Isaiah 5

New American Standard Bible

Parable of the Vineyard

5 Let me sing now for my beloved
A song of my beloved about His vineyard.
My beloved had a ^(A)vineyard on ^[a]a fertile hill.
²He dug it all around, cleared it of stones,
And planted it with ^[b]the ^(B)choicest vine.
And He built a tower in the middle of it,
And also carved out a ^[c]wine vat in it;
Then He ^(C)expected it to produce good grapes,
But it produced only ^[d]worthless ones.

³“And now, you inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah,
^(D)Judge between Me and My vineyard.
⁴^(E)What more was there to do for My vineyard ^[e]that I have not done in it?
Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce ^[f]worthless ones?
⁵So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard:
I will ^(F)remove its hedge and it will be consumed;
I will ^(G)break down its wall and it will become ^(H)trampled ground.
⁶I will ^(I)lay it waste;
It will not be pruned nor hoed,
But briars and thorns will come up.
I will also command the clouds not to ^(J)rain on it.”

⁷For the ^(K)vineyard of the Lord of armies is the house of Israel,
And the people of Judah are His delightful plant.
So He waited for justice, but behold, there was ^(L)bloodshed;
For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.

Woes for the Wicked

⁸Woe to those who ^(M)attach house to house and join field to field,
Until there is no more room,
And you alone are a landowner in the midst of the land!
⁹In my ears the Lord of armies has sworn, “^(N)Many houses shall certainly become ^(O)desolate,
Even great and fine ones, without occupants.
¹⁰For ^(P)ten acres of vineyard will yield only one ^[g]bath of wine,
And a ^[h]^(Q)homer of seed will yield only an ^[i]ephah of grain.”
¹¹Woe to those who rise early in the morning so that they may pursue ^(R)intoxicating drink,
Who stay up late in the evening so that wine may inflame them!
¹²Their banquets are accompanied by lyre and ^(S)harp, by tambourine and flute, and by wine;
But they ^(T)do not pay attention to the deeds of the Lord,
Nor do they consider the work of His hands.

¹³Therefore My people go into exile for their ^(U)lack of knowledge;
And their ^[j]^(V)nobles are famished,
And their multitude is parched with thirst.
¹⁴Therefore ^(W)Sheol has enlarged its ^[k]throat and opened its mouth beyond measure;
And ^[l]Jerusalem’s splendor, her multitude, her noise of revelry, and the jubilant within her, descend into it.
¹⁵So the common people will be humbled and the person of importance brought low,
^(X)The eyes of the haughty also will be brought low.
¹⁶But the ^(Y)Lord of armies will be ^(Z)exalted in judgment,
And the holy God will show Himself ^(AA)holy in righteousness.
¹⁷^(AB)Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture,
And strangers will eat in the ruins of the ^[m]wealthy.

¹⁸Woe to those who drag ^(AC)wrongdoing with the cords of ^[n]deceit,
And sin as if with cart ropes;
¹⁹^(AD)Who say, “Let Him hurry, let Him do His work quickly, so that we may see it;
And let the plan of the Holy One of Israel approach
And come to pass, so that we may know it!”
²⁰Woe to those who ^(AE)call evil good, and good evil;
Who ^[o]^(AF)substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;
Who ^[p]substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
²¹Woe to those who are ^(AG)wise in their own eyes
And ^[q]clever in their own sight!
²²^(AH)Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine,
And valiant men in mixing intoxicating drink,
²³^(AI)Who declare the wicked innocent for a bribe,
And ^(AJ)take away the ^[r]rights of the ones who are in the right!

²⁴Therefore, ^(AK)as a tongue of fire consumes stubble,
And dry grass collapses in the flame,
So their ^(AL)root will become ^(AM)like rot, and their blossom ^[s]blow away like dust;
For they have ^(AN)rejected the Law of the Lord of armies,
And discarded the word of the Holy One of Israel.
²⁵For this reason the ^(AO)anger of the Lord has burned against His people,
And He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them.
And the ^(AP)mountains quaked, and their ^(AQ)corpses ^[t]lay like refuse in the middle of the streets.
^(AR)Despite all this, His anger ^[u]is not spent,
But His ^(AS)hand is still stretched out.

²⁶He will also lift up a ^(AT)flag to the distant ^[v]nation,
And ^(AU)whistle for it ^(AV)from the ends of the earth;
And behold, it will ^(AW)come with speed swiftly.
²⁷^(AX)No one in it is tired or stumbles,
No one slumbers or sleeps;
Nor is the ^(AY)undergarment at his waist loosened,
Nor his sandal strap broken.
²⁸^[w]^(AZ)Its arrows are sharp and all its bows are bent;
The hoofs of its horses ^[x]seem like flint, and its chariot ^(BA)wheels like a storm wind.
²⁹Its ^(BB)roaring is like a lioness, and it roars like young lions;
It growls as it ^(BC)seizes the prey
And carries it off with ^(BD)no one to save it.
³⁰And it will ^(BE)roar against it on that day like the roaring of the sea.
If one ^(BF)looks across to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress;
Even the light is darkened by its clouds.

Footnotes

Isaiah 5:1 Lit horn, a son of fatness
Isaiah 5:2 Lit a bright red grape
Isaiah 5:2 Or wine press
Isaiah 5:2 Or unripe
Isaiah 5:4 Lit and I have not done
Isaiah 5:4 Or unripe
Isaiah 5:10 About 6 gallons or 23 liters
Isaiah 5:10 About 7.7 cubic feet or 0.22 cubit meters or more
Isaiah 5:10 About 1 cubic foot or 0.03 cubic meters
Isaiah 5:13 Lit glory is men of famine
Isaiah 5:14 Or appetite
Isaiah 5:14 Lit her
Isaiah 5:17 Lit fat
Isaiah 5:18 Or worthlessness
Isaiah 5:20 Lit set
Isaiah 5:20 Lit set
Isaiah 5:21 Lit discerning
Isaiah 5:23 Lit justice
Isaiah 5:24 Lit ascend
Isaiah 5:25 Lit were
Isaiah 5:25 Lit has not turned away
Isaiah 5:26 Lit nations; prob. Assyria
Isaiah 5:28 Lit Which, its arrows
Isaiah 5:28 Lit are regarded as

Psalm 31:9-18

New American Standard Bible

⁹Be gracious to me, Lord, for ^(A)I am in distress;
My ^(B)eye is wasted away from grief, ^(C)my soul and my body too.
¹⁰For my life is spent with ^(D)sorrow
And my years with sighing;
My ^(E)strength has failed because of my guilt,
And ^(F)my ^[a]body has wasted away.
¹¹Because of all my adversaries, I have become a ^(G)disgrace,
Especially to my ^(H)neighbors,
And an object of dread to my acquaintances;
Those who see me in the street flee from me.
¹²I am ^(I)forgotten like a dead person, out of mind;
I am like a broken vessel.
¹³For I have heard the ^[b]^(J)slander of many,
^(K)Terror is on every side;
While they ^(L)took counsel together against me,
They ^(M)schemed to take away my life.

¹⁴But as for me, I trust in You, Lord,
I say, “^(N)You are my God.”
¹⁵My ^(O)times are in Your hand;
^(P)Rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me.
¹⁶Make Your ^(Q)face shine upon Your servant;
^(R)Save me in Your faithfulness.
¹⁷Let me not be ^(S)put to shame, Lord, for I call upon You;
Let the ^(T)wicked be put to shame, let them ^(U)be silent in ^[c]Sheol.
¹⁸Let the ^(V)lying lips be speechless,
Which ^(W)speak arrogantly against the righteous
With pride and contempt.

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Footnotes

Psalm 31:10 Or bones, substance
Psalm 31:13 Lit whispering
Psalm 31:17 I.e., the netherworld

Mark 7:1-23

New American Standard Bible

Followers of Tradition

7 ^(A)The Pharisees and some of the scribes *gathered to Him after they came ^(B)from Jerusalem, ²and saw that some of His disciples were eating their bread with ^[a]^(C)unholy hands, that is, unwashed. ³(For the Pharisees and all the other Jews do not eat unless they ^[b]carefully wash their hands, thereby holding firmly to the ^(D)tradition of the elders; ⁴and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they ^[c]completely cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received as traditions to firmly hold, such as the ^[d]washing of ^(E)cups, pitchers, and copper pots.) ⁵And the Pharisees and the scribes *asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk in accordance with the ^(F)tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with ^(G)^[e]unholy hands?” ⁶But He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘^(H)This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me.
⁷^(I)And in vain do they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

⁸Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the ^(J)tradition of men.”

⁹He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your ^(K)tradition. ¹⁰For Moses said, ‘^(L)Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘^(M)The one who speaks evil of father or mother, is ^[f]certainly to be put to death’; ¹¹but you say, ‘If a person says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is ^(N)Corban (that is, ^[g]given to God),’ ¹²you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother; ¹³thereby invalidating the word of God by your ^(O)tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”

The Heart of Man

¹⁴After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵there is nothing outside the person which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which come out of the person are what defile the person^[h].”

¹⁷And when He later entered a house, away from the crowd, ^(P)His disciples asked Him about the parable. ¹⁸And He *said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding as well? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the person from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and ^[i]is eliminated?” (Thereby He declared ^(Q)all foods ^(R)clean.) ²⁰And He was saying, “^(S)That which comes out of the person, that is what defiles the person. ²¹For from within, out of the ^[j]hearts of people, come the evil thoughts, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, murders, acts of adultery, ²²deeds of greed, wickedness, deceit, indecent behavior, ^[k]^(T)envy, slander, ^[l]pride, and foolishness. ²³All these evil things come from within and defile the person.”