Isaiah 5–6

The Vineyard of the Lord Destroyed

5Let me sing for my beloved

my love song concerning his vineyard:

My beloved had ^va vineyard

on a very fertile hill.

²He dug it and cleared it of stones,

and planted it with ^wchoice vines;

he built a watchtower in the midst of it,

and hewed out a wine vat in it;

and ^xhe looked for it to yield grapes,

but it yielded wild grapes.

³And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem

and men of Judah,

judge between me and my vineyard.

^4yWhat more was there to do for my vineyard,

that I have not done in it?

^xWhen I looked for it to yield grapes,

why did it yield wild grapes?

⁵And now I will tell you

what I will do to my vineyard.

I will remove ^zits hedge,

and it shall be devoured;¹

^aI will break down its wall,

and it shall be trampled down.

⁶I will make it a waste;

it shall not be pruned or hoed,

and ^bbriers and thorns shall grow up;

^cI will also command the clouds

that they rain no rain upon it.

^7dFor the vineyard of the Lord of hosts

is the house of Israel,

and the men of Judah

are his pleasant planting;

and he looked for justice,

but behold, bloodshed;²

for righteousness,

but behold, an outcry!³

Woe to the Wicked

⁸Woe to those who ^ejoin house to house,

who add field to field,

until there is no more room,

and you are made to dwell alone

in the midst of the land.

⁹The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:

^f“Surely many houses shall be desolate,

large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.

^10gFor ten acres⁴ of vineyard shall yield but one bath,

and a ^hhomer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”⁵

¹¹Woe to those who ⁱrise early in the morning,

that they may run after strong drink,

who tarry late into the evening

as wine inflames them!

^12jThey have lyre and harp,

tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts,

^kbut they do not regard the deeds of the Lord,

or see the work of his hands.

¹³Therefore my people go into exile

^lfor lack of knowledge;⁶

their ^mhonored men go hungry,⁷

and their multitude is parched with thirst.

¹⁴Therefore Sheol has ⁿenlarged its appetite

and opened ^oits mouth beyond measure,

and the nobility of Jerusalem⁸ and her multitude will go down,

her revelers and he who ^pexults in her.

^15qMan is humbled, and each one is brought low,

and the eyes of the haughty⁹ are brought low.

^16rBut the Lord of hosts is exalted¹⁰ in justice,

and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.

¹⁷Then shall the lambs graze ^sas in their pasture,

and ^tnomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.

¹⁸Woe to those who draw iniquity with ^ucords of falsehood,

who draw sin as with cart ropes,

¹⁹who say: ^v“Let him be quick,

let him speed his work

that we may see it;

let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near,

and let it come, that we may know it!”

²⁰Woe to ^wthose who call evil good

and good evil,

^xwho put darkness for light

and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet

and sweet for bitter!

²¹Woe to those who are ^ywise in their own eyes,

and shrewd in their own sight!

²²Woe to those who are ^zheroes at drinking wine,

and valiant men in mixing strong drink,

²³who ^aacquit the guilty for a bribe,

and deprive the innocent of his right!

²⁴Therefore, ^bas the tongue of fire devours the stubble,

and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,

so ^ctheir root will be ^das rottenness,

and their blossom go up like dust;

for they have ^erejected the law of the Lord of hosts,

and have ^fdespised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

²⁵Therefore ^gthe anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,

and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them,

and ^hthe mountains quaked;

and their corpses were ⁱas refuse

in the midst of the streets.

^jFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

²⁶He will ^kraise a signal for nations far away,

and ^lwhistle for them ^mfrom the ends of the earth;

and behold, quickly, speedily they come!

²⁷ⁿNone is weary, none stumbles,

none slumbers or sleeps,

not a waistband is loose,

not a sandal strap broken;

^28otheir arrows are sharp,

all their bows bent,

their horses’ hoofs seem like flint,

and their wheels ^plike the whirlwind.

²⁹Their roaring is like a lion,

like young lions they roar;

they growl and ^qseize their prey;

they carry it off, and none can rescue.

³⁰They will growl over it on that day,

like the growling of the sea.

And if one looks to the land,

behold, ^rdarkness and distress;

and the light is darkened by its clouds.

Isaiah’s Vision of the Lord

6In the year that ^sKing Uzziah died I ^tsaw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train¹ of his robe filled the temple. ²Above him stood the seraphim. Each had ^usix wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³And one called to another and said:

^u“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

^vthe whole earth is full of his glory!”²

⁴And ^wthe foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and ^xthe house was filled with smoke. ⁵And I said: “Woe is me! ^yFor I am lost; ^zfor I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the ^aKing, the Lord of hosts!”

⁶Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷And he ^btouched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

Isaiah’s Commission from the Lord

⁸And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for ^cus?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” ⁹And he said, “Go, and say to this people:

^d“ ‘Keep on hearing,³ but do not understand;

keep on seeing,⁴ but do not perceive.’

^10eMake the heart of this people ^fdull,⁵

and their ears heavy,

and blind their eyes;

^glest they see with their eyes,

and hear with their ears,

and understand with their hearts,

and turn and be healed.”

¹¹Then I said, ^h“How long, O Lord?”

And he said:

“Until ⁱcities lie waste

without inhabitant,

and houses without people,

and the land is a desolate waste,

¹²and the Lord removes people far away,

and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

^13jAnd though a tenth remain in it,

it will be burned⁶ again,

like a terebinth or an oak,

whose stump ^kremains

when it is felled.”

^lThe holy seed⁷ is its stump.