Isaiah 5:1–30
5 I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:r
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.s
He built a watchtowert in it
and cut out a winepressu as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit.v
3 “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.w
4 What more could have been done for my vineyard
than I have done for it?x
When I looked for good grapes,
why did it yield only bad?y
what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
and it will be destroyed;z
I will break down its wall,a
and it will be trampled.b
6 I will make it a wasteland,c
neither pruned nor cultivated,
and briers and thornsd will grow there.
I will command the clouds
not to raine on it.”
7 The vineyardf of the Lord Almighty
is the nation of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are the vines he delighted in.
And he looked for justice,g but saw bloodshed;
for righteousness,h but heard cries of distress.i
8 Woej to you who add house to house
and join field to fieldk
till no space is left
and you live alone in the land.
9 The Lord Almightyl has declared in my hearing:m
“Surely the great houses will become desolate,n
the fine mansions left without occupants.
10 A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a batha of wine;
a homerb of seed will yield only an ephahc of grain.”o
11 Woep 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.q
12 They have harps and lyres at their banquets,
pipesr and timbrelss and wine,
but they have no regardt for the deeds of the Lord,
no respect for the work of his hands.u
13 Therefore my people will go into exilev
for lack of understanding;w
those of high rankx will die of hunger
and the common people will be parched with thirst.y
14 Therefore Deathz expands its jaws,
opening wide its mouth;a
into it will descend their nobles and masses
with all their brawlers and revelers.b
15 So people will be brought lowc
and everyone humbled,d
the eyes of the arrogante humbled.
16 But the Lord Almighty will be exaltedf by his justice,g
and the holy God will be proved holyh by his righteous acts.
17 Then sheep will graze as in their own pasture;i
lambs will feedd among the ruins of the rich.
18 Woej to those who draw sin along with cordsk of deceit,
and wickednessl as with cart ropes,
19 to those who say, “Let God hurry;
let him hastenm his work
so we may see it.
The plan of the Holy Onen of Israel—
let it approach, let it come into view,
so we may know it.”o
20 Woep to those who call evil goodq
and good evil,r
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,s
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter.t
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyesu
and clever in their own sight.
22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking winev
and champions at mixing drinks,w
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe,x
but deny justicey to the innocent.z
24 Therefore, as tongues of firea lick up strawb
and as dry grass sinks down in the flames,
so their roots will decayc
and their flowers blow away like dust;d
for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty
and spurned the worde of the Holy Onef of Israel.
25 Therefore the Lord’s angerg burns against his people;
his hand is raised and he strikes them down.
The mountains shake,h
and the dead bodiesi are like refusej in the streets.k
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,l
his hand is still upraised.m
26 He lifts up a bannern for the distant nations,
he whistleso for those at the ends of the earth.p
Here they come,
swiftly and speedily!
27 Not one of them grows tiredq or stumbles,
not one slumbers or sleeps;
not a beltr is loosened at the waist,s
not a sandal strap is broken.t
28 Their arrows are sharp,u
all their bowsv are strung;
their horses’ hoovesw seem like flint,
their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.x
29 Their roar is like that of the lion,y
they roar like young lions;
they growl as they seizez their prey
and carry it off with no one to rescue.a
30 In that dayb they will roar over it
like the roaring of the sea.c
And if one looks at the land,
there is only darknessd and distress;e
even the sun will be darkenedf by clouds.