Isaiah 5

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