1I will sing a song for the LORD. He is the one I love. It’s a song about his vineyard Israel. The one I love had a vineyard. It was on a hillside that had rich soil.2He dug up the soil and removed its stones. He planted the very best vines in it. He built a lookout tower there. He also cut out a winepress for it. Then he kept looking for a crop of good grapes. But the vineyard produced only bad fruit.3So the LORD said, ‘People of Jerusalem and Judah, you be the judge between me and my vineyard.4What more could I have done for my vineyard? I did everything I could. I kept looking for a crop of good grapes. So why did it produce only bad ones?5Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard. I will take away its fence. And the vineyard will be destroyed. I will break down its wall. And people will walk all over my vineyard.6I will turn my vineyard into a dry and empty desert. It will not be pruned or taken care of. Thorns and bushes will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.’7The vineyard of the LORD who rules over all is the nation of Israel. The people of Judah are the vines he took delight in. He kept looking for them to do what is fair. But all he saw was blood being spilled. He kept looking for them to do what is right. But all he heard were cries of suffering.
The Lord judges his vineyard
8How terrible it will be for you who get too many houses! How terrible for you who get too many fields! Finally there won’t be any space left in the land. Then you will live all alone.9I heard the LORD who rules over all announce a message. He said, ‘You can be sure that the great houses will become empty. The fine homes will be left with no one living in them.10A ten-acre vineyard will produce only 24 litres of wine. 150 kilograms of seeds will produce only 15 kilograms of corn.’11How terrible it will be for those who get up early in the morning to start drinking! How terrible for those who stay up late at night until they are drunk with wine!12They have harps and lyres at their banquets. They have tambourines, flutes and wine. But they don’t have any concern for the mighty acts of the LORD. They don’t have any respect for what his power has done.13So my people will be taken away as prisoners. That’s because they don’t understand what the LORD has done. Their nobles will die of hunger. The rest of the people won’t have any water to drink.14So Death opens its jaws to receive them. Its mouth is open wide to swallow them up. Their nobles and the rest of the people will go down into it. They will go there together with all those who have wild parties.15So people will be brought low. Everyone will be made humble. Those who boast will be brought down.16But the LORD who rules over all will be honoured because he judges fairly. The holy God will prove that he is holy by doing what is right.17Then sheep will graze as if they were in their own grasslands. Lambs will eat grass among the destroyed buildings where rich people used to live.18How terrible it will be for those who continue to sin and lie about it! How terrible for those who keep on doing what is evil as if they were tied to it!19How terrible for those who say, ‘Let God hurry up and do what he says he will. We want to see it happen. Let us see the plan of the Holy One of Israel. We want to know what it is.’20How terrible it will be for those who say that what is evil is good! How terrible for those who say that what is good is evil! How terrible for those who say that darkness is light and light is darkness! How terrible for those who say that what is bitter is sweet and what is sweet is bitter!21How terrible it will be for those who think they are wise! How terrible for those who think they are really clever!22How terrible it will be for those who are heroes at drinking wine! How terrible for those who are heroes at mixing drinks!23How terrible for those who take money to set guilty people free! How terrible for those who don’t treat good people fairly!24Flames of fire burn up straw. Dry grass sinks down into those flames. Evil people will be like plants whose roots rot away. They will be like flowers that are blown away like dust. That’s because they have said no to the law of the LORD who rules over all. They have turned against the message of the Holy One of Israel.25So the LORD is angry with his people. He raises his hand against them and strikes them down. The mountains shake. The bodies of dead people lie in the streets like rubbish. Even then, the LORD is still angry. His hand is still raised against them.26He lifts up a banner to gather the nations that are far away. He whistles for them to come from the farthest places on earth. Here they come. They are moving very quickly.27None of them grows tired. None of them falls down. None of them sleeps or even takes a nap. All of them are ready for battle. Every belt is pulled tight. Not a single sandal strap is broken.28The enemies’ arrows are sharp. All their bows are ready. The hooves of their horses are as hard as rock. Their chariot wheels turn like a whirlwind.29The sound of their army is like the roar of lions. It’s like the roar of young lions. They growl as they capture what they were chasing. They carry it off. No one can take it away from them.30At that time the enemy army will roar over Israel. It will sound like the roaring of the ocean. If someone looks at the land of Israel, there is only darkness and trouble. The clouds will make even the sun become dark.
Isaiah 5
English Standard Version
The Vineyard of the Lord Destroyed
1Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. (Ps 80:8; Ho 9:10; Mt 21:33; Mr 12:1; Lu 20:9)2He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. (Jer 2:21; Mt 21:19; Mr 11:13; Lu 13:6)3And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.4What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? (Isa 5:2; Mic 6:3)5And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured;[1] I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. (Ps 80:12; Pr 24:31; Jer 5:10)6I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. (1Ki 17:1; Isa 7:23; Jer 14:1; Jer 14:22)7For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed;[2] for righteousness, but behold, an outcry![3] (Ps 80:8; Isa 3:14)
Woe to the Wicked
8Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land. (Mic 2:2)9The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing: “Surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant. (Isa 6:12)10For ten acres[4] of vineyard shall yield but one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”[5] (Le 26:26; Eze 45:11; Hag 1:6; Hag 2:16)11Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink, who tarry late into the evening as wine inflames them! (Pr 23:29; Ec 10:16; Isa 5:22)12They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord, or see the work of his hands. (Isa 26:11; Am 6:5)13Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge;[6] their honored men go hungry,[7] and their multitude is parched with thirst. (Isa 1:3; La 4:2; La 4:7; Ho 4:6)14Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure, and the nobility of Jerusalem[8] and her multitude will go down, her revelers and he who exults in her. (Job 1:18; Ps 141:7; Isa 5:12; Hab 2:5)15Man is humbled, and each one is brought low, and the eyes of the haughty[9] are brought low. (Isa 2:9)16But the Lord of hosts is exalted[10] in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness. (Isa 2:11; Isa 2:17)17Then shall the lambs graze as in their pasture, and nomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich. (Jud 6:3; Mic 2:12)18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin as with cart ropes, (Pr 5:22)19who say: “Let him be quick, let him speed his work that we may see it; let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near, and let it come, that we may know it!” (Eze 12:22; 2Pe 3:4)20Woe 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! (Job 17:12; Am 5:7; Mt 6:22; Lu 11:34)21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight! (Pr 3:7; Ro 12:16)22Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink, (Isa 5:11)23who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right! (Ex 23:8; Pr 17:15)24Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom go up like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. (Ex 15:7; Job 18:16; Isa 1:4; Isa 30:9; Isa 47:14; Ho 5:12; Joe 2:5)25Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them, and the mountains quaked; and their corpses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still. (2Ki 9:37; 2Ki 22:13; 2Ki 22:17; Ps 97:5; Isa 9:12; Isa 9:17; Isa 9:21; Isa 10:4; Jer 4:24; Jer 36:30; Hab 3:6)26He will raise a signal for nations far away, and whistle for them from the ends of the earth; and behold, quickly, speedily they come! (De 28:49; Isa 7:18; Isa 10:3; Isa 11:12; Isa 13:2; Isa 18:3; Zec 10:8)27None is weary, none stumbles, none slumbers or sleeps, not a waistband is loose, not a sandal strap broken; (Isa 10:28)28their arrows are sharp, all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs seem like flint, and their wheels like the whirlwind. (Ps 7:12; Isa 21:1)29Their roaring is like a lion, like young lions they roar; they growl and seize their prey; they carry it off, and none can rescue. (2Ki 18:13)30They will growl over it on that day, like the growling of the sea. And if one looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress; and the light is darkened by its clouds. (Isa 8:22)