Isaiah 5
5
A song about a vineyard
The LORD said:
1I will sing a song#Mt 21.33; Mk 12.1; Lk 20.9.
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 twenty-seven litres of juice, and a hundred and eighty litres of seed will produce merely eighteen litres of grain.
11You 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 wise. 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 rubbish. 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 signalled 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 sea. 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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Isaiah 5: CEVUK
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
Isaiah 5
5
1 #
Mt 21.33-46; Mk 12.1-12; Lk 20.9-19. Let me sing for my beloved
a love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2He digged it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and he looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
3And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge, I pray you, between me
and my vineyard.
4What more was there to do for my vineyard,
that I have not done in it?
When I looked for it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
5And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
6I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and briers and thorns shall grow up;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
7For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice,
but behold, bloodshed;
for righteousness,
but behold, a cry!
8Woe to those who join house to house,
who add field to field,
until there is no more room,
and you are made to dwell alone
in the midst of the land.
9The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:
“Surely many houses shall be desolate,
large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
10For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath,
and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”
11Woe to those who rise early in the morning,
that they may run after strong drink,
who tarry late into the evening
till wine inflames them!
12They have lyre and harp,
timbrel and flute and wine at their feasts;
but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord,
or see the work of his hands.
13Therefore my people go into exile
for want of knowledge;
their honored men are dying of hunger,
and their multitude is parched with thirst.
14Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite
and opened its mouth beyond measure,
and the nobility of Jerusalem#5.14 Heb her nobility and her multitude go down,
her throng and he who exults in her.
15Man is bowed down, and men are brought low,
and the eyes of the haughty are humbled.
16But the Lord of hosts is exalted in justice,
and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.
17Then shall the lambs graze as in their pasture,
fatlings and kids#5.17 Cn Compare Gk: Heb aliens shall feed among the ruins.
18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood,
who draw sin as with cart ropes,
19who say: “Let him make haste,
let him speed his work
that we may see it;
let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near,
and let it 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 shrewd in their own sight!
22Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,
and valiant men in mixing strong drink,
23who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
and deprive the innocent of his right!
24Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,
so their root will be as rottenness,
and their blossom go up like dust;
for they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts,
and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,
and he stretched out his hand against them and smote them,
and the mountains quaked;
and their corpses were as refuse
in the midst of the streets.
For all this his anger is not turned away
and his hand is stretched out still.
26He will raise a signal for a nation afar off,
and whistle for it from the ends of the earth;
and lo, swiftly, speedily it comes!
27None is weary, none stumbles,
none slumbers or sleeps,
not a waistcloth is loose,
not a sandal-thong broken;
28their arrows are sharp,
all their bows bent,
their horses' hoofs seem like flint,
and their wheels like the whirlwind.
29Their roaring is like a lion,
like young lions they roar;
they growl and seize their prey,
they carry it off, and none can rescue.
30They will growl over it on that day,
like the roaring of the sea.
And if one look to the land,
behold, darkness and distress;
and the light is darkened by its clouds.
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Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America