Isaiah 5
5
A Song about a Vineyard
The Lord said:
1 #
Mt 21.33; Mk 12.1; Lk 20.9. I will sing a song
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 27 liters of juice, and 180 liters of seed will produce merely 18 liters of grain.
11 #
Ws 2.7-9. You 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 smart. 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 garbage. 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 signaled 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 ocean. 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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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 5
5
Song of the Vineyard
1I will sing about the one I love,
a song about my loved one’s vineyard:#Ps 80:8; Jr 12:10; Mt 21:33; Lk 20:9
The one I love had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2He broke up the soil, cleared it of stones,
and planted it with the finest vines.#Jr 2:21
He built a tower in the middle of it
and even dug out a winepress there.
He expected#Is 40:31 it to yield good grapes,
but it yielded worthless grapes.#Mt 21:19; Mk 11:13; Lk 13:6
3So now, residents of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
please judge between me
and my vineyard.
4What more could I have done for my vineyard
than I did?#Mc 6:3–4; Mt 23:37
Why, when I expected a yield of good grapes,
did it yield worthless grapes?
5Now I will tell you
what I am about to do to my vineyard:
I will remove its hedge,#Ps 89:40; Jr 5:10
and it will be consumed;
I will tear down its wall,#Ps 80:12
and it will be trampled.
6I will make it a wasteland.#2Ch 36:19–21; Is 7:19–25; 24:1,3; 27:2–6; Jr 25:11
It will not be pruned or weeded;
thorns and briers will grow up.#Gn 3:18; Is 7:23–25; 9:18; 10:17; 27:4; 32:13
I will also give orders to the clouds
that rain should not fall on it.
7For the vineyard of the Lord of Armies
is the house of Israel,#Ps 80:8–11
and the men#5:7 Lit man of Judah,
the plant he delighted in.
He expected justice
but saw injustice;
he expected righteousness
but heard cries of despair.
Judah’s Sins Denounced
8Woe to those who add house to house#Jr 22:13–17; Mc 2:2; Hab 2:9–12
and join field to field
until there is no more room
and you alone are left in the land.
9I heard the Lord of Armies say:
Indeed, many houses#Am 3:10,15 will become desolate,
grand and lovely ones without inhabitants.
10For a ten-acre#5:10 Lit ten-yoke vineyard will yield
only six gallons of wine,#5:10 Lit one bath
and ten bushels#5:10 Lit one homer of seed will yield
only one bushel of grain.#5:10 Lit yield an ephah
11Woe to those who rise early in the morning
in pursuit of beer,#Lv 10:9; Nm 6:3; Dt 29:6; Jdg 13:4; Is 5:22; 24:9; 28:7; 56:12
who linger into the evening,
inflamed by wine.
12At their feasts they have lyre, harp,
tambourine, flute, and wine.
They do not perceive the Lord’s actions,#Dt 32:4; Jb 34:27; 36:24; Ps 28:5; 44:1; 64:9–10
and they do not see the work of his hands.#Ex 32:16; 34:10; Ps 8:3,6; 19:1; 92:4–5; Is 10:12; 29:23
13Therefore my people will go into exile
because they lack knowledge;#Is 1:3; 27:11; Hs 4:6; Lk 11:52; 19:42; 1Tm 1:13
her#5:13 Lit its dignitaries are starving,
and her masses are parched with thirst.
14Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat
and opens wide its enormous jaws,#Pr 30:16; Hab 2:5
and down go Zion’s dignitaries, her masses,
her crowds, and those who celebrate in her!
15Humanity is brought low, each person is humbled,
and haughty eyes are humbled.#Is 2:9,11,17; 10:33
16But the Lord of Armies is exalted by his justice,#Is 33:5,10
and the holy God#Is 6:3 demonstrates his holiness through his righteousness.#Is 8:13; 29:23; 1Pt 3:15
17Lambs will graze
as if in#5:17 Syr reads graze in their own pastures,#Mc 2:12
and resident aliens#5:17 LXX reads sheep will eat
among the ruins of the rich.
18Woe to those who drag iniquity
with cords of deceit#Pr 5:22; Is 59:4–8; Jr 23:10–14
and pull sin along with cart ropes,
19to those who say,
“Let him hurry up and do his work quickly
so that we can see it!
Let the plan#Jb 38:2; 42:3; Ps 33:11; 106:13; 107:11; Pr 19:21; Is 14:26; 19:17; 46:10–11 of the Holy One of Israel#Is 1:4 take place
so that we can know it!”
20Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,#Pr 17:15; Am 5:7; Mal 2:17
who substitute darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who substitute bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter.
21Woe to those who consider themselves wise
and judge themselves clever.#5:21 Lit and clever before their face#Pr 3:7; Rm 12:16; 1Co 3:18
22Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,
who are champions at pouring beer,#Is 5:11
23who acquit the guilty for a bribe#Ex 23:8; Pr 17:15; Is 1:23; 33:15
and deprive the innocent of justice.
24Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw
and as dry grass shrivels in the flame,
so their roots will become like something rotten
and their blossoms will blow away like dust,
for they have rejected#Is 8:6; 30:9,12; Am 2:4; Ac 13:41
the instruction of the Lord of Armies,
and they have despised
the word of the Holy One of Israel.#Is 5:19; Jr 51:5
25Therefore the Lord’s anger burned#Nm 11:10,33; 32:10–13; Dt 6:15; Jos 7:1; 23:16; 2Kg 13:3; Ps 106:40 against his people.
He raised his hand against them and struck them;
the mountains quaked,#Am 1:1; Zch 14:5
and their corpses were like garbage in the streets.
In all this, his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is still raised to strike.#Is 9:12,17,21; 10:4; 14:27
26He raises a signal flag for the distant nations#Is 10:5; 11:10,12; 13:2; 18:3
and whistles#Is 7:18; Zch 10:8 for them from the ends of the earth.
Look — how quickly and swiftly they come!
27None of them grows weary or stumbles;#1Jn 2:10
no one slumbers or sleeps.
No belt is loose
and no sandal strap broken.
28Their arrows are sharpened,
and all their bows strung.
Their horses’ hooves are like flint;
their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.
29Their roaring is like a lion’s;#Jdg 14:5; Hs 13:8; Jl 1:6; Nah 2:12–13
they roar like young lions;#Rv 9:17
they growl and seize their prey
and carry it off,
and no one can rescue it.
30On that day they will roar over it,
like the roaring of the sea.
When one looks at the land,
there will be darkness and distress;
light will be obscured by clouds.#5:30 Lit its clouds
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