Isaiah 5
5
V
1Let me sing now to my Beloved,
A song of my Beloved touching his vineyard.
My Beloved had a vineyard
Upon a very fruitful hill.
2He digged it, and cleared it of stones,
And planted it with the choicest vine,
And he built a tower in the midst of it,
And also hewed out a wine-vat therein;
And he expected, that it should bring forth grapes;
But it brought forth baneful berries.
3And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and ye men of Judah,
Judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard.
4What could have been done more to my vineyard,
Than I have done unto it?
Why, when I expected that it should bring forth grapes,
Brought it forth baneful berries?
5But come now, and I will make known unto you
What I will do unto my vineyard
I will remove its hedge, and it shall be eaten up;
I will demolish its wall, and it shall be trodden down.
6And I will make it a waste:
It shall not be pruned, neither shall it be weeded; But there shall come up briers and thorns;
And to the clouds I will give command,
That they rain no rain upon it.
7For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel;
And the men of Judah his pleasant plant:
He looked for judgment, and behold a shedding of blood;
For justice, and behold a cry.
8Wo unto them, who join house to house;
Who lay field unto field together;
Until there be no more room left,
And ye dwell by yourselves alone in the midst of the land.
9In my ears hath Jehovah of hosts revealed it:
Surely, the many houses shall become a desolation;
The great and the fair ones, no one shall inhabit.
10Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath,
And a chomer of seed shall produce an ephah.
11Wo unto them that rise up early in the morning to follow after strong drink;
Who sit late in the evening, that the wine may inflame them:
12And the lyre, and the harp, the tabor, and the pipe,
And wine, are in their feasts;
But the work of Jehovah they regard not;
And the operation of his hands they do not perceive.
13Therefore my people goeth into captivity by surprise;
Their nobles die with hunger;
And their multitude are parched up with thirst.
14Therefore bath Hades opened its jaws with greediness;
And hath stretched open its mouth without measure:
And down go her nobility, and her multitude;
And her busy throng, and all that exult in her.
15And the mean man shall be bowed down, and the great man shall be humbled;
And the eyes of the haughty are humbled.
16But Jehovah of hosts shall be exalted in judgment;
And the Holy God shall be sanctified in righteousness.
17Then shall the sheep feed, as upon their own pasture; And in the desolate possessions of the rich shall strange flocks graze.
18Wo unto them that draw punishment along with a rope of vice;
And destruction as with a cart-rope.
19Who say, Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it;
And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come to pass, that we may know it.
20Wo unto them that call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.
21Wo unto them that are wise in their own eyes;
And prudent in their own conceit.
22Wo unto them that are powerful to drink wine;
And men of might to mingle strong drink.
23Who justify the guilty for reward,
And take away the righteousness of the righteous from him.
24Therefore as the flame of fire devoureth the stubble,
And as the dry grass sinketh down into the flame;
So their root shall be as rottenness,
And their blossom shall go up like the dust:
Because they have despised the law of Jehovah of hosts;
And scornfully rejected the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25Therefore is the anger of Jehovah kindled against his people;
And he hath stretched out his hand against them,
And smitten them; and the mountains trembled;
And their carcases became as the mire in the midst of the streets.
For all this his anger is not turned away;
But his hand is still stretched out.
26And he will erect a standard for the nations afar off;
And he will hiss unto them from the end of the earth;
And behold, with speed swiftly shall they come.
27None among them is faint, and none stumbleth;
No one slumbereth, and no one sleepeth:
Neither is the girdle of their loins loosed,
Nor the latchet of their shoes torn off.
28Whose arrows are sharpened,
And all their bows are bent:
The hoofs of their horses are counted like unto the flint;
And their wheels unto the whirlwind.
29Their roaring is like that of the lioness;
They roar like the young lions:
They rage, and seize the prey;
They bear it away, and no one doth rescue.
30In that day shall they roar against them, like the roaring of the sea;
And if one look unto the land, behold there darkness;
Perplexity mid light;
It becomes dark in the clouds thereof.
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Isaiah 5: TEG
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Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.
Isaiah 5
5
The Song of the Vineyard#Vineyard: although the term is sometimes used in an erotic context (Sg 1:6; 8:12), “vineyard” or “vine” is used more frequently as a metaphor for God’s people (27:2; Ps 80:9, 14, 15; Jer 2:21; 12:10; Ez 17:7; Hos 10:1; Na 2:2). The terms translated “friend” (yadid) and “beloved” (dod) suggest the Lord’s favor (Dt 33:12; 2 Sm 12:25; Ps 127:2) and familial background rather than introducing the piece as a “love song,” as is sometimes suggested. The prophet disguises the real theme (the people’s infidelity) so that the hearers will participate in the unfavorable judgment called for (vv. 3–4). Cf. the reversal of this parable in 27:2–6.
1Now let me sing of my friend,
my beloved’s song about his vineyard.
My friend had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside;
2He spaded it, cleared it of stones,
and planted the choicest vines;
Within it he built a watchtower,
and hewed out a wine press.
Then he waited for the crop of grapes,
but it yielded rotten grapes.#Dt 32:32.
3Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem, people of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard:
4What more could be done for my vineyard
that I did not do?#Mi 6:3–5.
Why, when I waited for the crop of grapes,
did it yield rotten grapes?
5Now, I will let you know
what I am going to do to my vineyard:
Take away its hedge, give it to grazing,
break through its wall, let it be trampled!#Trampled…thorns and briers: this judgment is echoed in the description of the devastated land in 7:23–25.
6Yes, I will make it a ruin:
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
but will be overgrown with thorns and briers;
I will command the clouds
not to rain upon it.
7The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel,
the people of Judah, his cherished plant;
He waited for judgment, but see, bloodshed!
for justice, but hark, the outcry!#Judgment…bloodshed…justice…outcry: in Hebrew there is an impressive play on words: mishpat parallels mispah, sedaqah parallels se‘aqah. See also the threefold “waited for” in vv. 2, 4, 7.
Oracles of Reproach#These verses contain a series of short oracles introduced by the Hebrew particle hoy (“Ah!”), an emphatic exclamation, sometimes translated “Woe!”
8#An oracle against land-grabbers (v. 8); they will be impoverished instead of enriched (vv. 9–10). Ah! Those who join house to house,
who connect field with field,
Until no space remains, and you alone dwell
in the midst of the land!#Mi 2:1–3.
9In my hearing the Lord of hosts has sworn:#Is 22:14.
Many houses shall be in ruins,
houses large and fine, with nobody living there.#Is 6:12.
10Ten acres of vineyard
shall yield but one bath,#Ten acres: a field with ten times the surface area a yoke of oxen could plow in one day. Bath: a liquid measure equal to about twelve gallons. Homer: a dry measure equal to what a donkey can carry, calculated to be about ten bushels. Ephah: a dry measure of about one bushel. So small a harvest is the fruit of the land-grabbers’ greed.
And a homer of seed
shall yield but an ephah.
11#An oracle against debauchery and indifference. Strong drink: the Hebrew word shekar means either beer or a type of wine, perhaps date wine, not distilled liquor. Ah! Those who rise early in the morning
in pursuit of strong drink,
lingering late
inflamed by wine,
12Banqueting on wine with harp and lyre,
timbrel and flute,#Is 5:22; Am 6:1–7.
But the deed of the Lord they do not regard,
the work of his hands they do not see!#Is 5:19; 10:12; 14:24–27; 19:12, 17; 23:9; 28:21; 30:1.
13Therefore my people go into exile
for lack of understanding,#Hos 4:6.
Its nobles starving,
its masses parched with thirst.
14Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat
and opens its mouth beyond measure;#Hb 2:5.
Down into it go nobility and masses,
tumult and revelry.
15All shall be abased, each one brought low,
and the eyes of the haughty lowered,#Is 2:9, 11, 17.
16But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted by judgment,
by justice the Holy God shown holy.#Is 1:27.
17Lambs shall graze as at pasture,
young goats shall eat in the ruins of the rich.
18Ah! Those who tug at guilt with cords of perversity,
and at sin as if with cart ropes!
19#An indication that some, presumably of the ruling class, scoff at Isaiah’s teaching on the Lord’s “plan” and “work” (cf. v. 12; 14:26–27; 28:9–14; 30:10–11). Who say, “Let him make haste,
let him speed his work, that we may see it;
On with the plan of the Holy One of Israel!
let it come to pass, that we may know it!”#Jer 17:15; 2 Pt 3:3–4.
20Ah! Those who call evil good, and good evil,
who change darkness to light, and light into darkness,
who change bitter to sweet, and sweet into bitter!#Is 32:4–5.
21Ah! Those who are wise in their own eyes,
prudent in their own view!#Prv 3:7; 26:12; Rom 11:25; 12:16.
22Ah! Those who are champions at drinking wine,
masters at mixing drink!
23Those who acquit the guilty for bribes,
and deprive the innocent of justice!#Ex 23:8; Prv 17:15.
24Therefore, as the tongue of fire licks up stubble,
as dry grass shrivels in the flame,
Their root shall rot
and their blossom scatter like dust;
For they have rejected the instruction of the Lord of hosts,
and scorned the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25#These verses do not suit their present context. Apparently v. 25 was originally the conclusion of the poem of 9:7–20 directed against the Northern Kingdom; cf. the refrain that occurs here and in 9:11, 16, and 20. Verses 26–30 look to an invasion by Assyria and might originally have come immediately after the poem of 9:1–20 plus 5:25. The insertion of chaps. 6–8 may have occasioned the dislocation, as well as that of 10:1–4a, which may have originally belonged with the “reproach” oracles of 5:8–23. Therefore the wrath of the Lord blazes against his people,
he stretches out his hand to strike them;
The mountains quake,#Am 1:1; Zec 14:5; cf. Is 9:18a.
their corpses shall be like refuse in the streets.
For all this, his wrath is not turned back,
his hand is still outstretched.
Invasion#This oracle threatens a future judgment, an invasion of the Assyrian army, God’s instrument for punishing Judah (10:5, 15).
26He will raise a signal to a far-off nation,
and whistle for it from the ends of the earth.#Is 7:18; 11:12; Jer 4:6; 50:2.
Then speedily and promptly they will come.
27None among them is weary, none stumbles,
none will slumber, none will sleep.
None with waist belt loose,
none with sandal thong broken.
28Their arrows are sharp,
and all their bows are bent,
The hooves of their horses like flint,
and their chariot wheels like the whirlwind.
29They roar like the lion,
like young lions, they roar;
They growl and seize the prey,
they carry it off and none can rescue.
30They will growl over it, on that day,
like the growling of the sea,
Look to the land—
darkness closing in,
the light dark with clouds!#Is 8:22.
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