Isaiah 3–5

JUDAH’S LEADERS JUDGED

3Note this: The Lord God of Armies

is about to remove from Jerusalem and from Judah

every kind of security:

the entire supply of bread and water,

²heroes and warriors,^w

judges and prophets,

fortune-tellers and elders,

³commanders of fifty and dignitaries,

counselors, cunning magicians,^A and necromancers.^B

⁴“I will make youths their leaders,^x

and unstable rulers^C will govern them.”

⁵The people will oppress one another,^y

man against man, neighbor against neighbor;

the young will act arrogantly toward the old,

and the worthless toward the honorable.

⁶A man will even seize his brother

in his father’s house, saying,

“You have a cloak—you be our leader!

This heap of rubble will be under your control.”

⁷On that day he will cry out, saying,

“I’m not a healer.

I don’t even have food or clothing in my house.

Don’t make me the leader of the people!”

⁸For Jerusalem has stumbled

and Judah has fallen

because they have spoken and acted against the Lord,^z

defying his glorious presence.^a

⁹The look on their faces testifies against them,

and like Sodom,^b they flaunt their sin;

they do not conceal it.

Woe to them,

for they have brought disaster on themselves.^c

¹⁰Tell the righteous that it will go well for them,

for they will eat the fruit of their labor.

¹¹Woe to the wicked—it will go badly for them,

for what they have done will be done to them.

¹²Youths oppress my people,^d

and women rule over them.

My people, your leaders mislead you;

they confuse the direction of your paths.^e

¹³The Lord rises to argue the case

and stands to judge the people.^f

¹⁴The Lord brings this charge

against the elders and leaders of his people:^g

“You have devastated the vineyard.

The plunder from the poor is in your houses.^h

¹⁵Why do you crush my people

and grind the faces of the poor?”

This is the declaration

of the Lord God of Armies.

JERUSALEM’S WOMEN JUDGED

¹⁶The Lord also says:

Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,ⁱ

walking with heads held high

and seductive eyes,

prancing along,

jingling their ankle bracelets,

¹⁷the Lord will put scabs on the heads

of the daughters of Zion,

and the Lord will shave their foreheads bare.

¹⁸On that day^j the Lord will strip their finery: ankle bracelets, headbands, crescents,^{k 19}pendants, bracelets, veils, ²⁰headdresses, ankle jewelry, sashes, perfume bottles, amulets,^{l 21}signet rings, nose rings,^{m 22}festive robes, capes, cloaks, purses, ²³garments, linen clothes, turbans, and shawls.

²⁴Instead of perfume there will be a stench;

instead of a belt, a rope;

instead of beautifully styled hair,ⁿ baldness;^o

instead of fine clothes, sackcloth;^p

instead of beauty, branding.^A

²⁵Your men will fall by the sword,

your warriors in battle.

²⁶Then her gates^q will lament and mourn;

deserted, she will sit on the ground.^r

4On that day seven women

will seize one man,^s saying,

“We will eat our own bread

and provide our own clothing.

Just let us bear your name.

Take away our disgrace.”^t

ZION’S FUTURE GLORY

²On that day the Branch^B of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious,^u and the fruit of the land^v will be the pride and glory^w of Israel’s survivors.^{x 3}Whoever remains in Zion and whoever is left in Jerusalem^y will be called holy^z—all in Jerusalem written in the book of life^Caa—⁴when the Lord has washed away the filth^ab of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodguilt^ac from the heart of Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment^ad and a spirit of burning.^{ae 5}Then the Lord will create^af a cloud of smoke by day^ag and a glowing flame of fire by night over the entire site of Mount Zion and over its assemblies. For there will be a canopy over all the glory,^{D 6}and there will be a shelter for shade from heat by day and a refuge and shelter from storm and rain.^ah

SONG OF THE VINEYARD

5I will sing about the one I love,

a song about my loved one’s vineyard:^ai

The one I love had a vineyard

on a very fertile hill.

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

and planted it with the finest vines.^aj

He built a tower in the middle of it

and even dug out a winepress there.

He expected^ak it to yield good grapes,

but it yielded worthless grapes.^al

³So now, residents of Jerusalem

and men of Judah,

please judge between me

and my vineyard.

⁴What more could I have done for my vineyard

than I did?^a

Why, when I expected a yield of good grapes,

did it yield worthless grapes?

⁵Now I will tell you

what I am about to do to my vineyard:

I will remove its hedge,^b

and it will be consumed;

I will tear down its wall,^c

and it will be trampled.

⁶I will make it a wasteland.^d

It will not be pruned or weeded;

thorns and briers will grow up.^e

I will also give orders to the clouds

that rain should not fall on it.

⁷For the vineyard of the Lord of Armies

is the house of Israel,^f

and the men^A 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

⁸Woe to those who add house to house^g

and join field to field

until there is no more room

and you alone are left in the land.

⁹I heard the Lord of Armies say:

Indeed, many houses^h will become desolate,

grand and lovely ones without inhabitants.

¹⁰For a ten-acre^B vineyard will yield

only six gallons of wine,^C

and ten bushels^D of seed will yield

only one bushel of grain.^E

¹¹Woe to those who rise early in the morning

in pursuit of beer,ⁱ

who linger into the evening,

inflamed by wine.

¹²At their feasts they have lyre, harp,

tambourine, flute, and wine.

They do not perceive the Lord’s actions,^j

and they do not see the work of his hands.^k

¹³Therefore my people will go into exile

because they lack knowledge;^l

her^F dignitaries are starving,

and her masses are parched with thirst.

¹⁴Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat

and opens wide its enormous jaws,^m

and down go Zion’s dignitaries, her masses,

her crowds, and those who celebrate in her!

¹⁵Humanity is brought low, each person is humbled,

and haughty eyes are humbled.ⁿ

¹⁶But the Lord of Armies is exalted by his justice,^o

and the holy God^p demonstrates his holiness through his righteousness.^q

¹⁷Lambs will graze

as if in^G their own pastures,^r

and resident aliens^H will eat

among the ruins of the rich.

¹⁸Woe to those who drag iniquity

with cords of deceit^s

and pull sin along with cart ropes,

¹⁹to those who say,

“Let him hurry up and do his work quickly

so that we can see it!

Let the plan^t of the Holy One of Israel^u take place

so that we can know it!”

²⁰Woe to those who call evil good

and good evil,^v

who substitute darkness for light

and light for darkness,

who substitute bitter for sweet

and sweet for bitter.

²¹Woe to those who consider themselves wise

and judge themselves clever.^Aw

²²Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,

who are champions at pouring beer,^x

²³who acquit the guilty for a bribe^y

and deprive the innocent of justice.

²⁴Therefore, 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^a

the instruction of the Lord of Armies,

and they have despised

the word of the Holy One of Israel.^b

²⁵Therefore the Lord’s anger burned^c against his people.

He raised his hand against them and struck them;

the mountains quaked,^d

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.^e

²⁶He raises a signal flag for the distant nations^f

and whistles^g for them from the ends of the earth.

Look—how quickly and swiftly they come!

²⁷None of them grows weary or stumbles;^h

no one slumbers or sleeps.

No belt is loose

and no sandal strap broken.

²⁸Their arrows are sharpened,

and all their bows strung.

Their horses’ hooves are like flint;

their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.

²⁹Their roaring is like a lion’s;ⁱ

they roar like young lions;^j

they growl and seize their prey

and carry it off,

and no one can rescue it.

³⁰On 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.^B