Isaiah 5

Song of the Vineyard

1 I will sing about the one I love,

a song about my loved one’s vineyard:  * 5:1 Ps 80:8; Jr 12:10; Mt 21:33; Lk 20:9

The one I love had a vineyard

on a very fertile hill.

2 He broke up the soil, cleared it of stones,

and planted it with the finest vines.  * 5:2 Jr 2:21

He built a tower in the middle of it

and even dug out a winepress there.

He expected  * 5:2 Is 40:31 it to yield good grapes,

but it yielded worthless grapes.  * 5:2 Mt 21:19; Mk 11:13; Lk 13:6

3 So now, residents of Jerusalem

and men of Judah,

please judge between me

and my vineyard.

4 What more could I have done for my vineyard

than I did?  * 5:4 Mc 6:3–4; Mt 23:37

Why, when I expected a yield of good grapes,

did it yield worthless grapes?

5 Now I will tell you

what I am about to do to my vineyard:

I will remove its hedge,  * 5:5 Ps 89:40; Jr 5:10

and it will be consumed;

I will tear down its wall,  * 5:5 Ps 80:12

and it will be trampled.

6 I will make it a wasteland.  * 5:6 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.  * 5:6 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.

7 For the vineyard of the  Lord of Armies

is the house of Israel,  * 5:7 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

8 Woe to those who add house to house  * 5:8 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.

9 I heard the Lord of Armies say:

Indeed, many houses  * 5:9 Am 3:10,15 will become desolate,

grand and lovely ones without inhabitants.

10 For 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

11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning

in pursuit of beer,  * 5:11 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.

12 At their feasts they have lyre, harp,

tambourine, flute, and wine.

They do not perceive the  Lord’s actions,  * 5:12 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.  * 5:12 Ex 32:16; 34:10; Ps 8:3,6; 19:1; 92:4–5; Is 10:12; 29:23

13 Therefore my people will go into exile

because they lack knowledge;  * 5:13 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.

14 Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat

and opens wide its enormous jaws,  * 5:14 Pr 30:16; Hab 2:5

and down go Zion’s dignitaries, her masses,

her crowds, and those who celebrate in her!

15 Humanity is brought low, each person is humbled,

and haughty eyes are humbled.  * 5:15 Is 2:9,11,17; 10:33

16 But the Lord of Armies is exalted by his justice,  * 5:16 Is 33:5,10

and the holy God  * 5:16 Is 6:3 demonstrates his holiness through his righteousness.  * 5:16 Is 8:13; 29:23; 1Pt 3:15

17 Lambs will graze

as if in  * 5:17 Syr reads graze in their own pastures,  * 5:17 Mc 2:12

and resident aliens  * 5:17 LXX reads sheep will eat

among the ruins of the rich.

18 Woe to those who drag iniquity

with cords of deceit  * 5:18 Pr 5:22; Is 59:4–8; Jr 23:10–14

and pull sin along with cart ropes,

19 to those who say,

"Let him hurry up and do his work quickly

so that we can see it!

Let the plan  * 5:19 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  * 5:19 Is 1:4 take place

so that we can know it! "

20 Woe to those who call evil good

and good evil,  * 5:20 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.

21 Woe to those who consider themselves wise

and judge themselves clever.  * 5:21 Lit and clever before their face,* 5:21 Pr 3:7; Rm 12:16; 1Co 3:18

22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,

who are champions at pouring beer,  * 5:22 Is 5:11

23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe  * 5:23 Ex 23:8; Pr 17:15; Is 1:23; 33:15

and deprive the innocent of justice.

24 Therefore, 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  * 5:24 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.  * 5:24 Is 5:19; Jr 51:5

25 Therefore the Lord’s anger burned  * 5:25 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,  * 5:25 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.  * 5:25 Is 9:12,17,21; 10:4; 14:27

26 He raises a signal flag for the distant nations  * 5:26 Is 10:5; 11:10,12; 13:2; 18:3

and whistles  * 5:26 Is 7:18; Zch 10:8 for them from the ends of the earth.

Look — how quickly and swiftly they come!

27 None of them grows weary or stumbles;  * 5:27 1Jn 2:10

no one slumbers or sleeps.

No belt is loose

and no sandal strap broken.

28 Their arrows are sharpened,

and all their bows strung.

Their horses’ hooves are like flint;

their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.

29 Their roaring is like a lion’s;  * 5:29 Jdg 14:5; Hs 13:8; Jl 1:6; Nah 2:12–13

they roar like young lions;  * 5:29 Rv 9:17

they growl and seize their prey

and carry it off,

and no one can rescue it.

30 On 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