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
Song of the Vineyard
1I will sing about the one I love,
a song about my loved one’s vineyard:#Ps 80:8; Jr 12:10; Mt 21:33; Lk 20:9
The one I love had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2He broke up the soil, cleared it of stones,
and planted it with the finest vines.#Jr 2:21
He built a tower in the middle of it
and even dug out a winepress there.
He expected#Is 40:31 it to yield good grapes,
but it yielded worthless grapes.#Mt 21:19; Mk 11:13; Lk 13:6
3So now, residents of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
please judge between me
and my vineyard.
4What more could I have done for my vineyard
than I did?#Mc 6:3–4; Mt 23:37
Why, when I expected a yield of good grapes,
did it yield worthless grapes?
5Now I will tell you
what I am about to do to my vineyard:
I will remove its hedge,#Ps 89:40; Jr 5:10
and it will be consumed;
I will tear down its wall,#Ps 80:12
and it will be trampled.
6I will make it a wasteland.#2Ch 36:19–21; Is 7:19–25; 24:1,3; 27:2–6; Jr 25:11
It will not be pruned or weeded;
thorns and briers will grow up.#Gn 3:18; Is 7:23–25; 9:18; 10:17; 27:4; 32:13
I will also give orders to the clouds
that rain should not fall on it.
7For the vineyard of the Lord of Armies
is the house of Israel,#Ps 80:8–11
and the men#5:7 Lit man of Judah,
the plant he delighted in.
He expected justice
but saw injustice;
he expected righteousness
but heard cries of despair.
Judah’s Sins Denounced
8Woe to those who add house to house#Jr 22:13–17; Mc 2:2; Hab 2:9–12
and join field to field
until there is no more room
and you alone are left in the land.
9I heard the Lord of Armies say:
Indeed, many houses#Am 3:10,15 will become desolate,
grand and lovely ones without inhabitants.
10For a ten-acre#5:10 Lit ten-yoke vineyard will yield
only six gallons of wine,#5:10 Lit one bath
and ten bushels#5:10 Lit one homer of seed will yield
only one bushel of grain.#5:10 Lit yield an ephah
11Woe to those who rise early in the morning
in pursuit of beer,#Lv 10:9; Nm 6:3; Dt 29:6; Jdg 13:4; Is 5:22; 24:9; 28:7; 56:12
who linger into the evening,
inflamed by wine.
12At their feasts they have lyre, harp,
tambourine, flute, and wine.
They do not perceive the Lord’s actions,#Dt 32:4; Jb 34:27; 36:24; Ps 28:5; 44:1; 64:9–10
and they do not see the work of his hands.#Ex 32:16; 34:10; Ps 8:3,6; 19:1; 92:4–5; Is 10:12; 29:23
13Therefore my people will go into exile
because they lack knowledge;#Is 1:3; 27:11; Hs 4:6; Lk 11:52; 19:42; 1Tm 1:13
her#5:13 Lit its dignitaries are starving,
and her masses are parched with thirst.
14Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat
and opens wide its enormous jaws,#Pr 30:16; Hab 2:5
and down go Zion’s dignitaries, her masses,
her crowds, and those who celebrate in her!
15Humanity is brought low, each person is humbled,
and haughty eyes are humbled.#Is 2:9,11,17; 10:33
16But the Lord of Armies is exalted by his justice,#Is 33:5,10
and the holy God#Is 6:3 demonstrates his holiness through his righteousness.#Is 8:13; 29:23; 1Pt 3:15
17Lambs will graze
as if in#5:17 Syr reads graze in their own pastures,#Mc 2:12
and resident aliens#5:17 LXX reads sheep will eat
among the ruins of the rich.
18Woe to those who drag iniquity
with cords of deceit#Pr 5:22; Is 59:4–8; Jr 23:10–14
and pull sin along with cart ropes,
19to those who say,
“Let him hurry up and do his work quickly
so that we can see it!
Let the plan#Jb 38:2; 42:3; Ps 33:11; 106:13; 107:11; Pr 19:21; Is 14:26; 19:17; 46:10–11 of the Holy One of Israel#Is 1:4 take place
so that we can know it!”
20Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,#Pr 17:15; Am 5:7; Mal 2:17
who substitute darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who substitute bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter.
21Woe to those who consider themselves wise
and judge themselves clever.#5:21 Lit and clever before their face#Pr 3:7; Rm 12:16; 1Co 3:18
22Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,
who are champions at pouring beer,#Is 5:11
23who acquit the guilty for a bribe#Ex 23:8; Pr 17:15; Is 1:23; 33:15
and deprive the innocent of justice.
24Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw
and as dry grass shrivels in the flame,
so their roots will become like something rotten
and their blossoms will blow away like dust,
for they have rejected#Is 8:6; 30:9,12; Am 2:4; Ac 13:41
the instruction of the Lord of Armies,
and they have despised
the word of the Holy One of Israel.#Is 5:19; Jr 51:5
25Therefore the Lord’s anger burned#Nm 11:10,33; 32:10–13; Dt 6:15; Jos 7:1; 23:16; 2Kg 13:3; Ps 106:40 against his people.
He raised his hand against them and struck them;
the mountains quaked,#Am 1:1; Zch 14:5
and their corpses were like garbage in the streets.
In all this, his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is still raised to strike.#Is 9:12,17,21; 10:4; 14:27
26He raises a signal flag for the distant nations#Is 10:5; 11:10,12; 13:2; 18:3
and whistles#Is 7:18; Zch 10:8 for them from the ends of the earth.
Look — how quickly and swiftly they come!
27None of them grows weary or stumbles;#1Jn 2:10
no one slumbers or sleeps.
No belt is loose
and no sandal strap broken.
28Their arrows are sharpened,
and all their bows strung.
Their horses’ hooves are like flint;
their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.
29Their roaring is like a lion’s;#Jdg 14:5; Hs 13:8; Jl 1:6; Nah 2:12–13
they roar like young lions;#Rv 9:17
they growl and seize their prey
and carry it off,
and no one can rescue it.
30On that day they will roar over it,
like the roaring of the sea.
When one looks at the land,
there will be darkness and distress;
light will be obscured by clouds.#5:30 Lit its clouds
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