Yesha 'yahu (Isa) 5
5
1I want to sing a song for someone I love,
a song about my loved one and his vineyard.
My loved one had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2He dug up its stones and cleared them away,
planted it with the choicest vines,
built a watchtower in the middle of it,
and carved out in its rock a winepress.
He expected it to produce good grapes,
but it produced only sour, wild grapes.
3Now, citizens of Yerushalayim and people of Y’hudah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4What more could I have done for my vineyard
that I haven’t already done in it?
So why, when I expected good grapes,
did it produce sour, wild grapes?
5Now come, I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard:
I will remove its hedge,
and [its grapes] will be eaten up;
I will break through its fence,
and [its vines] will be trampled down.
6I will let it go to waste:
it will be neither pruned nor hoed,
but overgrown with briars and thorns.
I will also order the clouds
not to let rain fall on it.
7Now the vineyard of Adonai-Tzva’ot
is the house of Isra’el,
and the men of Y’hudah
are the plant he delighted in.
So he expected justice,
but look — bloodshed! —
and righteousness, but listen —
cries of distress!
8Woe to those who add house to house
and join field to field,
until there’s no room for anyone else,
and you live in splendor alone on your land.
9Adonai-Tzva’ot said in my ears,
“Many houses will be brought to ruin,
large, magnificent ones left empty;
10for a ten-acre vineyard will produce
only five gallons of wine,
and seed from five bushels of grain
will yield but half a bushel.”
11Woe to those who get up early
to pursue intoxicating liquor;
who stay up late at night,
until wine inflames them.
12They have lutes and lyres, drums and flutes,
and wine at their parties;
but they pay no attention to how Adonai works
and never look at what his hands have made.
13For such lack of knowledge
my people go into exile;
this is also why their respected men starve
and their masses are parched from thirst.
14Therefore Sh’ol has enlarged itself
and opened its limitless jaws —
and down go their nobles and masses,
along with their noise and revels.
15The masses are lowered, the nobles are humbled —
proud looks will be brought down.
16But Adonai-Tzva’ot is exalted through justice,
God the Holy One is consecrated through righteousness.
17Then lambs will be able to feed
as if they were in their own pasture,
and those wandering through will eat
from the ruined fields of the overfed.
18Woe to those who begin by pulling
at transgression with a thread,
but end by dragging sin along
as if with a cart rope.
19They say, “We want God to speed up his work,
to hurry it along, so we can see it!
We want the Holy One of Isra’el’s plan
to come true right now, so we can be sure of it!”
20Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who change darkness into light
and light into darkness,
who change bitter into sweet
and sweet into bitter!
21Woe to those seeing themselves as wise,
esteeming themselves as clever.
22Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,
men whose power goes to mixing strong drinks,
23who acquit the guilty for bribes
but deny justice to the righteous!
24Therefore, as fire licks up the stubble,
and the chaff is consumed in the flame;
so their root will rot,
and their flowers scatter like dust;
because they have rejected the Torah
of Adonai-Tzva’ot,
they have despised the word
of the Holy One of Isra’el.
25This is why Adonai’s anger blazed up against his people,
why he stretched out his hand against them and struck them
[so hard that] the hills shook,
and corpses lay like trash in the streets.
Even after all this, his anger remains,
his upraised hand still threatens.
26He will give a signal to faraway nations,
he will whistle for them to come
from the ends of the earth;
and here they come, so fast! —
27none of them tired or stumbling,
none of them sleeping or drowsy,
none with a loose belt,
none with a broken sandal-strap.
28Their arrows are sharp,
all their bows are strung,
their horses’ hoofs are like flint,
and their [chariot] wheels like a whirlwind.
29They will roar like lions —
yes, roaring like young lions,
they growl and seize the prey
and carry it off, with no one to rescue.
30On that day they will growl at them,
like the sea when it growls —
and when one looks toward land,
one sees darkness closing in;
the light is dissipated
in the obscuring overcast.
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Yesha 'yahu (Isa) 5: CJB
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Learn More About Complete Jewish BibleIsaiah 5
5
The Song of the Vineyard
1Let me sing for my beloved
a song of my love concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard#Literally “A vineyard was for my beloved” on a fertile hill.#Literally “a horn of a son of olive oil.” The Hebrew for horn, qeren, sounds like the Hebrew for vineyard, kerem
2And he dug it and cleared it of stones,
and he planted it with choice vines,#Hebrew “vine”
and he built a watchtower in the middle of it,
and he even hewed out a wine vat in it,
and he waited for it to yield grapes—
but it yielded wild grapes.
3And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men#Hebrew “man” of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.
4What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it?
Why did I hope for it to yield grapes, and it yielded wild grapes?
5And now let me tell you what I myself am about to do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge, and it shall become a devastation.
I will break down its wall, and it shall become a trampling.
6And I will make it a wasteland;
it shall not be pruned and hoed,
and it shall be overgrown with briers#Hebrew “brier” and thornbushes.#Hebrew “thornbush”
And concerning the clouds, I will command them not to send#Literally “from sending” rain down upon it.
7For the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts is the house of Israel,
and the man#Or “people” of Judah is the plantation of his delight.
And he waited for justice,#The Hebrew word, mishpat, sounds like mishpakh in the next line
but look! Bloodshed!#The Hebrew word, mishpakh, sounds like mishpat in the previous line
For righteousness,#The Hebrew word, tsedaqah, sounds like tsa`aqah in the next line
but look! A cry of distress!#The Hebrew word, tsa`aqah, sounds like tsedaqah in the previous line
Woes on the Wicked
8Ah! Those who join#Literally “touch” house with house,
they join field together with field
until there is no place#Literally “an end of place”
and you are caused to dwell alone in the midst of the land.
9Yahweh of hosts said in my ears:
Surely#Literally “If not” many houses shall become a desolation,
large and beautiful ones without inhabitant.
10For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath,#A bath is a liquid measure
and the seed of a homer will yield an ephah.#An ephah is a dry measure equal to one-tenth of a homer
11Ah! Those who rise early in the morning,
they pursue strong drink.
Those who linger in the evening,
wine inflames them.
12And there will be lyre and harp,
tambourine and flute,
and wine at their feasts,
but they do not look at the deeds#Hebrew “deed” of Yahweh,
and they do not see the work of his hands.
13Therefore my people will go into exile without knowledge,
and their#Hebrew “its” nobles#Hebrew “noble” will be men of hunger,
and their#Hebrew “its” multitude is parched with thirst.
14Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat,
and it has opened wide its mouth without limit,
and her#That is, Jerusalem’s nobles#Hebrew “noble” will go down, and her multitude,
her tumult and those who revel in her.
15And humankind is bowed down,
and man is brought low,
and the eyes of the haughty are humiliated.
16But Yahweh of hosts is exalted by justice,
and the holy God shows himself holy by righteousness.
17And then the lambs will graze as in their pasture,
and fatlings, kids#Following the Septuagint, which reads the Hebrew grym (resident aliens) as gdym (young goats/sheep) will eat among the sites of ruins.#Literally “and ruins, fatlings, resident aliens, will eat”
18Ah! Those who drag iniquity along with the cords of falsehood
and sin as with rope of the cart,
19those who say,
“Let him make haste;
let him hurry his work
so that we may see it
and let it draw near
and let the plan of the holy one of Israel come
so that we may know it!”
20Ah! Those who call evil good and good evil,
those who put darkness for light and light for darkness,
those who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
21Ah! Those who are wise in their own eyes
and have understanding in their view!#Literally “before their faces”
22Ah! Heroes at drinking wine,
and men of capability at mixing strong drink!
23Those who acquit the guilty because of a bribe
and remove the justice of the innocent from him.
24Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
and dry grass sinks down in the flame,
so their root will become like the stench,
and their blossom will go up like the dust.
For they have rejected the instruction of Yahweh of hosts,
and they have treated the word of the holy one of Israel with contempt.
25Therefore Yahweh’s wrath was kindled#Literally “the anger of Yahweh became hot” against his people,
and he stretched out his hand against them#Hebrew “it” and struck them,#Hebrew “it”
and the mountains quaked,
and their corpses#Hebrew “corpse” were like refuse in the middle of the streets.
Yahweh’s Outstretched Hand
In all of this his anger has not turned back,
and still his hand is stretched out.
26And he will raise a signal for a nation#The Hebrew is plural, but the following verses refer to the nation as singular from afar,
and he will whistle for it from the end of the earth.
And look! It comes quickly, swiftly!
27None is weary,
and none among him stumbles;
none slumbers and none sleeps.
And no loincloth on his waist is opened,
and no thong of his sandals is drawn away.
28Whose arrows are sharp,
and all of his bows are bent.
The hoofs of his horses are reckoned like flint,
and his wheels like the storm wind.
29His roaring is like the lion,
and he roars like young lions.
And he growls and seizes his prey,
and he carries it off,
and not one can rescue it.
30And he will roar over him on that day
like the roaring of the sea,
and if one looks to the land, look! Darkness! Distress!
And the light grows dark with its#Presumably the land’s clouds.
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