Isaiah 5–6

Chapter 5

A Song about the Lord’s Vineyard

¹Now I will sing for the one I love

a song about his vineyard:

My beloved had a vineyard

on a rich and fertile hill.

²He plowed the land, cleared its stones,

and planted it with the best vines.

In the middle he built a watchtower

and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks.

Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes,

but the grapes that grew were bitter.

³Now, you people of Jerusalem and Judah,

you judge between me and my vineyard.

⁴What more could I have done for my vineyard

that I have not already done?

When I expected sweet grapes,

why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes?

⁵Now let me tell you

what I will do to my vineyard:

I will tear down its hedges

and let it be destroyed.

I will break down its walls

and let the animals trample it.

⁶I will make it a wild place

where the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed,

a place overgrown with briers and thorns.

I will command the clouds

to drop no rain on it.

⁷The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

The people of Judah are his pleasant garden.

He expected a crop of justice,

but instead he found oppression.

He expected to find righteousness,

but instead he heard cries of violence.

Judah’s Guilt and Judgment

⁸What sorrow for you who buy up house after house and field after field,

until everyone is evicted and you live alone in the land.

⁹But I have heard the Lord of Heaven’s Armies

swear a solemn oath:

“Many houses will stand deserted;

even beautiful mansions will be empty.

¹⁰Ten acres of vineyard will not produce even six gallons of wine.

Ten baskets of seed will yield only one basket of grain.”

¹¹What sorrow for those who get up early in the morning

looking for a drink of alcohol

and spend long evenings drinking wine

to make themselves flaming drunk.

¹²They furnish wine and lovely music at their grand parties—

lyre and harp, tambourine and flute—

but they never think about the Lord

or notice what he is doing.

¹³So my people will go into exile far away

because they do not know me.

Those who are great and honored will starve,

and the common people will die of thirst.

¹⁴The grave is licking its lips in anticipation,

opening its mouth wide.

The great and the lowly

and all the drunken mob will be swallowed up.

¹⁵Humanity will be destroyed, and people brought down;

even the arrogant will lower their eyes in humiliation.

¹⁶But the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will be exalted by his justice.

The holiness of God will be displayed by his righteousness.

¹⁷In that day lambs will find good pastures,

and fattened sheep and young goats will feed among the ruins.

¹⁸What sorrow for those who drag their sins behind them

with ropes made of lies,

who drag wickedness behind them like a cart!

¹⁹They even mock God and say,

“Hurry up and do something!

We want to see what you can do.

Let the Holy One of Israel carry out his plan,

for we want to know what it is.”

²⁰What sorrow for those who say

that evil is good and good is evil,

that dark is light and light is dark,

that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.

²¹What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes

and think themselves so clever.

²²What sorrow for those who are heroes at drinking wine

and boast about all the alcohol they can hold.

²³They take bribes to let the wicked go free,

and they punish the innocent.

²⁴Therefore, just as fire licks up stubble

and dry grass shrivels in the flame,

so their roots will rot

and their flowers wither.

For they have rejected the law of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies;

they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

²⁵That is why the Lord’s anger burns against his people,

and why he has raised his fist to crush them.

The mountains tremble,

and the corpses of his people litter the streets like garbage.

But even then the Lord’s anger is not satisfied.

His fist is still poised to strike!

²⁶He will send a signal to distant nations far away

and whistle to those at the ends of the earth.

They will come racing toward Jerusalem.

²⁷They will not get tired or stumble.

They will not stop for rest or sleep.

Not a belt will be loose,

not a sandal strap broken.

²⁸Their arrows will be sharp

and their bows ready for battle.

Sparks will fly from their horses’ hooves,

and the wheels of their chariots will spin like a whirlwind.

²⁹They will roar like lions,

like the strongest of lions.

Growling, they will pounce on their victims and carry them off,

and no one will be there to rescue them.

³⁰They will roar over their victims on that day of destruction

like the roaring of the sea.

If someone looks across the land,

only darkness and distress will be seen;

even the light will be darkened by clouds.

Chapter 6

Isaiah’s Cleansing and Call

It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. ²Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. ³They were calling out to each other,

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!

The whole earth is filled with his glory!”

⁴Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.

⁵Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”

⁶Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. ⁷He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”

⁸Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?”

I said, “Here I am. Send me.”

⁹And he said, “Yes, go, and say to this people,

‘Listen carefully, but do not understand.

Watch closely, but learn nothing.’

¹⁰Harden the hearts of these people.

Plug their ears and shut their eyes.

That way, they will not see with their eyes,

nor hear with their ears,

nor understand with their hearts

and turn to me for healing.”

¹¹Then I said, “Lord, how long will this go on?”

And he replied,

“Until their towns are empty,

their houses are deserted,

and the whole country is a wasteland;

¹²until the Lord has sent everyone away,

and the entire land of Israel lies deserted.

¹³If even a tenth—a remnant—survive,

it will be invaded again and burned.

But as a terebinth or oak tree leaves a stump when it is cut down,

so Israel’s stump will be a holy seed.”