Isaiah 5
New King James Version
God’s Disappointing Vineyard
5 Now let me sing to my Well-beloved
A song of my Beloved (A)regarding His vineyard:
My Well-beloved has a vineyard
[a]On a very fruitful hill.
2 He dug it up and cleared out its stones,
And planted it with the choicest vine.
He built a tower in its midst,
And also [b]made a winepress in it;
(B)So He expected it to bring forth good grapes,
But it brought forth wild grapes.
3 “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
(C)Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard.
4 What more could have been done to My vineyard
That I have not done in (D)it?
Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes,
Did it bring forth wild grapes?
5 And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard:
(E)I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned;
And break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.
6 I will lay it (F)waste;
It shall not be pruned or [c]dug,
But there shall come up briers and (G)thorns.
I will also command the clouds
That they rain no rain on it.”
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel,
And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant.
He looked for justice, but behold, oppression;
For righteousness, but behold, [d]a cry for help.
Impending Judgment on Excesses
8 Woe to those who [e]join (H)house to house;
They add field to field,
Till there is no place
Where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land!
9 (I)In my hearing the Lord of hosts said,
“Truly, many houses shall be desolate,
Great and beautiful ones, without inhabitant.
10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one (J)bath,[f]
And a homer of seed shall yield one [g]ephah.”
11 (K)Woe to those who rise early in the morning,
That they may [h]follow intoxicating drink;
Who continue until night, till wine inflames them!
12 (L)The harp and the strings,
The tambourine and flute,
And wine are in their feasts;
But (M)they do not regard the work of the Lord,
Nor consider the operation of His hands.
13 (N)Therefore my people have gone into captivity,
Because they have no (O)knowledge;
Their honorable men are famished,
And their multitude dried up with thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged itself
And opened its mouth beyond measure;
Their glory and their multitude and their pomp,
And he who is jubilant, shall descend into it.
15 People shall be brought down,
(P)Each man shall be humbled,
And the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled.
16 But the Lord of hosts shall be (Q)exalted in judgment,
And God who is holy shall be hallowed in righteousness.
17 Then the lambs shall feed in their pasture,
And in the waste places of (R)the [i]fat ones strangers shall eat.
18 Woe to those who [j]draw iniquity with cords of [k]vanity,
And sin as if with a cart rope;
19 (S)That say, “Let Him make speed and hasten His work,
That we may see it;
And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel 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 (T)wise in their own eyes,
And prudent in their own sight!
22 Woe to men mighty at drinking wine,
Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink,
23 Who (U)justify the wicked for a bribe,
And take away justice from the righteous man!
24 Therefore, (V)as the [l]fire devours the stubble,
And the flame consumes the chaff,
So (W)their root will be as rottenness,
And their blossom will ascend like dust;
Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts,
And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 (X)Therefore the anger of the Lord is aroused against His people;
He has stretched out His hand against them
And stricken them,
And (Y)the hills trembled.
Their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets.
(Z)For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.
26 (AA)He will lift up a banner to the nations from afar,
And will (AB)whistle to them from (AC)the end of the earth;
Surely (AD)they shall come with speed, swiftly.
27 No one will be weary or stumble among them,
No one will slumber or sleep;
Nor (AE)will the belt on their loins be loosed,
Nor the strap of their sandals be broken;
28 (AF)Whose arrows are sharp,
And all their bows bent;
Their horses’ hooves will [m]seem like flint,
And their wheels like a whirlwind.
29 Their roaring will be like a lion,
They will roar like young lions;
Yes, they will roar
And lay hold of the prey;
They will carry it away safely,
And no one will deliver.
30 In that day they will roar against them
Like the roaring of the sea.
And if one (AG)looks to the land,
Behold, darkness and [n]sorrow;
And the light is darkened by the clouds.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 5:1 Lit. In a horn, the son of fatness
- Isaiah 5:2 Lit. hewed out
- Isaiah 5:6 hoed
- Isaiah 5:7 wailing
- Isaiah 5:8 Accumulate houses
- Isaiah 5:10 1 bath=1⁄10 homer
- Isaiah 5:10 1 ephah=1⁄10 homer
- Isaiah 5:11 pursue
- Isaiah 5:17 Lit. fatlings, rich ones
- Isaiah 5:18 drag
- Isaiah 5:18 emptiness or falsehood
- Isaiah 5:24 Lit. tongue of fire
- Isaiah 5:28 Lit. be regarded as
- Isaiah 5:30 distress
Isaiah 5
Evangelical Heritage Version
The Song About the Lord’s Vineyard
5
Let me sing for my loved one a song about my loved one’s vineyard.
My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile ridge.[a]
2 He dug it up[b] and gathered the stones out of it.
He planted it with the best vines.
He built a tower in the middle of it.
He also cut a winepress into it.
He expected it to produce clusters of sweet grapes,
but it produced only sour grapes.
3 So now, you residents of Jerusalem and you men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more could have been done for my vineyard
that I have not already done for it?
When I expected it to produce clusters of sweet grapes,
why did it produce sour grapes?
5 Now, let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard.
I will take away its hedge, and it will become a pasture.
I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled down.
6 I will make it a wasteland.
It will not be pruned or hoed.
So briers and thorns will shoot up.
I will also command the clouds not to pour rain on it.
7 Yes, the vineyard of the Lord of Armies is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah are the planting that was pleasing to him.
He expected justice, but instead there was oppression.
He expected righteousness, but there was an outcry.
Woe to the Wicked
8 Woe to you[c] who join house to house,
who connect field to field, until there is no room left,
except room for you alone to live in the middle of the land!
9 The Lord of Armies announces this in my hearing:
I swear that many houses will be deserted.
Even the large and beautiful houses will be unoccupied.
10 Then ten acres[d] of vineyard will yield only six gallons[e] of wine,
and six bushels[f] of seed will yield less than a bushel.[g]
11 Woe to those who rise up early in the morning to chase after beer,[h]
who stay up late into the night until wine inflames them.
12 Harp, lyre, drum, flute, and wine are at their drinking parties,
but they have no regard for the work of the Lord,
nor have they paid attention to what his hands are doing.
13 This is why my people go into captivity—lack of knowledge.
Their dignitaries starve to death,
and the whole crowd is parched with thirst.
14 That is why the grave has increased its appetite,
and its mouth is wide open.
Their[i] splendor and their noisy crowds, their loud revelry,
and their celebration will go down into the grave.
15 So mankind is humbled,
man is brought low,
and the eyes of the arrogant are brought low,
16 but the Lord of Armies is exalted by justice,
and God, the Holy One, reveals his holiness by righteousness.
17 Then lambs will graze there as their pasture,
and aliens will eat among the ruins of the rich.[j]
18 Woe to those who drag their guilt behind them with cords of lies
and their wickedness with cart ropes.
19 They say, “Let him hurry, let him speed up his work,
so that we may see it,
and let the plan of the Holy One of Israel draw near.
Let it come, so that we may know it!”
20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil,
who substitute darkness for light, and light for darkness,
who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and clever in their own sight!
22 Woe to those who are champions at drinking wine
and heroes at mixing drinks,
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
but deny justice for the innocent!
24 Therefore, as the flames of a fire devour stubble,
and as dry grass sinks down into the flames,
in the same way their roots will rot,
and their blossoms will dry up like dust,
because they have rejected the law[k] of the Lord of Armies,
and they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore, the Lord’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 will lie like garbage in the middle of the streets.
In spite of all this, his anger is not turned away,
and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike.
26 He will raise a signal flag for the nations from far away,
and he will whistle for them to come from the end of the earth.
Watch, they will come quickly and swiftly.
27 No one among them will be weary or stumble.
No one will slumber or sleep.
The belt around their waist will not be unbuckled.
The straps of their sandals will not be broken.
28 Their arrows are sharp,
and all their bows bent.
Their horses’ hoofs will be like flint,
and their wheels like a whirlwind.
29 Their roar will sound like a lioness.
They will roar like young lions.
Yes, they will growl.
They will seize their prey and carry it off,
and there will be no one to rescue anyone from them.
30 In that day the roar against them will be like the roaring of the sea.
If anyone looks at the land, he sees only darkness and distress.
The light is darkened by clouds.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 5:1 Literally on a horn, a son of oil
- Isaiah 5:2 Or built a fence around it
- Isaiah 5:8 Or how terrible it will be for you
- Isaiah 5:10 Literally ten yokes
- Isaiah 5:10 Literally one bath
- Isaiah 5:10 Literally a homer
- Isaiah 5:10 Literally an ephah
- Isaiah 5:11 Beer refers to any fermented drink not made from grapes. Distilled alcohol was not used in biblical times.
- Isaiah 5:14 Literally her, referring to Jerusalem
- Isaiah 5:17 The meaning of this text is uncertain. Literally the text reads ruins, fatlings, resident aliens, will eat.
- Isaiah 5:24 Here law refers to the whole Word of God.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.