Beginning
Song of the Vineyard
5 Let me sing of my beloved,
a song of my beloved, about His vineyard.
My beloved had a vineyard
in a very fertile hill.[a]
2 He dug it out and cleared its stones,
planted it with a choice vine,
built a tower in the midst of it,
and even cut out a winepress.
He expected it to yield good grapes,
but it yielded worthless grapes.
3 So now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah,
please judge
between me and my vineyard.
4 What more was there to do for my vineyard
that I have not done?
Why then, when I expected it to yield good grapes,
did it yield worthless grapes?
5 So now, I will make known to you
what I will do to my vineyard:
I will take away the hedge,
and it will be eaten up.
I will break down the fence,
and it will be trodden down.
6 I will lay it waste:
it will not be pruned or hoed,
but briers and thorns will come up.
I will also command the clouds not to rain on it.
7 For the vineyard of Adonai-Tzva’ot
is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
the planting of His delight.
He looked for justice,
but behold, bloodshed,
for righteousness,
but behold, a cry!
Judgment for Injustice
8 Woe to those who join house to house
and merge field to field,
until there is no room,
and you will live alone
in the midst of the land!
9 In my ears, Adonai-Tzva’ot has said:
“Surely many houses will be desolate—
even grand and fine ones—
with no occupants.”
10 Ten acres of vineyard
will yield six gallons,
and an omer of seed
will yield one ephah.[b]
11 Woe to those who rise up early in the morning—
so they may pursue liquor,
who stay up late at night,
until wine inflames them!
12 Harp and lyre, tambourine and flute,
and wine are at their banquets.
They do not notice Adonai’s activity
nor see the works of His hands.
13 “Therefore My people are in captivity
for lack of knowledge.
Their honorable men are famished
and their multitudes parched with thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its gullet
and opened its measureless mouth—
down goes her glory, her tumult,
her uproar, and the revelry in her.
15 So humanity will be bowed down
mankind will be humbled,
and the eyes of the lofty humbled.”
16 But Adonai-Tzva’ot will be exalted through justice,
and the Holy God consecrated through righteousness.
17 Then lambs will graze as if in their own pasture,
and nomads will eat in the ruins of the wealthy.
18 Oy to those that drag iniquity along with cords of deceit,
and sin as if with a cart rope!
19 They say: “Let Him hurry up
and hasten His work, so we may see it!
Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel
draw near and come,
so we may know it!”
20 Oy to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who present darkness as light
and light as darkness,
who present bitter as sweet,
and sweet as bitter!
21 Oy to those who are wise in their own eyes,
and clever in their own sight!
22 Oy to those who are heroes at drinking wine,
and valiant at mixing drinks,
23 who justify the wicked for a bribe,
and deprive the innocent of justice!
24 Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw,
and as chaff collapses into the flame,
so their root will be like rot,
and their blossom will go up like dust.
For they have rejected the Torah of Adonai–Tzva’ot,
and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore Adonai’s anger is kindled
against His people.
When He has stretched out His hand
against them and struck them,
the hills trembled, and their carcasses
were like refuse in the streets.
For all this His anger is not turned away,
yet His hand is still outstretched.
26 He will lift up a banner to nations far off,
and will whistle for them from the ends of the earth.
Look! Swiftly, speedily they come!
27 None will be weary
and none stumble among them;
none will slumber or sleep;
no belt will be loose at the waist;
no strap of sandals be broken.
28 Their arrows are sharp
and all their bows bent;
their horse hooves will be like flint
and their wheels like a whirlwind.
29 Their roaring will be like a lion.
They will growl like young lions—
yes, they will roar, seize their prey
and carry it away safely—
and there will be none to rescue.
30 They will roar against them
like the roaring of the sea.
If one looks to the land,
behold, darkness and distress!
The light is darkened by the clouds.
Judah’s Encounter with Adonai
6 In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw Adonai sitting on a throne, high and lifted up,[c] and the train of His robe filled the Temple. 2 Seraphim were standing above Him. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 One called out to another, and said:
“Holy, holy, holy, is Adonai-Tzva’ot!
The whole earth is full of His glory.”[d]
4 Then the posts of the door trembled at the voice of those who called, and the House was filled with smoke. [e] 5 Then I said:
“Oy to me! For I am ruined!
For I am a man of unclean lips,
and I am dwelling among a people of unclean lips.
For my eyes have seen the King, Adonai-Tzva’ot!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, with a glowing coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said:
“Behold, this has touched your lips.
Your iniquity is taken away, and your sins atoned for.”
8 Then I heard the voice of Adonai saying:
“Whom should I send, and who will go for Us?”
So I said, “Hineni. Send me.”
9 Then He said:
“Go! Tell this people:
‘Hear without understanding,
and see without perceiving.’[f]
10 Make the heart of this people fat,
their ears heavy, and their eyes blind.
Else they would see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their heart,
and return, and be healed.”[g]
11 Then I said, “Adonai, how long?”
He answered,
“Until cities are laid waste
and without inhabitant,
houses are without people,
and the land is utterly desolate.
12 Adonai will drive people far away.
The desertion of the land will be vast.
13 Though a tenth still be in it,
it will again be burned.
As a terebinth tree or as an oak
whose stump remains when cut down,
so the holy seed will be the stump.”
Reassurance Regarding a Threat
7 Now it came about in the days of Ahaz son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah, son of Remaliah of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. 2 When it was reported to the house of David saying: “Aram is camped in Ephraim,” his heart as well as the heart of his people shook like the trees of the forest shaking with the wind.
3 Then Adonai said to Isaiah: “Go out now to meet Ahaz—you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the aqueduct from the upper pool, in the highway of the fullers’ field[h]; 4 and say to him, ‘Keep calm and be quiet. Do not fear nor be faint-hearted because of these two stubs of smoldering firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram, nor of the son of Remaliah, 5 because Aram has plotted harm against you, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah saying, 6 “Let us go up against Judah, terrorize it, divide it for ourselves, and appoint Tabeel’s son as king in the midst of it.”
7 Thus says Adonai Elohim:
“It will not stand, nor will it occur.
8 For the head of Aram is Damascus,
and the head of Damascus is Rezin.
Within 65 years Ephraim will be broken
and not be a people.
9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son.
If you do not trust, you will not stand.”
The Sign of Immanuel
10 Then Adonai spoke again to Ahaz saying, 11 “Ask for a sign from Adonai your God—from the depths of Sheol or the heights of Heaven.”
12 But Ahaz said, “I won’t ask—I wouldn’t test Adonai!”
13 Then he said, “Hear now, house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men? Will you also weary my God? 14 Therefore Adonai Himself will give you a sign:
Behold, the virgin[i] will conceive.
When she is giving birth to a son,
she will call his name Immanuel.[j]
15 He will be eating curds and honey
by the time he knows to refuse evil
and choose good.
16 For before the boy knows to refuse evil and choose good, the land of the two kings you dread will be abandoned. 17 Adonai will bring—on you, on your people and on your father’s house such days as have never come since the day Ephraim separated from Judah—the king of Assyria!
18 In that day Adonai will whistle for the fly at the source of the Nile of Egypt and for the bee in the land of Assyria. 19 Then they will come, all of them—and will settle in the steep wadis and in the clefts of the cliffs and in all the thorn bushes and in all the watering holes. 20 In that day Adonai will shave—with a razor hired beyond the River—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the legs, and even clip off the beard.
21 In that day it will be that a man will rear a calf and two sheep, 22 and from the abundant milk they give, he will eat curds—for anyone left in the land will eat curds and honey.
23 In that day it will be that every place where there were 1,000 vines worth 1,000 silver shekels will become briers and thorns. 24 With arrows and bows one will come there, since all the land will become briers and thorns. 25 As for all the hills that were tilled with the hoe—you will not go there for fear of briers and thorns. Instead it will be for grazing of oxen and roaming of sheep.
Assyria Will Rise to Judah’s Neck
8 Then Adonai said to me: “Take yourself a great tablet, and write on it with a man’s stylus: ‘Maher-shalal-hashbaz[k].’” 2 So I took for myself trustworthy witnesses—Uriah the kohen and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.
3 Then I went to the prophetess; and she conceived and bore a son. Then Adonai said to me: “Call his name Maher-shalal-hashbaz. 4 For before the child will have knowledge to cry ‘my father!’ or ‘my mother!’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.” 5 Then Adonai spoke to me further, saying:
6 “Because these people have refused
the softly flowing waters of Shiloah,
and rejoice with Rezin and Remaliah’s son,
7 therefore behold, Adonai is bringing on them
the waters of the River—mighty and massive—
Assyria’s king with all his glory!
It will rise over all its channels
and spill over all its banks.
8 Then it will sweep through Judah,
overflow as it passes through,
reaching even to the neck!
So the spread of its wings will be
the full breadth of your land!
Immanuel!
9 Make an uproar, O peoples—
but you will be broken in pieces.
Give ear, all you of far countries.
Arm yourselves—yet be shattered!
Arm yourselves—yet be shattered!
10 Take counsel together,
but it will amount to nothing.
Speak a word, but it will not stand.
For God is with us!
11 For thus Adonai spoke to me, with a strong hand, warning me that I should not walk in the way of these people, saying: 12 “Do not say: ‘It’s a conspiracy!’ about everything that these people call a conspiracy. You must not fear or tremble at what they fear.
13 Adonai-Tzva’ot, Him will you sanctify,
and let Him be your fear, trembling at Him.
14 He will be a Sanctuary,
but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence[l]
to both the houses of Israel,
a trap and a snare
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 Many among them will stumble,
fall, and be broken,
snared and caught.
16 Bind up the testimony,
seal the instruction with My disciples.
17 I will wait for Adonai,
who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob,
and I will look eagerly for Him.
18 Here I am with the children that Adonai has given me as signs and wonders in Israel, from Adonai-Tzva’ot who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 When they say to you: “Consult the mediums and necromancers who chirp and mutter,” shouldn’t a people seek their God? Should a people consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To Torah and to the testimony!
If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no light. 21 They will pass this way that are hard-pressed and hungry, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will become enraged and curse their king and their God. Whether they turn their faces upward 22 or look to the earth, behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and they will be driven into darkness.
A Great Light in Galilee
23 But there is no gloom to her[m]
who was in anguish, as in time past.
He treated lightly the land of Zebulun
and the land of Naphtali,
but in the future He will bring glory—
by the way of the sea,
beyond the Jordan—
Galilee of the Gentiles.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.