Isaiah 5:8–30

Woes for the Wicked

⁸Woe to those who ^aadd house to house and join field to field,

Until there is no more room,

So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!

⁹In my ears the Lord of hosts has sworn, “Surely, ^amany houses shall become ^bdesolate,

Even great and fine ones, without occupants.

¹⁰“For ^aten acres of vineyard will yield only one ¹bath of wine,

And a ^bhomer of seed will yield but an ²ephah of grain.”

¹¹Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue ^astrong drink,

Who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them!

¹²Their banquets are accompanied by lyre and ^aharp, by tambourine and flute, and by wine;

But they ^bdo not pay attention to the deeds of the Lord,

Nor do they consider the work of His hands.

¹³Therefore My people go into exile for their ^alack of knowledge;

And ¹their ^bhonorable men are famished,

And their multitude is parched with thirst.

¹⁴Therefore ^aSheol has enlarged its ¹throat and opened its mouth without measure;

And ²Jerusalem’s splendor, her multitude, her din of revelry and the jubilant within her, descend into it.

¹⁵So the common man will be humbled and the man of importance abased,

^aThe eyes of the proud also will be abased.

¹⁶But the ^aLord of hosts will be ^bexalted in judgment,

And the holy God will show Himself ^choly in righteousness.

^17aThen the lambs will graze as in their pasture,

And strangers will eat in the waste places of the ¹wealthy.

¹⁸Woe to those who drag ^ainiquity with the cords of ¹falsehood,

And sin as if with cart ropes;

^19aWho say, “Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it;

And let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near

And come to pass, that we may know it!”

²⁰Woe to those who ^acall evil good, and good evil;

Who ^1bsubstitute darkness for light and light for darkness;

Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

²¹Woe to those who are ^awise in their own eyes

And clever in their own sight!

^22aWoe to those who are heroes in drinking wine

And valiant men in mixing strong drink,

^23aWho justify the wicked for a bribe,

And ^btake away the ¹rights of the ones who are in the right!

²⁴Therefore, ^aas a tongue of fire consumes stubble

And dry grass collapses into the flame,

So their ^broot will become ^clike rot and their blossom ¹blow away as dust;

For they have ^drejected the law of the Lord of hosts

And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

²⁵On this account the ^aanger of the Lord has burned against His people,

And He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them down.

And the ^bmountains quaked, and their ^ccorpses ¹lay like refuse in the middle of the streets.

^dFor all this His anger ²is not spent,

But His ^ehand is still stretched out.

²⁶He will also lift up a ^astandard to the ¹distant nation,

And will ^bwhistle for it ^cfrom the ends of the earth;

And behold, it will ^dcome with speed swiftly.

^27aNo one in it is weary or stumbles,

None slumbers or sleeps;

Nor is the ^bbelt at its waist undone,

Nor its sandal strap broken.

^281aIts arrows are sharp and all its bows are bent;

The hoofs of its horses ²seem like flint and its chariot ^bwheels like a whirlwind.

²⁹Its ^aroaring is like a lioness, and it roars like young lions;

It growls as it ^bseizes the prey

And carries it off with ^cno one to deliver it.

³⁰And it will ^agrowl over it in that day like the roaring of the sea.

If one ^blooks to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress;

Even the light is darkened by its clouds.