Isaiah 3:13-5:10

English Standard Version

¹³The Lord ^(A)has taken his place to contend;
    he stands to judge peoples.
¹⁴The Lord will enter into judgment
    with the ^(B)elders and princes of his people:
“It is you who ^(C)have devoured^[a] the vineyard,
    ^(D)the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
¹⁵What do you mean by ^(E)crushing my people,
    by grinding the face of the poor?”
declares the Lord God of hosts.

¹⁶The Lord said:
^(F)Because ^(G)the daughters of Zion are haughty
    and walk with outstretched necks,
    glancing wantonly with their eyes,
mincing along as they go,
    ^(H)tinkling with their feet,
¹⁷therefore the Lord ^(I)will strike with a scab
    the heads of ^(J)the daughters of Zion,
    and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts.

¹⁸In that day the Lord will take away ^(K)the finery of the anklets, the ^(L)headbands, and the ^(M)crescents; ¹⁹the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves; ²⁰the ^(N)headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets; ²¹the signet rings and ^(O)nose rings; ²²the ^(P)festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags; ²³the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.

²⁴Instead of ^(Q)perfume there will be rottenness;
    and instead of a ^(R)belt, a rope;
and instead of ^(S)well-set hair, ^(T)baldness;
    and instead of a rich robe, a ^(U)skirt of sackcloth;
    and ^(V)branding instead of beauty.
²⁵Your men shall fall by the sword
    and your mighty men in battle.
²⁶And ^(W)her gates shall lament and mourn;
    empty, she shall ^(X)sit on the ground.

4 ^(Y)And seven women ^(Z)shall take hold of ^(AA)one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; ^(AB)take away our reproach.”

The Branch of the Lord Glorified

²In that day ^(AC)the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and ^(AD)the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. ³^(AE)And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called ^(AF)holy, everyone who has ^(AG)been recorded for life in Jerusalem, ⁴when ^(AH)the Lord shall have washed away the filth of ^(AI)the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by ^(AJ)a spirit of burning.^[b] ⁵Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies ^(AK)a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be ^(AL)a canopy. ⁶^(AM)There will be a ^(AN)booth for shade by day from the heat, and ^(AO)for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.

The Vineyard of the Lord Destroyed

5 Let me sing for my beloved
    my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had ^(AP)a vineyard
    on a very fertile hill.
²He dug it and cleared it of stones,
    and planted it with ^(AQ)choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
    and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and ^(AR)he looked for it to yield grapes,
    but it yielded wild grapes.

³And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
    and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
⁴^(AS)What more was there to do for my vineyard,
    that I have not done in it?
^(AT)When I looked for it to yield grapes,
    why did it yield wild grapes?

⁵And now I will tell you
    what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove ^(AU)its hedge,
    and it shall be devoured;^[c]
^(AV)I will break down its wall,
    and it shall be trampled down.
⁶I will make it a waste;
    it shall not be pruned or hoed,
    and ^(AW)briers and thorns shall grow up;
^(AX)I will also command the clouds
    that they rain no rain upon it.

⁷^(AY)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;^[d]
for righteousness,
    but behold, an outcry!^[e]

Woe to the Wicked

⁸Woe to those who ^(AZ)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.
⁹The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:
^(BA)“Surely many houses shall be desolate,
    large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
¹⁰^(BB)For ten acres^[f] of vineyard shall yield but one bath,
    and a ^(BC)homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”^[g]

Footnotes

Isaiah 3:14 Or grazed over; compare Exodus 22:5
Isaiah 4:4 Or purging
Isaiah 5:5 Or grazed over; compare Exodus 22:5
Isaiah 5:7 The Hebrew words for justice and bloodshed sound alike
Isaiah 5:7 The Hebrew words for righteous and outcry sound alike
Isaiah 5:10 Hebrew ten yoke, the area ten yoke of oxen can plow in a day
Isaiah 5:10 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