Isaiah 5

The Song of the Vineyard

1 I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.

2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones
and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit.

3 “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.

4 What more could have been done for my vineyard
than I have done for it?
When I looked for good grapes,
why did it yield only bad?

5 Now I will tell you
what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
and it will be destroyed;
I will break down its wall,
and it will be trampled.

6 I will make it a wasteland,
neither pruned nor cultivated,
and briers and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds
not to rain on it.”

7 The vineyard of the Lord Almighty
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are the garden of his delight.
And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed;
for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

Woes and Judgments

8 Woe to you who add house to house
and join field to field
till no space is left
and you live alone in the land.

9 The Lord Almighty has declared in my hearing:
“Surely the great houses will become desolate,
the fine mansions left without occupants.

10 A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a bath of wine,
a homer of seed only an ephah of grain.”

11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning
to run after their drinks,
who stay up late at night
till they are inflamed with wine.

12 They have harps and lyres at their banquets,
tambourines and flutes and wine,
but they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord,
no respect for the work of his hands.

13 Therefore my people will go into exile
for lack of understanding;
their men of rank will die of hunger
and their masses will be parched with thirst.

14 Therefore the grave enlarges its appetite
and opens its mouth without limit;
into it will descend their nobles and masses
with all their brawlers and revelers.

15 So man will be brought low
and mankind humbled,
the eyes of the arrogant humbled.

16 But the Lord Almighty will be exalted by his justice,
and the holy God will show himself holy by his righteousness.

17 Then sheep will graze as in their own pasture;
lambs will feed among the ruins of the rich.

18 Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit,
and wickedness as with cart ropes,

19 to those who say, “Let God hurry,
let him hasten his work
so we may see it.
Let it approach,
let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come,
so we may know it.”

20 Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter.

21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and clever in their own sight.

22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine
and champions at mixing drinks,

23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
but deny justice to the innocent.

24 Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw
and as dry grass sinks down in the flames,
so their roots will decay
and their flowers blow away like dust;
for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty
and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25 Therefore the Lord's anger burns against his people;
his hand is raised and he strikes them down.
The mountains shake,
and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets.

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
his hand is still upraised.

26 He lifts up a banner for the distant nations,
he whistles for those at the ends of the earth.
Here they come,
swiftly and speedily!

27 Not one of them grows tired or stumbles,
not one slumbers or sleeps;
not a belt is loosened at the waist,
not a sandal thong is broken.

28 Their arrows are sharp,
all their bows are strung;
their horses' hoofs seem like flint,
their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.

29 Their roar is like that of the lion,
they roar like young lions;
they growl as they seize their prey
and carry it off with no one to rescue.

30 In that day they will roar over it
like the roaring of the sea.
And if one looks at the land,
he will see darkness and distress;
even the light will be darkened by the clouds.

ISAIAH 5

A Song about a Vineyard

The [Lord] said:

1  t I will sing a song
about my friend's vineyard
that was on the side
of a fertile hill.

2 My 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.

3 Listen, people of Jerusalem
and of Judah!
You be the judge of me
and my vineyard.

4 What more could I have done
for my vineyard?
I hoped for sweet grapes,
but bitter grapes
were all that grew.

5 Now 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.

6 It 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.

7 I 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

9 But 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.

10 Four hectares of grapevines will produce only 27 liters of juice, and 180 liters of seed will produce merely 18 liters of grain.
11  t You are in for trouble! You get up early to start drinking, and you keep it up late into the night. 12 At your drinking parties you have the music of stringed instruments, tambourines, and flutes. But you never even think about all the [Lord] has done,

13 and 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.
14 The 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. 15 Its citizens have been put down, and its proud people have been brought to shame. 16 But the holy [Lord] God All-Powerful is praised, because he has shown who he is by bringing justice.

17 His people will be like sheep grazing in their own pasture, and they will take off what was left by others.t
18 You are in for trouble! The lies you tell are like ropes by which you drag along sin and evil. 19 And you say, “Let the holy God of Israel hurry up and do what he has promised, so we can see it for ourselves.”

20 You are headed for trouble! You say wrong is right, darkness is light, and bitter is sweet.
21 You think you are clever and smart. 22 And you are great at drinking and mixing drinks. But you are in for trouble.

23 You accept bribes to let the guilty go free, and you cheat the innocent out of a fair trial.

24 You 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.

25 You 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.t

Foreign Nations Will Attack

28 Their 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.
29 They roar and growl like fierce young lions as they grab their victims and drag them off where no one can rescue them. 30 On 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.