Isaiah 5
5
God’s Disappointing Vineyard
1Now let me sing to my Well-beloved
A song of my Beloved #Ps. 80:8; Jer. 2:21; Matt. 21:33; Mark 12:1; Luke 20:9regarding His vineyard:
My Well-beloved has a vineyard
On a very fruitful hill.
2He dug it up and cleared out its stones,
And planted it with the choicest vine.
He built a tower in its midst,
And also made a winepress in it;
#Deut. 32:6So He expected it to bring forth good grapes,
But it brought forth wild grapes.
3“And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
#(Rom. 3:4)Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard.
4What more could have been done to My vineyard
That I have not done in #2 Chr. 36:15, 16; Jer. 2:5; 7:25, 26; Mic. 6:3; Matt. 23:37it?
Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes,
Did it bring forth wild grapes?
5And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard:
#2 Chr. 36:19; Ps. 80:12; 89:40, 41I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned;
And break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.
6I will lay it #2 Chr. 36:19–21waste;
It shall not be pruned or dug,
But there shall come up briers and #Is. 7:19–25; Jer. 25:11thorns.
I will also command the clouds
That they rain no rain on it.”
7For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel,
And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant.
He looked for justice, but behold, oppression;
For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.
Impending Judgment on Excesses
8Woe to those who join #Jer. 22:13–17; Mic. 2:2; Hab. 2:9–12house to house;
They add field to field,
Till there is no place
Where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land!
9#Is. 22:14In my hearing the Lord of hosts said,
“Truly, many houses shall be desolate,
Great and beautiful ones, without inhabitant.
10For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one #Ezek. 45:11bath,
And a homer of seed shall yield one ephah.”
11#Prov. 23:29, 30; Eccl. 10:16, 17; Is. 5:22Woe to those who rise early in the morning,
That they may follow intoxicating drink;
Who continue until night, till wine inflames them!
12#Amos 6:5The harp and the strings,
The tambourine and flute,
And wine are in their feasts;
But #Job 34:27; Ps. 28:5they do not regard the work of the Lord,
Nor consider the operation of His hands.
13#2 Kin. 24:14–16Therefore my people have gone into captivity,
Because they have no #Is. 1:3; 27:11; Hos. 4:6knowledge;
Their honorable men are famished,
And their multitude dried up with thirst.
14Therefore Sheol has enlarged itself
And opened its mouth beyond measure;
Their glory and their multitude and their pomp,
And he who is jubilant, shall descend into it.
15People shall be brought down,
#Is. 2:9, 11Each man shall be humbled,
And the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled.
16But the Lord of hosts shall be #Is. 2:11exalted in judgment,
And God who is holy shall be hallowed in righteousness.
17Then the lambs shall feed in their pasture,
And in the waste places of #Is. 10:16the fat ones strangers shall eat.
18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity,
And sin as if with a cart rope;
19#Jer. 17:15; Amos 5:18That 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 near and 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 #Prov. 3:7; Rom. 1:22; 12:16; (1 Cor. 3:18–20)wise in their own eyes,
And prudent in their own sight!
22Woe to men mighty at drinking wine,
Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink,
23Who #Ex. 23:8; Prov. 17:15; Is. 1:23; Mic. 3:11; 7:3justify the wicked for a bribe,
And take away justice from the righteous man!
24Therefore, #Ex. 15:7as the fire devours the stubble,
And the flame consumes the chaff,
So #Job 18:16their root will be as rottenness,
And their blossom will ascend like dust;
Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts,
And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25#2 Kin. 22:13, 17; Is. 66:15Therefore the anger of the Lord is aroused against His people;
He has stretched out His hand against them
And stricken them,
And #Ps. 18:7; Is. 64:3; Jer. 4:24; Nah. 1:5the hills trembled.
Their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets.
#Is. 9:12, 17; Jer. 4:8; Dan. 9:16For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.
26#Is. 11:10, 12He will lift up a banner to the nations from afar,
And will #Is. 7:18; Zech. 10:8whistle to them from #Mal. 1:11the end of the earth;
Surely #Joel 2:7they shall come with speed, swiftly.
27No one will be weary or stumble among them,
No one will slumber or sleep;
Nor #Dan. 5:6will the belt on their loins be loosed,
Nor the strap of their sandals be broken;
28#Jer. 5:16Whose arrows are sharp,
And all their bows bent;
Their horses’ hooves will seem like flint,
And their wheels like a whirlwind.
29Their roaring will be like a lion,
They will roar like young lions;
Yes, they will roar
And lay hold of the prey;
They will carry it away safely,
And no one will deliver.
30In that day they will roar against them
Like the roaring of the sea.
And if one #Is. 8:22; Jer. 4:23–28; Joel 2:10; Luke 21:25, 26looks to the land,
Behold, darkness and sorrow;
And the light is darkened by the clouds.
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Isaiah 5: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 5
5
A Song about a Vineyard
The Lord said:
1 #
Mt 21.33; Mk 12.1; Lk 20.9. I will sing a song
about my friend's vineyard
that was on the side
of a fertile hill.
2My friend dug the ground,
removed the stones,
and planted the best vines.
He built a watchtower
and dug a pit in rocky ground
for pressing the grapes.
He hoped they would be sweet,
but bitter grapes
were all it produced.
3Listen, people of Jerusalem
and of Judah!
You be the judge of me
and my vineyard.
4What more could I have done
for my vineyard?
I hoped for sweet grapes,
but bitter grapes
were all that grew.
5Now I will let you know
what I am going to do.
I will cut down the hedge
and tear down the wall.
My vineyard will be trampled
and left in ruins.
6It will turn into a desert,
neither pruned nor hoed;
it will be covered
with thorns and briars.
I will command the clouds
not to send rain.
7I am the Lord All-Powerful!
Israel is the vineyard,
and Judah is the garden
I tended with care.
I had hoped for honesty
and for justice,
but dishonesty
and cries for mercy
were all I found.
Isaiah Condemns Social Injustice
8You are in for trouble! You take over house after house and field after field, until there is no room left for anyone else in all the land. 9But the Lord All-Powerful has made this promise to me:
Those large and beautiful homes will be left empty, with no one to take care of them. 10Four hectares of grapevines will produce only 27 liters of juice, and 180 liters of seed will produce merely 18 liters of grain.
11 #
Ws 2.7-9. You are in for trouble! You get up early to start drinking, and you keep it up late into the night. 12At your drinking parties you have the music of stringed instruments, tambourines, and flutes. But you never even think about all the Lord has done, 13and so his people know nothing about him. That's why many of you will be dragged off to foreign lands. Your leaders will starve to death, and everyone else will suffer from thirst.
14The world of the dead has opened its mouth wide and is eagerly waiting for the leaders of Jerusalem and for its noisy crowds, especially for those who take pride in that city. 15Its citizens have been put down, and its proud people have been brought to shame. 16But the holy Lord God All-Powerful is praised, because he has shown who he is by bringing justice. 17His people will be like sheep grazing in their own pasture, and they will take off what was left by others.#5.17 and they … others: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
18You are in for trouble! The lies you tell are like ropes by which you drag along sin and evil. 19And you say, “Let the holy God of Israel hurry up and do what he has promised, so we can see it for ourselves.” 20You are headed for trouble! You say wrong is right, darkness is light, and bitter is sweet.
21You think you are clever and smart. 22And you are great at drinking and mixing drinks. But you are in for trouble. 23You accept bribes to let the guilty go free, and you cheat the innocent out of a fair trial.
24You will go up in flames like straw and hay! You have rejected the teaching of the holy Lord God All-Powerful of Israel. Now your roots will rot, and your blossoms will turn to dust.
25You are the Lord's people, but you made him terribly angry, and he struck you with his mighty arm. Mountains shook, and dead bodies covered the streets like garbage. The Lord is still angry, and he is ready to strike you again.#5.25 is ready … again: Or “hasn't given up on you yet.”
Foreign Nations Will Attack
26The Lord has signaled for the foreign nations to come and attack you. He has already whistled, and they are coming as fast as they can. 27None of them are tired. They don't sleep or get drowsy, and they run without stumbling. Their belts don't come loose; their sandal straps don't break. 28Their arrows are sharp, and their bows are ready. The hoofs of their horses are hard as flint; the wheels of their war chariots turn as fast as a whirlwind.
29They roar and growl like fierce young lions as they grab their victims and drag them off where no one can rescue them. 30On the day they attack, they will roar like the ocean. And across the land you will see nothing but darkness and trouble, because the light of day will be covered by thick clouds.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.