Isaiah 5
5
Chapter 5
The song of the vineyard
1Now I will sing a song for the person that I love. I will sing to him about his vineyard.
‘The one that I love had a vineyard.
It was on a hill where the soil is good.
2He dug the ground and he removed the stones.
He planted the best vines in it.
He built a tower in the middle of the vineyard
so that he could watch it.
He built a place to squeeze the grapes
to make wine.
Then he waited for the vines to make sweet grapes.
But the vines made only bitter grapes.’
3So now, listen to me, you people who live in Jerusalem and in Judah. You must be the judge! Who did what was right? Was it me or my vineyard? You decide!
4I did everything that I could to help my vineyard. I could have done no more! But when I waited to get sweet grapes from the vines, there were only bitter ones! Why was that?
5Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will break down its walls, so that it becomes an open field. Then wild animals will go in and they will destroy the vines.
6I will make the land become useless. Nobody will take care of the vines. Nobody will dig the ground. Weeds and thorn bushes will grow there. I will command the clouds, ‘Do not drop any rain on it.’
7Israel's nation is like the vineyard of the Lord Almighty. Judah's people are his beautiful garden. But when the Lord looked there for justice, he found only murder! When he looked for people who were righteous, he saw that they were cruel.
Bad trouble will come
8It will be very bad for you people who buy many houses for yourselves. You also buy land to join to the land that you already have. Then there is no more land left for anyone else. You are the only people who remain on the land.
9I have heard the Lord Almighty promise this: ‘All these great, beautiful houses will certainly become empty. There will be nobody to live in them.
10Large vineyards will give only a few bottles of wine. If you plant ten bags of seed, you will only get one bag of grain as your harvest.’
11It will be bad for you people who like to get up early to start drinking. You continue to drink late into the night, until you are very drunk.
12You have wild parties with plenty of music and wine. You make music with your lyres, harps, tambourines and flutes. But you do not understand the things that the Lord is doing. You do not see the things that he has made.
13Because of that, my people will go into exile in countries far away. They do not know God. Their leaders will die because they have nothing to eat. All the other people will have nothing to drink.
14So the deep hole of death will be hungry! It will open wide to eat the people of Jerusalem. The leaders and the people will go down into it. It will eat up those who are happy at their wild parties in Jerusalem.
15So the Lord will bring its people down low. Its proud people will become ashamed.
16But the Lord Almighty will be lifted up high by his justice. People will know that he is holy when he comes as judge.
17Then lambs will find good grass to eat, as they do in their own fields. Fat sheep will find food to eat among the stones of the old houses.
18It will be very bad for you people who are always deceiving others. You cannot leave your sins behind, like someone who pulls a cart with a rope.
19People like that laugh at God. They say, ‘The Lord should do something quickly! We want to see what he can do. The holy God of Israel should do what he has decided to do. Then we will really know what that is!’
20It will be very bad for people who call evil things good. And they call good things evil. They say, ‘It is light’, when it is dark. And they say, ‘It is dark’, when it is light. They say that bitter things are sweet. And they say that sweet things are bitter.
21It will be very bad for people who think that they are wise. They think that they are very clever.
22It will be very bad for people who think that they are famous because they can drink a lot of wine. They think that they are very brave to mix strong drinks together.
23If people like that receive a bribe, they will not say that wicked people are guilty. They also refuse to say that righteous people are not guilty.
24Because of that, they will come to a bad end. It will be for them like a hot fire that destroys dry grass. Their roots will die and their flowers will blow away like dust. They have refused to obey the laws of the Lord Almighty. They have not listened to the message that the holy God of Israel has taught them.
25So the Lord has become angry with his people. He is ready to punish them. He has lifted up his hand, so that the mountains shake. Dead bodies of people are lying all over the streets. But that is not enough! The Lord is still angry with them. His hand is ready to punish them even more.
26The Lord will send a message to foreign nations to come and attack. He calls to nations that are far away, and now they are already coming! Their armies march quickly to Jerusalem.
27None of their soldiers are tired. They do not fall down. Nobody rests. Nobody sleeps. They have tied their belts strongly. Their shoes do not break in pieces. 28Their arrows are sharp. Their bows are ready to shoot. Their horses' feet are as hard as stones. The wheels of their chariots go round very fast.
29As they march to fight, they roar like lions. They are like strong young lions that catch other animals to eat. They carry their prisoners away to places where nobody can rescue them.
30On the day that they attack, the enemy will roar over the people that they catch. They will make a noise like a rough sea. If anyone looks across the land, it will be completely dark because of all the trouble. Clouds will make the light of day become dark.
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MissionAssist 2018
Isaiah 5
5
1Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard.
My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.
2He dug it up,
gathered out its stones,
planted it with the choicest vine,
built a tower in the middle of it,
and also cut out a wine press in it.
He looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
3“Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
please judge between me and my vineyard.
4What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?
Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes?
5Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard.
I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up.
I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled down.
6I will lay it a wasteland.
It won’t be pruned or hoed,
but it will grow briers and thorns.
I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.”
7For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah his pleasant plant.
He looked for justice, but behold, oppression,
for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.
8Woe to those who join house to house,
who lay field to field, until there is no room,
and you are made to dwell alone in the middle of the land!
9In my ears, Yahweh of Armies says: “Surely many houses will be desolate,
even great and beautiful, unoccupied.
10For ten acres#5:10 literally, ten yokes, or the amount of land that ten yokes of oxen can plow in one day, which is about 10 acres or 4 hectares. of vineyard shall yield one bath,#5:10 1 bath is about 22 liters or 5.8 U. S. gallons
and a homer#5:10 1 homer is about 220 liters or 6 bushels of seed shall yield an ephah.”#5:10 1 ephah is about 22 liters or 0.6 bushels or about 2 pecks—only one tenth of what was sown.
11Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink,
who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them!
12The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts;
but they don’t respect the work of Yahweh,
neither have they considered the operation of his hands.
13Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge.
Their honorable men are famished,
and their multitudes are parched with thirst.
14Therefore Sheol#5:14 Sheol is the place of the dead. has enlarged its desire,
and opened its mouth without measure;
and their glory, their multitude, their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend into it.
15So man is brought low,
mankind is humbled,
and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled;
16but Yahweh of Armies is exalted in justice,
and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.
17Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture,
and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich.
18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood,
and wickedness as with cart rope,
19who say, “Let him make haste, let him hasten his work, that we may see it;
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 wise in their own eyes,
and prudent in their own sight!
22Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine,
and champions at mixing strong drink;
23who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
but deny justice for the innocent!
24Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame,
so their root shall be as rottenness,
and their blossom shall go up as dust,
because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies,
and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25Therefore Yahweh’s anger burns against his people,
and he has stretched out his hand against them and has struck them.
The mountains tremble,
and their dead bodies are as refuse in the middle of the streets.
For all this, his anger is not turned away,
but his hand is still stretched out.
26He will lift up a banner to the nations from far away,
and he will whistle for them from the end of the earth.
Behold, they will come speedily and swiftly.
27No one shall be weary nor stumble among them;
no one shall slumber nor sleep,
neither shall the belt of their waist be untied,
nor the strap of their sandals be broken,
28whose arrows are sharp,
and all their bows bent.
Their horses’ hoofs will be like flint,
and their wheels like a whirlwind.
29Their roaring will be like a lioness.
They will roar like young lions.
Yes, they shall roar,
and seize their prey and carry it off,
and there will be no one to deliver.
30They will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea.
If one looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress.
The light is darkened in its clouds.
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