Isaiah 5
5
Israel, the Lord’s Vineyard
1Now I will sing for my friend a song about his vineyard.
My friend had a vineyard
on a hill with very rich soil.
2He dug and cleared the field of stones
and planted the best grapevines there.
He built a tower in the middle of it
and cut out a winepress as well.
He hoped good grapes would grow there,
but only bad ones grew.
3My friend says, “You people living in Jerusalem,
and you people of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4What more could I have done for my vineyard
than I have already done?
Although I expected good grapes to grow,
why were there only bad ones?
5Now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard:
I will remove the hedge,
and it will be burned.
I will break down the stone wall,
and it will be walked on.
6I will ruin my field.
It will not be trimmed or hoed,
and weeds and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds
not to rain on it.”
7The vineyard belonging to the Lord All-Powerful
is the nation of Israel;
the garden that he loves
is the people of Judah.
He looked for justice, but there was only killing.
He hoped for right living, but there were only cries of pain.
8How terrible it will be for you who add more houses to your houses
and more fields to your fields
until there is no room left for other people.
Then you are left alone in the land.
9The Lord All-Powerful said this to me:
“The fine houses will be destroyed;
the large and beautiful houses will be left empty.
10At that time a ten-acre vineyard will make only six gallons of wine,
and ten bushels of seed will grow only half a bushel of grain.”
11How terrible it will be for people who rise early in the morning
to look for strong drink,
who stay awake late at night,
becoming drunk with wine.
12At their parties they have lyres, harps,
tambourines, flutes, and wine.
They don’t see what the Lord has done
or notice the work of his hands.
13So my people will be captured and taken away,
because they don’t really know me.
All the great people will die of hunger,
and the common people will die of thirst.
14So the place of the dead wants more and more people,
and it opens wide its mouth.
Jerusalem’s important people and common people will go down into it,
with their happy and noisy ones.
15So the common people and the great people will be brought down;
those who are proud will be humbled.
16The Lord All-Powerful will receive glory by judging fairly;
the holy God will show himself holy by doing what is right.
17Then the sheep will go anywhere they want,
and lambs will feed on the land that rich people once owned.
18How terrible it will be for those people!
They pull their guilt and sins behind them
as people pull wagons with ropes.
19They say, “Let God hurry;
let him do his work soon
so we may see it.
Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel happen soon
so that we will know what it is.”
20How terrible it will be for people who call good things bad
and bad things good,
who think darkness is light
and light is darkness,
who think sour is sweet
and sweet is sour.
21How terrible it will be for people who think they are wise
and believe they are clever.
22How terrible it will be for people who are famous for drinking wine
and are champions at mixing drinks.
23They take money to set the guilty free
and don’t allow good people to be judged fairly.
24They will be destroyed
just as fire burns straw or dry grass.
They will be destroyed
like a plant whose roots rot
and whose flower dies and blows away like dust.
They have refused to obey the teachings of the Lord All-Powerful
and have hated the message from the Holy God of Israel.
25So the Lord has become very angry with his people,
and he has raised his hand to punish them.
Even the mountains are frightened.
Dead bodies lie in the streets like garbage.
But the Lord is still angry;
his hand is still raised to strike down the people.
26He raises a banner for the nations far away.
He whistles to call those people from the ends of the earth.
Look! The enemy comes quickly!
27Not one of them becomes tired or falls down.
Not one of them gets sleepy and falls asleep.
Their weapons are close at hand,
and their sandal straps are not broken.
28Their arrows are sharp,
and all of their bows are ready to shoot.
The horses’ hoofs are hard as rocks,
and their chariot wheels move like a whirlwind.
29Their shout is like the roar of a lion;
it is loud like a young lion.
They growl as they grab their captives.
There is no one to stop them from taking their captives away.
30On that day they will roar
like the waves of the sea.
And when people look at the land,
they will see only darkness and pain;
all light will become dark in this thick cloud.
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Isaiah 5: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 5
5
1 #
Mt 21.33-46; Mk 12.1-12; Lk 20.9-19. Let me sing for my beloved
a love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2He digged it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and he looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
3And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge, I pray you, between me
and my vineyard.
4What more was there to do for my vineyard,
that I have not done in it?
When I looked for it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
5And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
6I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and briers and thorns shall grow up;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
7For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice,
but behold, bloodshed;
for righteousness,
but behold, a cry!
8Woe to those who join house to house,
who add field to field,
until there is no more room,
and you are made to dwell alone
in the midst of the land.
9The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:
“Surely many houses shall be desolate,
large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
10For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath,
and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”
11Woe to those who rise early in the morning,
that they may run after strong drink,
who tarry late into the evening
till wine inflames them!
12They have lyre and harp,
timbrel and flute and wine at their feasts;
but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord,
or see the work of his hands.
13Therefore my people go into exile
for want of knowledge;
their honored men are dying of hunger,
and their multitude is parched with thirst.
14Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite
and opened its mouth beyond measure,
and the nobility of Jerusalem#5.14 Heb her nobility and her multitude go down,
her throng and he who exults in her.
15Man is bowed down, and men are brought low,
and the eyes of the haughty are humbled.
16But the Lord of hosts is exalted in justice,
and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.
17Then shall the lambs graze as in their pasture,
fatlings and kids#5.17 Cn Compare Gk: Heb aliens shall feed among the ruins.
18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood,
who draw sin as with cart ropes,
19who say: “Let him make haste,
let him speed his work
that we may see it;
let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near,
and let it come, that we may know it!”
20Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!
21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
and shrewd in their own sight!
22Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,
and valiant men in mixing strong drink,
23who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
and deprive the innocent of his right!
24Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,
so their root will be as rottenness,
and their blossom go up like dust;
for they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts,
and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,
and he stretched out his hand against them and smote them,
and the mountains quaked;
and their corpses were as refuse
in the midst of the streets.
For all this his anger is not turned away
and his hand is stretched out still.
26He will raise a signal for a nation afar off,
and whistle for it from the ends of the earth;
and lo, swiftly, speedily it comes!
27None is weary, none stumbles,
none slumbers or sleeps,
not a waistcloth is loose,
not a sandal-thong broken;
28their arrows are sharp,
all their bows bent,
their horses' hoofs seem like flint,
and their wheels like the whirlwind.
29Their roaring is like a lion,
like young lions they roar;
they growl and seize their prey,
they carry it off, and none can rescue.
30They will growl over it on that day,
like the roaring of the sea.
And if one look to the land,
behold, darkness and distress;
and the light is darkened by its clouds.
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Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America