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The Lord’s Vineyard

I will sing[a] for my beloved
    my love-song concerning his vineyard:

“The one I love had a vineyard
    on a very fertile hill.
He plowed its land[b] and cleared it of stones.
    Then he planted it with the choicest vines,
built a watchtower in the middle of it,
    and dug a wine vat in it;
He expected[c] it to produce good[d] grapes,
    but it produced only wild ones.”[e]

“So now, you inhabitants[f] of Jerusalem
    and men of Judah,
judge, won’t you please,
    between me and my vineyard.
What more could I do in[g] my vineyard,
    that I haven’t already done?
When I expected it to produce good[h] grapes,
    why did it yield[i] wild ones?[j]

“Now, let me tell you, won’t you please,
    what I’m going to do to my vineyard.

“I’m going to take away its protective hedge,
    and it will be devoured;[k]
I’ll break down its wall,
    and it will be trampled.
I’ll make it a wasteland,
    and it won’t be pruned or cultivated.
Instead, briers and thorns will grow up.
    I’ll also issue commands to the clouds,
        that they drop no rain upon it.”

For the vineyard of the Lord of the Heavenly Armies
    is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
    are the garden in which he delights.[l]
He looked for justice,
    but saw only bloodshed;
he searched[m] for righteousness,
    but heard only an outcry!

Judgment on Land Barons

“How terrible it will be for you who join house to house,
    who add field to field,
until there is no more room,
    and you have settled yourselves alone[n]
        in the middle of the land!”

The Lord of the Heavenly Armies has declared this so I could hear it:

“Surely many houses will become desolate,
    great and beautiful houses,
        without occupants.
10 For ten acres of vineyard will produce only one bath,[o]
    and one omer[p] of seed[q] will produce only one ephah.”[r]

Judgment on Alcoholics

11 “How terrible it will be for those who rise at dawn
    in order to grab[s] a stiff drink,
for those who stay up late at night
    as wine inflames them!
12 They have the lyre and harp,
    the tambourine and flute,
        as well as wine at their festivals,
but they don’t respect what the Lord is doing,
    nor do they consider his actions.[t]
13 Therefore my people go into exile
    because they lack understanding;
my[u] honored men go hungry,
    and the crowd is parched with thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol’s[v] appetite has grown;
    it has opened its mouth beyond limit.
Jerusalem’s nobility and her multitudes will go there,
    along with her brawlers and whoever is reveling within her.
15 Humanity is brought low,
    and each one is humbled,
        while the eyes of the self-exalting are brought low.

16 But the Lord of the Heavenly Armies is exalted in justice,
    and the Holy God proves himself to be righteously holy.
17 Then the lambs will graze in their pasture;
    fatlings and foreigners will eat
        among the waste places of the rich.”

Judgment on Mockers

18 “How terrible it will be for those who parade iniquity with cords of falsehood,
    who draw sin along as[w] with a cart rope;
19 who say: ‘Let God[x] be quick,
    let him speed up[y] his work
        so we may see it!
Let it happen!
    let the plan of the Holy One of Israel draw near,
        so we may recognize it!’”

Judgment on Moral Relativists

20 “How terrible it will be for those who call evil good
    and good evil,
who substitute darkness for light
    and light for darkness,
who substitute what is bitter for what is sweet
    and what is sweet for what is bitter!”

Judgment on the Arrogant

21 “How terrible it will be for those who are wise in their own opinion,
    and clever in their own reckoning!

22 “How terrible it will be for those who are heroes at drinking wine,
    and champions in mixing strong drink,
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
    and deprive the innocent of justice!”

The Effects of Divine Judgment

24 Therefore, as flames of fire devour straw,
    as dry grass[z] collapses in flames,
so their root will be rotten,
    and their blossom will blow away like dust,
because they have rejected the instruction[aa] of the Lord of the Heavenly Armies,
    and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore[ab] the anger of the Lord[ac] burned against his people,
    so he stretched out his hands[ad] against them
        and afflicted them.
The mountains quaked,
    and their corpses were like refuse
        in the middle of the streets.

Throughout all of this, his anger has not turned away,
    and his hands are[ae] still stretched out to attack.[af]

26 The Lord[ag] will signal[ah] for nations far away,
    whistling for them to come[ai]
        from the ends of the earth.
Look how quickly
    and how swiftly they come!
27 No one is weary, no one stumbles,[aj]
    and no one slumbers or sleeps.
No belt around their waists will come undone,
    nor will their sandal straps be broken.
28 Their arrows are sharp,
    all their bows ready for action.[ak]
Their horses’ hooves seem like flint,
    and their chariot wheels spin[al] like a whirlwind.
29 With a roar like a lion, they snarl,
    and like young lions, they growl;[am]
they seize their prey
    and then carry it off,
        with no one to rescue.
30 They will roar over it[an] at that time,[ao]
    like the sea waves roar.
If one surveys the land, watch out!
    There’s darkness and distress;
        even the daylight is darkened by its clouds.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 5:1 So 1QIsaa; MT reads Please, let me sing
  2. Isaiah 5:2 1QIsaa MT lack its land
  3. Isaiah 5:2 Or waited for
  4. Isaiah 5:2 1QIsaa MT lack good
  5. Isaiah 5:2 I.e. grapes unsuitable for wine making
  6. Isaiah 5:3 So 1QIsaa; MT reads inhabitant
  7. Isaiah 5:4 So 1QIsaa; MT reads for
  8. Isaiah 5:4 1QIsaa MT lack good
  9. Isaiah 5:4 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read produce
  10. Isaiah 5:4 I.e. grapes unsuitable for wine making
  11. Isaiah 5:5 So 1QIsaa; MT reads will be for devouring; LXX reads will be for plundering
  12. Isaiah 5:7 So 1QIsaa; MT reads his delightful garden
  13. Isaiah 5:7 1QIsaa MT lack he searched
  14. Isaiah 5:8 So 1QIsaa; MT reads you are made to live alone
  15. Isaiah 5:10 I.e. about six gallons
  16. Isaiah 5:10 I.e. about ten bushels
  17. Isaiah 5:10 1QIsaa MT lack of seed
  18. Isaiah 5:10 I.e. about one tenth of what was sown
  19. Isaiah 5:11 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX may run after
  20. Isaiah 5:12 Lit. consider the work of his hands
  21. Isaiah 5:13 So 1QIsaa; MT reads their
  22. Isaiah 5:14 I.e. the realm of the dead
  23. Isaiah 5:18 1QIsaa MT lack as
  24. Isaiah 5:19 Lit. him
  25. Isaiah 5:19 So 1QIsaa; MT reads hurry
  26. Isaiah 5:24 So MT; 1QIsaa reads fire
  27. Isaiah 5:24 Or law
  28. Isaiah 5:25 So 1QIsaa MT; LXX reads And
  29. Isaiah 5:25 So 1QIsaa MT; 4QIsab LXX read Lord of the Heavenly Armies
  30. Isaiah 5:25 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read hand
  31. Isaiah 5:25 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read his hand is
  32. Isaiah 5:25 DSS MT lack to attack
  33. Isaiah 5:26 Lit. He
  34. Isaiah 5:26 Lit. will send up a signal
  35. Isaiah 5:26 1QIsaa MT lack to come
  36. Isaiah 5:27 So 1QIsaa; MT reads stumbles among them
  37. Isaiah 5:28 Lit. bows bent
  38. Isaiah 5:28 DSS MT lack spin
  39. Isaiah 5:29 So 1QIsaa; MT reads Their roaring is like a lion; like young lions they roar. They growl
  40. Isaiah 5:30 I.e. over conquered Judah
  41. Isaiah 5:30 Lit. it on that day