Isaiah 5:8-10
New English Translation
Disaster is Coming
8 Beware, those who accumulate houses,[a]
who also accumulate field after field[b]
until there is no land left,[c]
and you are the only landowners remaining within the land.[d]
9 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies told me this:[e]
“Many houses will certainly become desolate,
large, impressive houses will have no one living in them.[f]
10 Indeed, a large vineyard[g] will produce just a few gallons,[h]
and enough seed to yield several bushels[i] will produce less than a bushel.”[j]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 5:8 tn Heb “Woe [to] those who make a house touch a house.”
- Isaiah 5:8 tn Heb “[who] bring a field near a field.”sn This verse does not condemn real estate endeavors per se, but refers to the way in which the rich bureaucrats of Judah accumulated property by exploiting the poor, in violation of the covenantal principle that the land belonged to God and that every family was to have its own portion of land. See the note at 1:23.
- Isaiah 5:8 tn Heb “until the end of the place”; NASB “until there is no more room.”
- Isaiah 5:8 tn Heb “and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land.”
- Isaiah 5:9 tn Heb “in my ears, the Lord of armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].”
- Isaiah 5:9 tn Heb “great and good [houses], without a resident.”
- Isaiah 5:10 tn Heb “a ten-yoke vineyard.” The Hebrew term צֶמֶד (tsemed, “yoke”) is here a unit of square measure. Apparently a ten-yoke vineyard covered the same amount of land it would take ten teams of oxen to plow in a certain period of time. The exact size is unknown.
- Isaiah 5:10 tn Heb “one bath.” A bath was a liquid measure. Estimates of its modern equivalent range from approximately six to twelve gallons.
- Isaiah 5:10 tn Heb “a homer.” A homer was a dry measure, the exact size of which is debated. Cf. NCV “ten bushels”; CEV “five bushels.”
- Isaiah 5:10 tn Heb “an ephah.” An ephah was a dry measure; there were ten ephahs in a homer. So this verse envisions major crop failure, where only one-tenth of the anticipated harvest is realized.
Isaiah 5:8-10
English Standard Version
Woe to the Wicked
8 Woe to those who (A)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:
(B)“Surely many houses shall be desolate,
large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
10 (C)For ten acres[a] of vineyard shall yield but one bath,
and a (D)homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”[b]
Footnotes
- 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
Isaiah 5:8-10
New International Version
Woes and Judgments
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 5:8-10
King James Version
8 Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!
9 In mine ears said the Lord of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
10 Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.
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