Isaiah 5
5
1Let me sing a song for my love, about his vineyard. My love owned a vineyard on a productive hill. 2He dug it over, cleared the ground of stones, and planted it with the very best vines. In the middle of it he built a watchtower, and he also cut out a winepress from the rock. Then he waited for a good harvest of grapes, but it only produced wild, sour grapes.
3“Now, you people who live in Jerusalem and Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard. 4What more could I have done for my vineyard than I've already done? When I looked for sweet grapes, why did it only produce sour ones?
5So let me tell you what I'm going to do to my vineyard. I'll remove its hedge, and it will be destroyed. I'll tear down its wall, and it will be trampled underfoot. 6I'll turn it into a wasteland. It won't be pruned or weeded—it will be overgrown with brambles and thorns. I'll order the clouds not to rain on it.”
7Israel is the vineyard of the Lord Almighty, and the people of Judah are the plants in his garden that made him happy. Yet while he hoped for justice, he only saw injustice; he hoped people would live right, but he only heard the cries of those who were suffering.
8Tragedy is coming to you who buy house upon house and field upon field, joining them all together until no one else has anywhere to live and you live alone in the land. 9I heard the Lord Almighty declare: You can be sure that many houses are destined to become ruins, and beautiful mansions destined to become uninhabited. 10Ten acres of vineyard will only produce six gallons of wine, and a measure of seed only a tenth of that in grain.#5:10. Literally, “a homer of seed will only produce an ephah of grain.”
11Tragedy is coming to you who get up early in the morning wanting a drink, and who stay up late drinking wine until you're drunk. 12At their feasts you have lyres and harps, tambourines and flutes, and wine, but you don't ever consider what the Lord is doing, and you don't recognize his help. 13As a result my people will be exiled for their lack of understanding.#5:13. “For their lack of understanding”: or “unawares.” Their honored leaders will starve, and the crowds will be dying of thirst. 14The grave's appetite increases, its mouth opens wide, and Jerusalem's nobility and the masses will go down into it, along with the rowdy, drunken mobs. 15Everyone will be brought down, everyone will be humbled; the proud will lower their eyes in humiliation.
16But the Lord Almighty will be vindicated because he does what is right; the holy God will be shown to be holy because of his goodness. 17Lambs will graze as in their own pasture; fattened livestock and goats will feed among the ruins of the rich.#5:17. Septuagint reading.
18Tragedy is coming to you who drag along your sins behind you with cords made of lies, pulling with ropes your cartful of wickedness. 19You are among the people who say, “God should hurry up! Why doesn't God get a move on with what he's doing so we can see it? Why doesn't the Holy One of Israel execute his plan? Let's see it happen so we can understand what it is!”
20Tragedy is coming to you who say evil is good, and good is evil; who turn darkness into light and light into darkness; who make bitter sweet, and sweet bitter.
21Tragedy is coming to you who are wise in your own eyes and think you're so clever.
22Tragedy is coming to you who are wine-drinking champions, and experts at mixing alcoholic drinks; 23you who set the guilty free for a bribe, and yet deny justice to the innocent. 24In the same way fire burns up stubble and dry grass falls down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers disintegrate into dust. For they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty, and have treated with contempt what the Holy One of Israel has said. 25That's why the Lord burns with anger#5:25. There are many references to the Lord's anger in Isaiah, as in other Old Testament books. This should not be equated to human anger which is often “out of control” and vindictive. The Lord's anger is an expression of his extreme displeasure, couched in human language so we can understand to some extent the impact of human sin on the Lord. Nor is it a question of God taking personal offense, but rather his concern as to what continued sin does to us, and a desire to do all he can to heal the damage sin causes. against his people. He has lifted up his hand and hit them, shaking the mountains, and leaving their corpses lying like refuse in the streets. Despite all this, his anger is not finished, and his hand is still lifted up.
26He will send a signal to the distant nations, and will whistle for those living at the ends of the earth. See how quickly they respond, how speedily they come! 27None of them gets tired or stumbles; none of them rests or sleeps. No belt comes loose, and no sandal strap breaks. 28Their arrows are already sharpened, and all their bows have been strung. The hooves of their horses are hard as flint; their chariot wheels spin like a whirlwind. 29They roar like lions, like young lions. They growl, and pounce on their prey. They drag it off so it can't be rescued. 30At that time they will roar over their prey like the roaring of the sea. Anyone who looks out over the land will see only darkness and distress—even the sunlight will be darkened by clouds.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
Isaiah 5
5
The Song of the Vineyard
1I will sing a song for the Lord.
He is the one I love.
It’s a song about his vineyard Israel.
The one I love had a vineyard.
It was on a hillside that had rich soil.
2He dug up the soil and removed its stones.
He planted the very best vines in it.
He built a lookout tower there.
He also cut out a winepress for it.
Then he kept looking for a crop of good grapes.
But the vineyard produced only bad fruit.
3So the Lord said, “People of Jerusalem and Judah,
you be the judge between me and my vineyard.
4What more could I have done for my vineyard?
I did everything I could.
I kept looking for a crop of good grapes.
So why did it produce only bad ones?
5Now I will tell you
what I am going to do to my vineyard.
I will take away its fence.
And the vineyard will be destroyed.
I will break down its wall.
And people will walk all over my vineyard.
6I will turn my vineyard into a dry and empty desert.
It will not be pruned or taken care of.
Thorns and bushes will grow there.
I will command the clouds
not to rain on it.”
7The vineyard of the Lord who rules over all
is the nation of Israel.
The people of Judah
are the vines he took delight in.
He kept looking for them to do what is fair.
But all he saw was blood being spilled.
He kept looking for them to do what is right.
But all he heard were cries of suffering.
The Lord Judges His Vineyard
8How terrible it will be for you who get too many houses!
How terrible for you who get too many fields!
Finally there won’t be any space left in the land.
Then you will live all alone.
9I heard the Lord who rules over all announce a message. He said,
“You can be sure that the great houses will become empty.
The fine homes will be left with no one living in them.
10A ten-acre vineyard will produce only six gallons of wine.
360 pounds of seeds will produce only 36 pounds of grain.”
11How terrible it will be for those who get up early in the morning
to start drinking!
How terrible for those who stay up late at night
until they are drunk with wine!
12They have harps and lyres at their banquets.
They have tambourines, flutes and wine.
But they don’t have any concern for the mighty acts of the Lord.
They don’t have any respect for what his power has done.
13So my people will be taken away as prisoners.
That’s because they don’t understand what the Lord has done.
Their nobles will die of hunger.
The rest of the people won’t have any water to drink.
14So Death opens its jaws to receive them.
Its mouth is open wide to swallow them up.
Their nobles and the rest of the people will go down into it.
They will go there together with all those who have wild parties.
15So people will be brought low.
Everyone will be made humble.
Those who brag will be brought down.
16But the Lord who rules over all will be honored
because he judges fairly.
The holy God will prove that he is holy
by doing what is right.
17Then sheep will graze as if they were in their own grasslands.
Lambs will eat grass among the destroyed buildings
where rich people used to live.
18How terrible it will be for those who continue to sin
and lie about it!
How terrible for those who keep on doing what is evil
as if they were tied to it!
19How terrible for those who say,
“Let God hurry up and do what he says he will.
We want to see it happen.
Let us see the plan of the Holy One of Israel.
We want to know what it is.”
20How terrible it will be for those who say
that what is evil is good!
How terrible for those who say
that what is good is evil!
How terrible for those who say
that darkness is light
and light is darkness!
How terrible for those who say
that what is bitter is sweet
and what is sweet is bitter!
21How terrible it will be for those who think they are wise!
How terrible for those who think they are really clever!
22How terrible it will be for those
who are heroes at drinking wine!
How terrible for those
who are heroes at mixing drinks!
23How terrible for those
who take money to set guilty people free!
How terrible for those
who don’t treat good people fairly!
24Flames of fire burn up straw.
Dry grass sinks down into those flames.
Evil people will be like plants whose roots rot away.
They will be like flowers that are blown away like dust.
That’s because they have said no to the law of the Lord who rules over all.
They have turned against the message of the Holy One of Israel.
25So the Lord is angry with his people.
He raises his hand against them and strikes them down.
The mountains shake.
The bodies of dead people lie in the streets like trash.
Even then, the Lord is still angry.
His hand is still raised against them.
26He lifts up a banner to gather the nations that are far away.
He whistles for them to come
from the farthest places on earth.
Here they come.
They are moving very quickly.
27None of them grows tired.
None of them falls down.
None of them sleeps or even takes a nap.
All of them are ready for battle.
Every belt is pulled tight.
Not a single sandal strap is broken.
28The enemies’ arrows are sharp.
All their bows are ready.
The hooves of their horses are as hard as rock.
Their chariot wheels turn like a twister.
29The sound of their army is like the roar of lions.
It’s like the roar of young lions.
They growl as they capture what they were chasing.
They carry it off.
No one can take it away from them.
30At that time the enemy army will roar over Israel.
It will sound like the roaring of the ocean.
If someone looks at the land of Israel,
there is only darkness and trouble.
The clouds will make even the sun become dark.
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