Isaiah 5

Israel, the Lord’s Vineyard

1 Now I will sing for my friend a song about his vineyard.
My friend had a vineyard on a hill with very rich soil.

2 He dug and cleared the field of stones and planted the best grapevines there.
He built a tower in the middle of it and cut out a winepress as well.
He hoped good grapes would grow there, but only bad ones grew.

3 My friend says, “You people living in Jerusalem, and you people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.

4 What more could I have done for my vineyard than I have already done?
Although I expected good grapes to grow, why were there only bad ones?

5 Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard:
I will remove the hedge, and it will be burned.
I will break down the stone wall, and it will be walked on.

6 I will ruin my field. It will not be trimmed or hoed, and weeds and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds not to rain on it.”

7 The vineyard belonging to the Lord All-Powerful is the nation of Israel;
the garden that he loves is the people of Judah.
He looked for justice, but there was only killing. He hoped for right living, but there were only cries of pain.

8 How terrible it will be for you who add more houses to your houses and more fields to your fields
until there is no room left for other people. Then you are left alone in the land.

9 The Lord All-Powerful said this to me:
“The fine houses will be destroyed; the large and beautiful houses will be left empty.

10 At that time a ten-acre vineyard will make only six gallons of wine, and ten bushels of seed will grow only half a bushel of grain.”

11 How terrible it will be for people who rise early in the morning to look for strong drink,
who stay awake late at night, becoming drunk with wine.

12 At their parties they have lyres, harps, tambourines, flutes, and wine.
They don’t see what the Lord has done or notice the work of his hands.

13 So my people will be captured and taken away, because they don’t really know me.
All the great people will die of hunger, and the common people will die of thirst.

14 So the place of the dead wants more and more people, and it opens wide its mouth.
Jerusalem’s important people and common people will go down into it, with their happy and noisy ones.

15 So the common people and the great people will be brought down; those who are proud will be humbled.

16 The Lord All-Powerful will receive glory by judging fairly; the holy God will show himself holy by doing what is right.

17 Then the sheep will go anywhere they want, and lambs will feed on the land that rich people once owned.

18 How terrible it will be for those people! They pull their guilt and sins behind them as people pull wagons with ropes.

19 They say, “Let God hurry; let him do his work soon so we may see it.
Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel happen soon so that we will know what it is.”

20 How terrible it will be for people who call good things bad and bad things good,
who think darkness is light and light is darkness,
who think sour is sweet and sweet is sour.

21 How terrible it will be for people who think they are wise and believe they are clever.

22 How terrible it will be for people who are famous for drinking wine and are champions at mixing drinks.

23 They take money to set the guilty free and don’t allow good people to be judged fairly.

24 They will be destroyed just as fire burns straw or dry grass.
They will be destroyed like a plant whose roots rot and whose flower dies and blows away like dust.
They have refused to obey the teachings of the Lord All-Powerful and have hated the message from the Holy God of Israel.

25 So the Lord has become very angry with his people, and he has raised his hand to punish them.
Even the mountains are frightened. Dead bodies lie in the streets like garbage.
But the Lord is still angry; his hand is still raised to strike down the people.

26 He raises a banner for the nations far away. He whistles to call those people from the ends of the earth.
Look! The enemy comes quickly!

27 Not one of them becomes tired or falls down. Not one of them gets sleepy and falls asleep.
Their weapons are close at hand, and their sandal straps are not broken.

28 Their arrows are sharp, and all of their bows are ready to shoot.
The horses’ hoofs are hard as rocks, and their chariot wheels move like a whirlwind.

29 Their shout is like the roar of a lion; it is loud like a young lion.
They growl as they grab their captives. There is no one to stop them from taking their captives away.

30 On that day they will roar like the waves of the sea.
And when people look at the land, they will see only darkness and pain; all light will become dark in this thick cloud.

Isaiah 5

1 Let me sing for my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:2 and he digged it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?5 And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; I will break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:6 and I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor hoed; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.7 For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry.8 Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no room, and ye be made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!9 In mine ears saith Jehovah of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.11 Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that tarry late into the night, till wine inflame them!12 And the harp and the lute, the tabret and the pipe, and wine, are in their feasts; but they regard not the work of Jehovah, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.13 Therefore my people are gone into captivity for lack of knowledge; and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude are parched with thirst.14 Therefore Sheol hath enlarged its desire, and opened its mouth without measure; and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth among them, descend into it.15 And the mean man is bowed down, and the great man is humbled, and the eyes of the lofty are humbled:16 but Jehovah of hosts is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.17 Then shall the lambs feed as in their pasture, and the waste places of the fat ones shall wanderers eat.18 Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and sin as it were with a cart rope;19 that 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 nigh and come, that we may know it!20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink;23 that justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!24 Therefore as the tongue of fire devoureth the stubble, and as the dry grass sinketh down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have rejected the law of Jehovah of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.25 Therefore is the anger of Jehovah kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them; and the mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.26 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss for them from the end of the earth; and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly.27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:28 whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses’ hoofs shall be accounted as flint, and their wheels as a whirlwind:29 their roaring shall be like a lioness, they shall roar like young lions; yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and carry it away safe, and there shall be none to deliver.30 And they shall roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold, darkness and distress; and the light is darkened in the clouds thereof.