Isaiah 5:7-9 New English Translation
7 Indeed,[a] Israel[b] is the vineyard of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
the people[c] of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight.
He waited for justice, but look what he got—disobedience![d]
He waited for fairness, but look what he got—cries for help![e]
Disaster is Coming
8 Beware, those who accumulate houses,[f]
who also accumulate field after field[g]
until there is no land left,[h]
and you are the only landowners remaining within the land.[i]
9 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies told me this:[j]
“Many houses will certainly become desolate,
large, impressive houses will have no one living in them.[k]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 5:7 tn Or “For” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).
- Isaiah 5:7 tn Heb “the house of Israel” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).
- Isaiah 5:7 tn Heb “men,” but in a generic sense.
- Isaiah 5:7 tn Heb “but, look, disobedience.” The precise meaning of מִשְׂפָּח (mispakh), which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain. Some have suggested a meaning “bloodshed.” The term is obviously chosen for its wordplay value; it sounds very much like מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat, “justice”). The sound play draws attention to the point being made; the people have not met the Lord’s expectations.
- Isaiah 5:7 tn Heb “but, look, a cry for help.” The verb (“he waited”) does double duty in the parallelism. צְעָקָה (tseaʿqah) refers to the cries for help made by the oppressed. It sounds very much like צְדָקָה (tsedaqah, “fairness”). The sound play draws attention to the point being made; the people have not met the Lord’s expectations.
- 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.”
New English Translation (NET)
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