Beginning

5 Now will I sing of my beloved a shirat dodi touching His kerem (vineyard). My beloved had a kerem (vineyard) in a very fruitful hill;

² And He dug it up, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a migdal in the midst of it, and also made a yekev (winepress) therein; and He looked that it should bring forth anavim (grapes), and it brought forth b’ushim (wild grapes).

³ And now, O inhabitants of Yerushalayim, and Ish Yehudah, judge, now, between Me and My kerem (vineyard).

⁴ What could have been done more to My kerem (vineyard), that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked that it should bring forth anavim, brought it forth b’ushim?

⁵ And now then; I will tell you now what I will do to my kerem (vineyard): I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be grazed upon; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trampled down;

⁶ And I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned, nor cultivated; but there shall come up briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no matar (rain) upon it.

⁷ For the Kerem Hashem Tzva’os is Bais Yisroel, and the Ish Yehudah are the planting of His delight; and He looked for mishpat (justice), but, hinei, mishpach (bloodshed, rapaciousness); for tzedakah, but, hinei, tze’akah (cry of distress).

⁸ Hoy unto them that add bais to bais, that join sadeh to sadeh, till there be no makom (place, home), that ye alone are dwelling in the midst of ha’aretz!

⁹ Hashem Tzva’os said in my ozen, Batim rabbim shall be in ruins, gedolim and tovim, with no one to live in them.

¹⁰ Yea, ten yokes of kerem (vineyard) shall yield 10 gallons, and the homer (six bushels) of zera (seed) shall yield an ephah (three-fifths bushel).

¹¹ Hoy unto them that rise up early in the boker, that they may chase after shekhar (strong drink); that continue until night, till yayin inflame them!

¹² And the kinnor, and the nevel, the tambourine, and flute, and yayin, are in their mishtehim; but they regard not the Po’al Hashem (the work of Hashem), neither consider the ma’aseh of His hands.

¹³ Therefore my people [see Isa. 53:8] are gone into the Golus, because they have no da’as; and their men of rank are starved, and their multitude parched with thirst.

¹⁴ Therefore Sheol hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without chok (limit); and their nobility, and their masses, and their throngs, and the reveler, shall descend into it.

¹⁵ And adam shall be abased, and the ish shall be brought low, and the eyes of the haughty shall be humbled;

¹⁶ But Hashem Tzva’os shall be exalted in mishpat, and HaEl HaKadosh shall show Himself Kadosh in tzedakah.

¹⁷ Then shall the kevasim feed as upon their pasture, and the gerim (sojourners) will eat in the ruins of the rich.

¹⁸ Hoy unto them that draw avon (guilt) with cords of deceit, and tug at chatta’ah (sin) as with a cart rope;

¹⁹ That say, Let Him make speed, and hasten His Ma’aseh, that we may see it; and let the Atzat Kadosh Yisroel (purpose of the Holy One of Israel) draw near and come, that we may know it!

²⁰ Hoy unto them that call rah tov, and tov rah; that put choshech for ohr, and ohr for choshech; that put mar for matok, and matok for mar!

²¹ Hoy unto them that are chachamim in their own eyes, and clever in their own sight!

²² Hoy unto them that are Gibborim to drink yayin, and anshei chayil to mix shekhar;

²³ Which justify the rasha for shochad (bribe), and take away the tzidkat tzaddikim from him!

²⁴ Therefore as the eish licketh up the stubble, and the flame consumeth the dry grass, so their shoresh shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have cast away the Torat Hashem Tzva’os, and spurned the word of the Kadosh Yisroel.

²⁵ Therefore is the Af Hashem kindled against His people, and He hath stretched forth His yad against them, and hath struck them down; and the mountains did tremble, and their nevilah were like refuse in the streets. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His yad is stretched out still.

²⁶ And He will lift up a banner to the distant Goyim, and will whistle for him at the ketzeh ha’aretz; hinei, they shall come with speed swiftly;

²⁷ None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the ezor of their loins be loosed, nor the thong of their sandals be broken;

²⁸ Whose khitzim (arrows) are sharp, and all their bows bent, the hoofs of their susim shall seem like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:

²⁹ Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions; yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the teref, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.

³⁰ And in Yom Hahu they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea; and if one look unto ha’aretz, hinei, choshech and tzar (distress), and the ohr groweth dark with clouds.

6 In the year that the Melech Uziyah died, I saw Adonoi sitting upon a kisse, high and lifted up, and His robe filled the Heikhal.

² Above Him stood ministering the [flaming] seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly.

³ And one cried unto another, and said, Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, is Hashem Tzva’os; kol ha’aretz is full of His kavod.

⁴ And the doorposts shook at the voice of him that cried, and the Beis [Hamikdash] was filled with smoke.

⁵ Then said I, Oy (Woe) is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen HaMelech, Hashem Tzva’os.

⁶ Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his yad, which he had taken with the tongs from off the Mizbe’ach:

⁷ And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Hinei, this hath touched thy lips; and thine avon (iniquity) is taken away, and kapporah is made for the purging of thy chattat (sin).

⁸ Also I heard the voice of Adonoi, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? Then said I, Hineini; send me.

⁹ And He said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see indeed, but perceive not.

¹⁰ Make the lev HaAm hazeh stubborn, and make their ears stopped up, their eyes heavy; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their lev. And have a spiritual turnaround conversion, and be healed.

¹¹ Then cried I, Adonoi, ad mosai (how much longer [will this go on]? And He answered, Until the towns be wasted without inhabitant, and the batim (houses) are without man, and the ground be utterly desolate, a wilderness,

¹² And Hashem have removed men far away, and there be many forsaken places within the land.

¹³ But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall be given up to destruction, like the terebinth and like the oak, when they are felled, leave [as a remnant] a root-stump: so the root-stump shall be the zera kodesh. [T.N. This next chapter is possibly the most important in the Bible and is dealt with in The Translator to the Reader.]

7 And it came to pass in the yamim of Achaz ben Yotam ben Uziyahu, Melech Yehudah, that Retzin Melech Aram (Syria), and Pekach ben Remalyahu Melech Yisroel, went up toward Yerushalayim to war against her, but could not prevail over her.

² And it was told the Bais Dovid, saying, Aram (Syria) is allied with Ephrayim. And his lev was shaken, and the lev of his people, like the trees of the forest are shaken with the wind.

³ Then said Hashem unto Yeshayah, Go forth now to meet Achaz, thou, and Shearyashuv (A Remnant Will Return) thy ben, at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool on the road to the Fuller’s Field;

⁴ And say unto him, Take heed, and stay calm; fear not, neither be fainthearted because of the two stubs of these smoking firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Retzin and Aram (Syria), and of the ben Remalyahu;

⁵ Or because Aram (Syria), Ephrayim, and ben Remalyahu, have plotted your ruin, saying,

⁶ Let us go up against Yehudah, and trouble it, and let us divide it for ourselves, and set a melech in the midst of it, even ben Tav’el;

⁷ Thus saith Adonoi Hashem, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.

⁸ For the rosh of Aram (Syria) is Damascus, and the rosh of Damascus is Retzin; and within threescore and five shanah shall Ephrayim be broken, that it be not a people.

⁹ And the rosh of Ephrayim is Shomron, and the rosh of Shomron is ben Remalyahu. If ye will not stand in emunah, then you shall not stand at all.

¹⁰ Moreover, Hashem spoke again unto Achaz, saying,

¹¹ Ask thee an ot (sign) of Hashem Eloheicha; ask it either in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.

¹² But Achaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt Hashem.

¹³ And he (Yeshayah) said, Hear ye now, O Bais Dovid; Is it a small thing for you to weary anashim, but will ye weary my G-d also?

¹⁴ Therefore Hashem Himself shall give you an ot (sign); Hinei, HaAlmah (the unmarried young virgin) shall conceive, and bear Ben, and shall call Shmo Immanu El (G-d is with us) [See extensive commentary in The Translator To The Reader, page vii].

¹⁵ Curds and honey shall he eat at the time that he knows to refuse the rah, and choose the tov.

¹⁶ For before the na’ar (boy) shall understand to refuse the rah, and choose the tov, the adamah (land) will be desolate, of whose two melachim thou art afraid.

¹⁷ Hashem shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon the Bais of thy father, yamim such as have not come since the yom when Ephrayim departed from Yehudah [2Kgs 15:29; 16:9]: even Melech Ashur (Assyria).

¹⁸ And it shall come to pass in that yom, that Hashem shall whistle for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the Nile of Mitzrayim, and for the bee that is in Eretz Ashur.

¹⁹ And they shall come, and shall settle all of them on the steep ravines, and in the crevices of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all water holes.

²⁰ In the same yom shall Adonoi shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the River, by Melech Ashur, the head, and the hair of the legs; and it shall also consume the beard.

²¹ And it shall come to pass in that yom, that a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep;

²² And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of cholov that they shall give, he shall eat cream; for thickened milk and devash shall every one eat that is left in the land.

²³ And it shall come to pass in that yom, that every place shall be, where there were a thousand gefen worth a thousand kesef, it shall even be for briers and thorns.

²⁴ With arrows and with bows shall men come there; because kol ha’aretz shall become briers and thorns.

²⁵ And on all hills that were hoed with a hoe, thou shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for pasturing of cattle, and for the treading place of seh.

8 Moreover Hashem said unto me, Take thee a gillayon gadol (great slab), and write on it with cheret enosh concerning Maher Shalal Chash Baz (The Spoil Speeds, the Booty Hastens [i.e., the coming Assyrian defeat of Syria and Israel is imminent and the life of this son of Isaiah is a prophetic time line. See verse 4 below]).

² And I took unto me edim ne’emanim (faithful witnesses) to record, Uriyah the kohen, and Zecharyah ben Yeverechyahu.

³ And I went unto the neviah; and she conceived, and bore ben. Then said Hashem to me, Call shmo Maher Shalal Chash Baz.

⁴ For before the na’ar shall have da’as to cry, Avi, or Immi, the chayil Damascus and the spoil of Shomron shall be carried off before Melech Ashur.

⁵ Hashem spoke also unto me again, saying,

⁶ Forasmuch as HaAm HaZeh refuseth the waters of Shiloah that flow softly, and delight in [alliance with] Retzin and Ben Remalyahu;

⁷ Now therefore, hinei, Adonoi bringeth up upon them the waters of the River, strong and many, even Melech Ashur, and all his kavod; and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks;

⁸ And he shall swirl into Yehudah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of Thy eretz, O Immanu-El.

⁹ Exasperate yourselves, O ye Amim (Nations), and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries; gird yourselves for battle, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves for battle, and ye shall be broken in pieces.

¹⁰ Consult etzah (counsel, plan), and it shall come to naught; speak the davar, and it shall not stand; for Immanu El (G-d is with us).

¹¹ For Hashem hath spoken thus to me with chezkat haYad, and instructed me that I should not walk in the Derech HaAm HaZeh, saying,

¹² Call ye not Kesher (Conspiracy) all that this people calls kesher; neither fear ye their fear, nor be in dread.

¹³ Regard Hashem Tzva’os as kadosh; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread.

¹⁴ And He shall be for a Mikdash; but for an Even Negef (Stone of Stumbling) and for a Tzur Michshol to both the Batei Yisroel, for a pach (snare) and for a mokesh (trap) to the inhabitants of Yerushalayim.

¹⁵ And rabbim (many) among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.

¹⁶ Bind up [to preserve for the future] the te’udah (testimony, i.e. prophetic record such as chapter 6), chatom (seal up) the torah (teaching) among my disciples.

¹⁷ And I will wait for Hashem, that hideth His face from the Bais Ya’akov, and I will look [in hope] for Him.

¹⁸ Hinei, I and the yeladim whom Hashem hath given me are for otot and for mofetim [see Zecharyah 3:8] in Yisroel from Hashem Tzva’os, which dwelleth in Mt Tziyon.

¹⁹ And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto mediums that have familiar spirits, and unto spiritists that whisper, and that mutter: should not Am seek unto Elohav? Should they consult the mesim (dead ones) for the benefit of the chayyim (living)?

²⁰ To the torah (teaching of G-d) and to the te’udah (recorded testimony, see verse 16); if they speak not according to Davar HaZeh, it is because there is no shachar (dawn, light) in them.

²¹ And they [i.e., the unbelievers, contrasted with those in v.13] shall roam about therein, hard-pressed and hungry; and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse by their melech and Elohav, and look upward.

²² And they shall look unto eretz; and, hinei, tzarah and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.