Isaiah 5

The Vineyard of the  Lord Destroyed

1  Let me sing for my beloved
my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
 2 He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with b choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and c he looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
 3  And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
 4  d What more was there to do for my vineyard,
that I have not done in it?
e When I looked for it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
 5  And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove f its hedge,
and it shall be devoured; ▼
▼ Or grazed over; compare Exodus 22:5

h I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
 6 I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and i briers and thorns shall grow up;
j I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
 7  k For 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; ▼
▼ The Hebrew words for  justice and  bloodshed sound alike

for righteousness,
but behold, an outcry! ▼
▼ The Hebrew words for  righteous and  outcry sound alike

Woe to the Wicked

8  Woe to those who n join 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.
 9 The  Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:
o “Surely many houses shall be desolate,
large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
 10  p For ten acres ▼
▼ Hebrew  ten yoke, the area ten yoke of oxen can plow in a day
 of vineyard shall yield but one bath,
and a r homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.” ▼
▼ A  bath was about 6 gallons or 22 liters; a  homer was about 6 bushels or 220 liters; an  ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters

 11  Woe to those who t rise early in the morning,
that they may run after strong drink,
who tarry late into the evening
as wine inflames them!
 12  u They have lyre and harp,
tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts,
v but they do not regard the deeds of the  Lord,
or see the work of his hands.
 13  Therefore my people go into exile
w for lack of knowledge; ▼
▼ Or without their knowledge

their y honored men go hungry, ▼
▼ Or die of hunger

and their multitude is parched with thirst.
 14 Therefore Sheol has aa enlarged its appetite
and opened ab its mouth beyond measure,
and the nobility of Jerusalem ▼
▼ Hebrew her nobility
 and her multitude will go down,
her revelers and he who ad exults in her.
 15  ae Man is humbled, and each one is brought low,
and the eyes of the haughty ▼
▼ Hebrew high
 are brought low.
 16  ag But the  Lord of hosts is exalted ▼
▼ Hebrew high
 in justice,
and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.
 17 Then shall the lambs graze ai as in their pasture,
and aj nomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.
 18  Woe to those who draw iniquity with ak cords of falsehood,
who draw sin as with cart ropes,
 19 who say: al “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!”
 20 Woe to am those who call evil good
and good evil,
an who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!
 21 Woe to those who are ao wise in their own eyes,
and shrewd in their own sight!
 22 Woe to those who are ap heroes at drinking wine,
and valiant men in mixing strong drink,
 23 who aq acquit the guilty for a bribe,
and deprive the innocent of his right!
 24  Therefore, ar as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,
so as their root will be at as rottenness,
and their blossom go up like dust;
for they have au rejected the law of the  Lord of hosts,
and have av despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
 25 Therefore aw the anger of the  Lord was kindled against his people,
and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them,
and ax the mountains quaked;
and their corpses were ay as refuse
in the midst of the streets.
az For all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.
 26  He will ba raise a signal for nations far away,
and bb whistle for them bc from the ends of the earth;
and behold, quickly, speedily they come!
 27  bd None is weary, none stumbles,
none slumbers or sleeps,
not a waistband is loose,
not a sandal strap broken;
 28  be their arrows are sharp,
all their bows bent,
their horses’ hoofs seem like flint,
and their wheels bf like the whirlwind.
 29 Their roaring is like a lion,
like young lions they roar;
they growl and bg seize their prey;
they carry it off, and none can rescue.
 30 They will growl over it on that day,
like the growling of the sea.
And if one looks to the land,
behold bh darkness and distress;
and the light is darkened by its clouds.
Copyright information for ESV