Isaiah 5
5
Judah, God’s Vineyard
1Now I will sing a song for my friend, my love song about his vineyard.
My friend had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2He dug and cleared the field
and planted the best grapevines there.
He built a tower in the middle
and cut a winepress into the stone.
He expected good grapes to grow there,
but there were only rotten ones.
3My friend said, “You people living in Jerusalem and you people of Judah,#5:3 You people … Judah Or “Rulers of Jerusalem and leader of Judah ….”
think about me and my vineyard.
4What more could I do for my vineyard?
I did everything I could.
I hoped for good grapes to grow,
but there were only rotten ones.
Why did that happen?
5“Now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard:
I will pull up the thornbushes that protect it,
and I will burn them.
I will break down the stone wall
and use the stones for a walkway.
6I will turn my vineyard into useless land.
No one will care for the plants or work in the field.
Weeds and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds
not to rain on it.”
7The vineyard that belongs to the Lord All-Powerful is the house of Israel. The grapevine, the plant he loves, is the man of Judah.#5:7 man of Judah This could mean either “the king of Judah” or simply, “people of Judah.”
The Lord hoped for justice,
but there was only killing.
He hoped for fairness,
but there were only cries from people being treated badly.
8Look at you people! You join houses to houses and fields to fields until there is no room for anyone else. But when the punishment comes, you will be forced to live alone. You will be the only people in the whole land. 9I heard the Lord All-Powerful make this oath: “I swear, all these houses will be destroyed. These big, fancy houses will be empty. 10A ten-acre vineyard will make only a little wine,#5:10 only a little wine Literally, “one bath,” a measure that equals about 6 gallons (22 l). and many sacks of seed will grow only a little grain.#5:10 only a little grain Literally, “A homer of seed will grow only an ephah of grain.” A homer equals about 6 bushels (220 l). An ephah equals about 2/3 bushel (22 l).”
11How terrible it will be for you people who rise early in the morning and go looking for beer to drink. You stay awake late at night, getting drunk on wine. 12At your parties with your wine, harps, drums, flutes, and other musical instruments, you don’t see what the Lord has done. You don’t notice what his hands have made.
13My people don’t really know God. So they will be captured and taken away. Everyone, the respected leaders and the common people as well, will be hungry and thirsty. 14They will die, and the place of death will open its mouth wide and swallow many of them. Then the noisy crowds and all the beautiful, happy people who are now so comfortable will go down into the grave.
15Everyone, common people and leaders alike, will be humbled. Those who are now so proud will bow their heads in shame. 16The Lord All-Powerful will judge fairly, and people will honor him. They will respect the Holy God when he brings justice. 17Then sheep will be able to go wherever they want and graze on the land that rich people once owned.
18Look at those people! They pull their guilt and sins behind them like people pulling wagons with ropes.#5:18 ropes Literally, “useless ropes.” The Hebrew words here are like those meaning “useless things,” that is, idols. 19They say, “We wish God would hurry and do what he plans to do so that we can see it. Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel happen soon so that we can know what it is.”
20Look at those people! They say good is bad and bad is good. They think light is dark and dark is light. They think sour is sweet and sweet is sour. 21They think they are so smart. They think they are very intelligent. 22They are famous for drinking wine and are heroes known for mixing drinks. 23And if you pay them enough money, they will forgive a criminal. But they will not let good people be judged fairly. 24So bad things will happen to them. Their descendants will be destroyed completely, just as fire burns straw and leaves. Their descendants will be like plants with rotten roots, whose flowers have all blown away like dust in the wind.
Those people refused to obey the teachings#5:24 teachings This can also mean “laws.” Sometimes this means the laws God gave Moses to teach to the people of Israel. of the Lord All-Powerful. They hated the message from the Holy One of Israel. 25So the Lord became angry with his people, and he raised his hand to punish them. Even the mountains shook with fear. Dead bodies were left in the streets like garbage. And he is not finished yet. He is still angry, and his arm is raised to continue punishing his people.
God Will Bring Armies to Punish Israel
26Look! God is giving a sign to the nations far away. He is raising a flag and whistling for them to come.
Now the enemy is coming from a faraway land and will soon enter the country. They are moving very quickly. 27The enemy soldiers never get tired and stumble. They never get sleepy and fall asleep. Their weapon belts are always ready. Their sandal straps never break. 28Their arrows are sharp. Their bows are strung and ready to shoot. The horses’ hooves are as hard as flint. Clouds of dust rise from behind their chariots.
29The shouts of the enemy sound like the roar of lions. Like strong, young lions, they growl and grab their prey. The captives struggle and try to escape, but there is no one to save them. 30Then there is a roar as loud as the ocean waves, and the captives turn their faces to the ground. And there is only darkness closing in as the light fades away in a black cloud.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Isaiah 5
5
The Song of the Vineyard
(Luke 13:6–9)
1I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2He dug it up and cleared the stones
and planted the finest vines.
He built a watchtower in the middle
and dug out a winepress as well.
He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes,
but the fruit it produced was sour!
3“And now, O dwellers of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
I exhort you to judge
between Me and My vineyard.
4What more could I have done for My vineyard
than I already did for it?
Why, when I expected sweet grapes,
did it bring forth sour fruit?
5Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
and it will be consumed;
I will tear down its wall,
and it will be trampled.
6I will make it a wasteland,
neither pruned nor cultivated,
and thorns and briers will grow up.
I will command the clouds
that rain shall not fall on it.”
7For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are the plant of His delight.
He looked for justice,
but saw bloodshed;
for righteousness,
but heard a cry of distress.
Woes to the Wicked
8Woe to you who add house to house
and join field to field
until no place is left
and you live alone in the land.
9I heard the Lord of Hosts declare:
“Surely many houses will become desolate,
great mansions left unoccupied.
10For ten acres of vineyard
will yield but a bath of wine,#5:10 Literally ten yoke of vineyard will yield a bath; that is, the area ten yoke of oxen can plow in a day will yield approximately 5.8 gallons or 22 liters of wine.
and a homer of seed
only an ephah of grain.#5:10 Literally and a homer of seed will yield an ephah; that is, a homer of seed (approximately 6.24 bushels or 220 liters) will yield a tenth of its weight in grain.”
11Woe to those who rise early in the morning
in pursuit of strong drink,
who linger into the evening,
to be inflamed by wine.
12At their feasts are the lyre and harp,
tambourines and flutes and wine.
They disregard the actions of the Lord
and fail to see the work of His hands.
13Therefore My people will go into exile
for their lack of understanding;
their dignitaries are starving
and their masses are parched with thirst.
14Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat
and opens wide its enormous jaws,
and down go Zion’s nobles and masses,
her revelers and carousers!
15So mankind will be brought low, and each man humbled;
the arrogant will lower their eyes.
16But the Lord of Hosts will be exalted by His justice,
and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.
17Lambs will graze as in their own pastures,
and strangers #5:17 LXX lambs will feed in the ruins of the wealthy.
18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of deceit
and pull sin along with cart ropes,
19to those who say, “Let Him hurry and hasten His work
so that we may see it!
Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come
so that we may know it!”
20Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who turn darkness to light
and light to darkness,
who replace bitter with sweet
and sweet with bitter.
21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and clever in their own sight.
22Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine
and champions in mixing beer,
23who acquit the guilty for a bribe
and deprive the innocent of justice.
24Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw,
and as dry grass shrivels in the flame,
so their roots will decay
and their blossoms will blow away like dust;
for they have rejected the instruction of the Lord of Hosts
and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25Therefore the anger of the Lord burns against His people;
His hand is raised against them to strike them down.
The mountains quake,
and the corpses lay like refuse in the streets.
Despite all this, His anger is not turned away;
His hand is still upraised.
26He lifts a banner for the distant nations
and whistles for those at the ends of the earth.
Behold—how speedily and swiftly they come!
27None of them grows weary or stumbles;
no one slumbers or sleeps.
No belt is loose
and no sandal strap is broken.
28Their arrows are sharpened,
and all their bows are strung.
The hooves of their horses are like flint;
their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.
29Their roaring is like that of a lion;
they roar like young lions.
They growl and seize their prey;
they carry it away from deliverance.
30In that day they will roar over it,
like the roaring of the sea.
If one looks over the land,
he will see darkness and distress;
even the light will be obscured by clouds.
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The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible, BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee. This text of God's Word has been dedicated to the public domain.