The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Isaiah 05
1 Let me sing for my well beloved a song of
my beloved about his vineyard.
My beloved had a vineyard on a very
fruitful hill.
2 He dug it up, gathered out its stones,
planted it with the choicest vine,
built a tower in the middle of it,
and also cut out a wine press in it.
He looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
3 “Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men
of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What could have been done more to my
vineyard, that I have not done in it?
Why, when I looked for it to yield
grapes, did it yield wild grapes?
5 Now I will tell you what I will do to my
vineyard. I willtake away its hedge, and it will be
eaten up. I will break down its wall, and it will
be trampled down.
6 I will lay it a wasteland.
It won’t be pruned or hoed,
but it will grow briers and thorns.
I will also command the clouds that
they rain no rain on it.”
7 For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is
the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant
plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression,
for righteousness, but behold, a cry of
distress.
8 Woe to those who join house to house,
who lay field to field, until there is no
room, and you are made to dwell alone in the
middle of the land!
9 In my ears, Yahweh of Armies says:
“Surely many houses will be desolate,
even great and beautiful, unoccupied.
10 For ten acres† of vineyard shall yield one
bath,‡ and a homer§ of seed shall yield an
ephah.Ӡ
11 Woe to those who rise up early in
the morning, that they may follow
strong drink, who stay late into the night, until wine
inflames them!
12 The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute,
with wine, are at their feasts;
but they don’t respect the work of Yahweh,
neither have they considered the operation of his hands.
13 There for emy people go into captivity for
lack of knowledge. Their honorable men are famished,
and their multitudes are parched with
thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol‡ has enlarged its desire,
and opened its mouth without measure;
and their glory, their multitude, their
pomp, and he who rejoices among
them, descend into it.
15 So man is brought low, mankind is humbled,
and the eyes of the arrogant ones are
humbled;
16 but Yahweh of Armies is exalted in justice,
and God the Holy One is sanctified in
righteousness.
17 Then the lambs will graze as in their
pasture, and strangers will eat the ruins of the
rich.
18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with
cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope,
19 who say, “Let him make haste, let him
hasten his work, that we may see it;
letthe counsel oftheHoly One ofIsrael
draw near and come, that we may know it!”
20 Woe to those who call evil good, and
good evil; who put darkness for light,
and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet,
and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own
eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
22 Woe to those who are mighty to drink
wine, and champions at mixing strong
drink;
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
but deny justice for the innocent!
24 Therefore as the tongue of fire devours
the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the
flame, so their root shall be as rottenness,
and their blossom shall go up as dust,
because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies,
and despised the word ofthe Holy One
of Israel.
25 Therefore Yahweh’s anger burns against
his people, and he has stretched out his hand
against them and has struck them.
The mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in
the middle of the streets.
For all this, his anger is not turned away,
but his hand is still stretched out.
26 He will lift up a banner to the nations
from far away, and he will whistle for them from the
end of the earth. Behold, they will come speedily and
swiftly.
27 No one shall be weary nor stumble
among them; no one shall slumber nor sleep,
neither shall the belt of their waist be
untied, nor the strap of their sandals be broken,
28 whose arrows are sharp,
and all their bows bent.
Their horses’ hoofs will be like flint,
and their wheels like a whirlwind.
29 Their roaring will be like a lioness.
They will roar like young lions.
Yes, they shall roar,
and seize their prey and carry it off,
and there will be no one to deliver.
30 They will roar against them in that day
like the roaring of the sea.
If one looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress.
The light is darkened in its clouds.