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Isaiah 5
Lexham English Bible
Isaiah 5
Lexham English Bible
The Song of the Vineyard
5 Let me sing for my beloved
a song of my love concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard[a] on a fertile hill.[b]
2 And he dug it and cleared it of stones,
and he planted it with choice vines,[c]
and he built a watchtower in the middle of it,
and he even hewed out a wine vat in it,
and he waited for it to yield grapes—
but it yielded wild grapes.
3 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men[d] of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it?
Why did I hope for it to yield grapes, and it yielded wild grapes?
5 And now let me tell you what I myself am about to do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge, and it shall become a devastation.
I will break down its wall, and it shall become a trampling.
6 And I will make it a wasteland;
it shall not be pruned and hoed,
and it shall be overgrown with briers[e] and thornbushes.[f]
And concerning the clouds, I will command them not to send[g] rain down upon it.
7 For the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts is the house of Israel,
and the man[h] of Judah is the plantation of his delight.
And he waited for justice,[i]
but look! Bloodshed![j]
For righteousness,[k]
but look! A cry of distress![l]
Woes on the Wicked
8 Ah! Those who join[m] house with house,
they join field together with field
until there is no place[n]
and you are caused to dwell alone in the midst of the land.
9 Yahweh of hosts said in my ears:
Surely[o] many houses shall become a desolation,
large and beautiful ones without inhabitant.
10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath,[p]
and the seed of a homer will yield an ephah.[q]
11 Ah! Those who rise early in the morning,
they pursue strong drink.
Those who linger in the evening,
wine inflames them.
12 And there will be lyre and harp,
tambourine and flute,
and wine at their feasts,
but they do not look at the deeds[r] of Yahweh,
and they do not see the work of his hands.
13 Therefore my people will go into exile without knowledge,
and their[s] nobles[t] will be men of hunger,
and their[u] multitude is parched with thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat,
and it has opened wide its mouth without limit,
and her[v] nobles[w] will go down, and her multitude,
her tumult and those who revel in her.
15 And humankind is bowed down,
and man is brought low,
and the eyes of the haughty are humiliated.
16 But Yahweh of hosts is exalted by justice,
and the holy God shows himself holy by righteousness.
17 And then the lambs will graze as in their pasture,
and fatlings, kids[x] will eat among the sites of ruins.[y]
18 Ah! Those who drag iniquity along with the cords of falsehood
and sin as with rope of the cart,
19 those who say,
“Let him make haste;
let him hurry his work
so that we may see it
and let it draw near
and let the plan of the holy one of Israel come
so that we may know it!”
20 Ah! Those who call evil good and good evil,
those who put darkness for light and light for darkness,
those who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
21 Ah! Those who are wise in their own eyes
and have understanding in their view![z]
22 Ah! Heroes at drinking wine,
and men of capability at mixing strong drink!
23 Those who acquit the guilty because of a bribe
and remove the justice of the innocent from him.
24 Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
and dry grass sinks down in the flame,
so their root will become like the stench,
and their blossom will go up like the dust.
For they have rejected the instruction of Yahweh of hosts,
and they have treated the word of the holy one of Israel with contempt.
25 Therefore Yahweh’s wrath was kindled[aa] against his people,
and he stretched out his hand against them[ab] and struck them,[ac]
and the mountains quaked,
and their corpses[ad] were like refuse in the middle of the streets.
Yahweh’s Outstretched Hand
In all of this his anger has not turned back,
and still his hand is stretched out.
26 And he will raise a signal for a nation[ae] from afar,
and he will whistle for it from the end of the earth.
And look! It comes quickly, swiftly!
27 None is weary,
and none among him stumbles;
none slumbers and none sleeps.
And no loincloth on his waist is opened,
and no thong of his sandals is drawn away.
28 Whose arrows are sharp,
and all of his bows are bent.
The hoofs of his horses are reckoned like flint,
and his wheels like the storm wind.
29 His roaring is like the lion,
and he roars like young lions.
And he growls and seizes his prey,
and he carries it off,
and not one can rescue it.
30 And he will roar over him on that day
like the roaring of the sea,
and if one looks to the land, look! Darkness! Distress!
And the light grows dark with its[af] clouds.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 5:1 Literally “A vineyard was for my beloved”
- Isaiah 5:1 Literally “a horn of a son of olive oil.” The Hebrew for horn, qeren, sounds like the Hebrew for vineyard, kerem
- Isaiah 5:2 Hebrew “vine”
- Isaiah 5:3 Hebrew “man”
- Isaiah 5:6 Hebrew “brier”
- Isaiah 5:6 Hebrew “thornbush”
- Isaiah 5:6 Literally “from sending”
- Isaiah 5:7 Or “people”
- Isaiah 5:7 The Hebrew word, mishpat, sounds like mishpakh in the next line
- Isaiah 5:7 The Hebrew word, mishpakh, sounds like mishpat in the previous line
- Isaiah 5:7 The Hebrew word, tsedaqah, sounds like tsa`aqah in the next line
- Isaiah 5:7 The Hebrew word, tsa`aqah, sounds like tsedaqah in the previous line
- Isaiah 5:8 Literally “touch”
- Isaiah 5:8 Literally “an end of place”
- Isaiah 5:9 Literally “If not”
- Isaiah 5:10 A bath is a liquid measure
- Isaiah 5:10 An ephah is a dry measure equal to one-tenth of a homer
- Isaiah 5:12 Hebrew “deed”
- Isaiah 5:13 Hebrew “its”
- Isaiah 5:13 Hebrew “noble”
- Isaiah 5:13 Hebrew “its”
- Isaiah 5:14 That is, Jerusalem’s
- Isaiah 5:14 Hebrew “noble”
- Isaiah 5:17 Following the Septuagint, which reads the Hebrew grym (resident aliens) as gdym (young goats/sheep)
- Isaiah 5:17 Literally “and ruins, fatlings, resident aliens, will eat”
- Isaiah 5:21 Literally “before their faces”
- Isaiah 5:25 Literally “the anger of Yahweh became hot”
- Isaiah 5:25 Hebrew “it”
- Isaiah 5:25 Hebrew “it”
- Isaiah 5:25 Hebrew “corpse”
- Isaiah 5:26 The Hebrew is plural, but the following verses refer to the nation as singular
- Isaiah 5:30 Presumably the land’s
Isaiah 5
New International Version
Isaiah 5
New International Version
The Song of the Vineyard
5 I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:(A)
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.(B)
He built a watchtower(C) in it
and cut out a winepress(D) as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit.(E)
3 “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.(F)
4 What more could have been done for my vineyard
than I have done for it?(G)
When I looked for good grapes,
why did it yield only bad?(H)
5 Now I will tell you
what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
and it will be destroyed;(I)
I will break down its wall,(J)
and it will be trampled.(K)
6 I will make it a wasteland,(L)
neither pruned nor cultivated,
and briers and thorns(M) will grow there.
I will command the clouds
not to rain(N) on it.”
7 The vineyard(O) 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,(P) but saw bloodshed;
for righteousness,(Q) but heard cries of distress.(R)
Woes and Judgments
8 Woe(S) to you who add house to house
and join field to field(T)
till no space is left
and you live alone in the land.
9 The Lord Almighty(U) has declared in my hearing:(V)
“Surely the great houses will become desolate,(W)
the fine mansions left without occupants.
10 A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a bath[a] of wine;
a homer[b] of seed will yield only an ephah[c] of grain.”(X)
11 Woe(Y) 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.(Z)
12 They have harps and lyres at their banquets,
pipes(AA) and timbrels(AB) and wine,
but they have no regard(AC) for the deeds of the Lord,
no respect for the work of his hands.(AD)
13 Therefore my people will go into exile(AE)
for lack of understanding;(AF)
those of high rank(AG) will die of hunger
and the common people will be parched with thirst.(AH)
14 Therefore Death(AI) expands its jaws,
opening wide its mouth;(AJ)
into it will descend their nobles and masses
with all their brawlers and revelers.(AK)
15 So people will be brought low(AL)
and everyone humbled,(AM)
the eyes of the arrogant(AN) humbled.
16 But the Lord Almighty will be exalted(AO) by his justice,(AP)
and the holy God will be proved holy(AQ) by his righteous acts.
17 Then sheep will graze as in their own pasture;(AR)
lambs will feed[d] among the ruins of the rich.
18 Woe(AS) to those who draw sin along with cords(AT) of deceit,
and wickedness(AU) as with cart ropes,
19 to those who say, “Let God hurry;
let him hasten(AV) his work
so we may see it.
The plan of the Holy One(AW) of Israel—
let it approach, let it come into view,
so we may know it.”(AX)
20 Woe(AY) to those who call evil good(AZ)
and good evil,(BA)
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,(BB)
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter.(BC)
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes(BD)
and clever in their own sight.
22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine(BE)
and champions at mixing drinks,(BF)
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe,(BG)
but deny justice(BH) to the innocent.(BI)
24 Therefore, as tongues of fire(BJ) lick up straw(BK)
and as dry grass sinks down in the flames,
so their roots will decay(BL)
and their flowers blow away like dust;(BM)
for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty
and spurned the word(BN) of the Holy One(BO) of Israel.
25 Therefore the Lord’s anger(BP) burns against his people;
his hand is raised and he strikes them down.
The mountains shake,(BQ)
and the dead bodies(BR) are like refuse(BS) in the streets.(BT)
26 He lifts up a banner(BW) for the distant nations,
he whistles(BX) for those at the ends of the earth.(BY)
Here they come,
swiftly and speedily!
27 Not one of them grows tired(BZ) or stumbles,
not one slumbers or sleeps;
not a belt(CA) is loosened at the waist,(CB)
not a sandal strap is broken.(CC)
28 Their arrows are sharp,(CD)
all their bows(CE) are strung;
their horses’ hooves(CF) seem like flint,
their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.(CG)
29 Their roar is like that of the lion,(CH)
they roar like young lions;
they growl as they seize(CI) their prey
and carry it off with no one to rescue.(CJ)
30 In that day(CK) they will roar over it
like the roaring of the sea.(CL)
And if one looks at the land,
there is only darkness(CM) and distress;(CN)
even the sun will be darkened(CO) by clouds.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 5:10 That is, about 6 gallons or about 22 liters
- Isaiah 5:10 That is, probably about 360 pounds or about 160 kilograms
- Isaiah 5:10 That is, probably about 36 pounds or about 16 kilograms
- Isaiah 5:17 Septuagint; Hebrew / strangers will eat
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