therefore My people will go into exile for their lack of understanding; their dignitaries are starving and their masses are parched with thirst.

14 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it. (Sheol h7585)

Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat and opens wide its enormous jaws, and down go Zion’s nobles and masses, her revelers and carousers! (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 abased.

So mankind will be brought low, and each man humbled; the arrogant will lower their eyes.

16 But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.

But the LORD of Hosts will be exalted by His justice, and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.

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 pastures, and strangers will feed in the ruins of the wealthy.

18 Woe to them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart-rope:

Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes,

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 nigh and come, that we may know [it]!

to those who say, “Let Him hurry and hasten His work so that we may see it! Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come so that we may know it!”

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!

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness to light and light to darkness, who replace bitter with sweet and sweet with bitter.

21 Woe to [them that are] wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.

22 Woe to [them that are] mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:

Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and champions in mixing beer,

23 Who justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice.

24 Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth 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.

Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25 Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills trembled, and their carcasses [were] torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out still.

Therefore the anger of the LORD burns against His people; His hand is raised against them to strike them down. The mountains quake, and the corpses lay like refuse in the streets. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.

26 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from afar, and will hiss to them from the end of the earth: and behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:

He lifts a banner for the distant nations and whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Behold—how speedily and swiftly 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 latchet of their shoes be broken:

None of them grows weary or stumbles; no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose and no sandal strap is broken.

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 sharpened, and all their bows are strung. The hooves of their horses are like flint; their chariot wheels are 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].

Their roaring is like that of a lion; they roar like young lions. They growl and seize their prey; they carry it away from deliverance.

30 And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if [one] looketh to the land, behold darkness [and] sorrow, and the light is darkened in its heavens.

In that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. If one looks over the land, he will see darkness and distress; even the light will be obscured by clouds.