Isaiah 5
5
The Song about the Vineyard
1Let me sing a lovesong to my beloved about his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill.
2He dug it up, removed its stones,
planted it with the choicest vines,
built a watchtower in it,
and made a winepress in it.
Then he waited for it to produce good grapes,
but it produced only sour, wild grapes.
3Now then, you inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard!
4What more could have been done for my vineyard
than what I have already done for it?
When I waited for it to produce good grapes,
why did it produce only sour, wild grapes?
5Now then, let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard.
I will tear away its hedge so that it can be devoured
and tear down its wall so that it can be trampled.
6I will make it a wasteland.
It will never be pruned or hoed.
Thorns and weeds will grow in it,
and I will command the clouds not to rain on it.
7The vineyard of the Lord of Armies is the nation of Israel,
and the people of Judah are the garden of his delight.
He hoped for justice but saw only slaughter,
for righteousness but heard only cries of distress.
Six Sins Condemned
8How horrible it will be for you
who acquire house after house and buy field after field
until there’s nothing left
and you have to live by yourself in the land.
9With my own ears I heard the Lord of Armies say,
“Many houses will become empty.
Large, beautiful houses will be without people to live in them.
10A ten-acre vineyard will produce only six gallons of wine,
and two quarts of seed will produce only four quarts of grain.”
11How horrible it will be for those
who get up early to look for a drink,
who sit up late until they are drunk from wine.
12At their feasts there are lyres and harps,
tambourines and flutes, and wine.
Yet, they don’t pay attention to what the Lord is doing
or see what his hands have done.
13“My people will go into exile
because they don’t understand what I’m doing.
Honored men will starve,
and common people will be parched with thirst.”
14That is why the grave’s appetite increases.
It opens its mouth very wide
so that honored people and common people will go down into it.
Those who are noisy and joyous will go down into it.
15People will be brought down. Everyone will be humbled.
And the eyes of arrogant people will be humbled.
16The Lord of Armies will be honored when he judges.
The holy God will show himself to be holy when he does what is right.
17Then lambs will graze as if they were in their own pasture,
and foreigners will eat among the ruins of the rich.
18How horrible it will be for those
who string people along with lies and empty promises,
whose lives are sinful.
19They say,
“Let God hurry and quickly do his work
so that we may see what he has in mind.
Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel happen quickly
so that we may understand what he is doing.”
20How horrible it will be for those
who call evil good and good evil,
who turn darkness into light and light into darkness,
who turn what is bitter into something sweet
and what is sweet into something bitter.
21How horrible it will be for those
who think they are wise
and consider themselves to be clever.
22How horrible it will be for those
who are heroes at drinking wine,
who are champions at mixing drinks,
23who declare the guilty innocent for a bribe,
who take away the rights of righteous people.
The LORD Will Use Another Nation to Punish His People
24As flames burn up straw
and dry grass shrivels in flames,
so their roots will rot,
and their blossoms will blow away like dust.
They have rejected the teachings of the Lord of Armies
and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25That’s why the anger of the Lord burns hot against his people,
and he is ready to use his power to strike them down.
The hills tremble,
and dead bodies lie like garbage in the streets.
Even after all this, his anger has not disappeared,
and he is still ready to use his power.
26The Lord raises up a flag for the nations far away.
With a whistle he signals those at the ends of the earth.
Look, they are coming very quickly!
27None of them grow tired or stumble.
None of them slumber or sleep.
The belts on their waists aren’t loose
or their sandal straps broken.
28Their arrows are sharpened; all their bows are ready to shoot.
Their horses’ hoofs are as hard as flint.
Their chariot wheels are as quick as the wind.
29They roar like a lioness.
They growl like a young lion.
They growl as they snatch their prey
and carry it off to where no one can rescue it.
30On that day they will roar over their prey
as the sea roars.
If they look at the land,
they will see only darkness and distress.
Even the light will be darkened by thick clouds.
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 5
5
Parable of the Vineyard
1Now let me sing for my greatly Beloved [Lord]
A song of my Beloved about His vineyard (His chosen people).
My greatly Beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile slope (the promised land, Canaan).
2He dug it all around and cleared away its stones,
And planted it with #Lit a bright red grape.the choicest vine (the people of Judah).
And He built a tower in the center of it;
And also hewed out a #This was the lower of two hollowed-out reservoirs made in the soft rock, one above the other, connected by a channel that allowed the juice pressed out in the upper reservoir to flow to the lower.wine vat in it.
Then He expected it to produce [the choicest] grapes,
But it produced only worthless ones.
3“And now, says the Lord, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
Judge between Me and My vineyard (My people).
4What more could have been done for My vineyard that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to produce good grapes, why did it yield worthless ones?
5So now let me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard:
I will take away its thorn-hedge, and it will be burned up;
I will break down its #The wall was usually made up of loose stones that had been cleared from the field.stone wall and it will be trampled down [by enemies].
6I will turn it into a wasteland;
It will not be pruned or cultivated,
But briars and thorns will come up.
I will also command the clouds not to rain on it.”
7For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house (nation) of Israel
And the men of Judah are His delightful planting [which He loves].
So He looked for justice, but in fact, [He saw] bloodshed and lawlessness;
[He looked] for righteousness, but in fact, [He heard] a cry of distress and oppression.
Woes for the Wicked
8Woe (judgment is coming) to those who join house to house and join field to field [to increase their holdings by depriving others],
Until there is no more room [for others],
So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!
9In my ears the Lord of hosts said, “Be assured that many houses will become desolate,
Even great and beautiful ones will be unoccupied.
10For ten #Lit teams of oxen, referring to the area of land that a team of oxen can plow in one day.acres of vineyard will yield [only] #This is only a very rough approximation. The basic Hebrew unit of volume was an egg, which varied greatly, and the estimation was significantly larger than an ordinary chicken egg. A bath was set at 432 eggs—six to eight gallons.one bath of wine,
And a homer (#The actual Hebrew measure was the volume of 4,320 eggs, and an ephah (like a bath, only a dry measure) was 432 eggs.six bushels) of seed will produce [only] one ephah of grain.”
11Woe (judgment is coming) to those who rise early in the morning to pursue intoxicating drink,
Who stay up late in the night till wine inflames them!
12They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute, and wine at their feasts;
But they do not regard nor even pay attention to the deeds of the Lord,
Nor do they consider the work of His hands.
13Therefore My people go into exile because they lack knowledge [of God];
And their honorable men are famished,
And their common people are parched with thirst.
14Therefore Sheol (the realm of the dead) has increased its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure;
And #Lit her.Jerusalem’s splendor, her multitude, her [boisterous] uproar and her [drunken] revelers descend into it.
15So the common man will be bowed down and the man of importance degraded,
And the eyes of the proud (arrogant) will be degraded.
16But the Lord of hosts will be exalted in justice,
And God, the Holy One, will show Himself holy in righteousness [through His righteous judgments].
17Then the lambs will graze [among the ruins] as in their own pasture,
And strangers will eat in the desolate places of the [exiled] wealthy.
18Woe (judgment is coming) to those who drag along wickedness with cords of falsehood,
And sin as if with cart ropes [towing their own punishment];
19Who say, “Let Him move speedily, let Him expedite His work [His promised vengeance], so that we may see it;
And let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel approach
And come to pass, so that we may know it!”
20Woe (judgment is coming) to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;
Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
21Woe (judgment is coming) to those who are wise in their own eyes
And clever and shrewd in their own sight!
22Woe (judgment is coming) to those who are heroes at drinking wine
And men of strength in mixing intoxicating drinks,
23Who justify the wicked and acquit the guilty for a bribe,
And take away the rights of those who are in the right!
24Therefore, as the tongue of fire consumes the stubble [from straw]
And the dry grass collapses into the flame,
So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away like fine dust;
Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts
And despised and discarded the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25Therefore the anger of the Lord has burned against His people,
And He has stretched out His hand against them and has struck them down.
And the mountains trembled, and their dead bodies lay like rubbish in the middle of the streets.
In spite of all this God’s anger is not turned away,
But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].
26He will lift up a flag to [call] the distant nations [to bring His judgment on Judah],
And will whistle for them from the ends of the earth;
And indeed, they will come with great speed swiftly.
27No one among them is weary or stumbles,
No one slumbers or sleeps;
Nor is the belt at their waist undone [as if unprepared for action],
Nor is the strap of their sandal broken.
28Their arrows are sharp and all their bows are strung and bent;
Their horses’ hoofs seem like flint and their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.
29Their roaring is like a lioness, they roar like young lions;
They growl and seize their prey
And carry it off and there is no one to save it.
30And in that day they will roar against them (Judah) like the roaring of the sea.
And if one looks to the land, in fact, there is darkness and distress;
Even the light will be darkened by its clouds.
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