Isaiah 5:1-30
5 Let me sing, please, to my beloved one a song of my loved one concerning his vineyard.+ There was a vineyard that my beloved one came to have on a fruitful hillside.*
2 And he proceeded to dig it up and to rid it of stones and to plant it with a choice red vine, and to build a tower in the middle of it.+ And there was also a winepress that he hewed out in it.+ And he kept hoping for it to produce grapes,+ but it gradually produced wild grapes.*+
3 “And now, O YOU inhabitants* of Jerusalem and YOU men* of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard.+
4 What is there yet to do for my vineyard that I have not already done in it?+ Why is it that I hoped for it to produce grapes, but it gradually produced wild grapes?
5 And now, please, may I make known to YOU men what I am doing to my vineyard: There will be a removing of its hedge,+ and it must be destined for burning down.+ There must be a breaking down of its stone wall, and it must be destined for a place of trampling.+
6 And I shall set it as a thing destroyed.+ It will not be pruned, nor will it be hoed.+ And it must come up with the thornbush and weeds;+ and upon the clouds I shall lay a command to keep from precipitating any rain upon it.+
7 For the vineyard+ of Jehovah of armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plantation of which he was fond.+ And he kept hoping for judgment,+ but, look! the breaking of law;* for righteousness, but, look! an outcry.”+
8 Woe to the ones joining house to house,+ [and] those who annex field to field until there is no more room+ and YOU men have been made to dwell all by yourselves in the midst of the land!
9 In my ears Jehovah of armies [has sworn that] many houses, though great and good, will become an outright object of astonishment, without an inhabitant.+
10 For even ten acres+ of vineyard will produce but one bath* measure,+ and even a hoʹmer* measure of seed will produce but an eʹphah* measure.+
11 Woe to those who are getting up early in the morning that they may seek just intoxicating liquor,+ who are lingering till late in the evening darkness so that wine itself inflames them!+
12 And there must prove to be harp and stringed instrument, tambourine and flute, and wine at their feasts;+ but the activity of Jehovah they do not look at, and the work of his hands they have not seen.+
13 Therefore my people will have to go into exile for lack of knowledge;+ and their glory will be famished men,*+ and their crowd will be parched with thirst.+
14 Therefore Sheʹol* has made its soul* spacious and has opened its mouth wide beyond bounds;+ and what is splendid in her,* also her crowd and her uproar and the exultant one, will certainly go down into it.+
15 And earthling man will bow down, and man will become low, and even the eyes of the high ones will become low.+
16 And Jehovah of armies will become high through judgment,+ and the [true] God,* the Holy One,+ will certainly sanctify himself through righteousness.+
17 And the male lambs will actually graze as in their pasture; and the desolate places of well-fed animals alien residents* will eat.+
18 Woe to those drawing error with ropes of untruth, and as with wagon cords sin;+
19 those who are saying: “Let his work hasten; do let it come quickly,* in order that we may see [it]; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know [it]!”+
20 Woe to those who are saying that good is bad and bad is good,+ those who are putting darkness for light and light for darkness, those who are putting bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!+
21 Woe to those wise in their own eyes and discreet even in front of their own faces!+
22 Woe to those who are mighty in drinking wine, and to the men with vital energy for mixing intoxicating liquor,+
23 those who are pronouncing the wicked one righteous in consideration of a bribe,+ and who take away even the righteousness* of the righteous one* from him!+
24 Therefore just as a tongue of fire eats up the stubble+ and into the flames mere dried grass sinks down, their very rootstock will become just like a musty smell,+ and their blossom itself will go up just like powder, because they have rejected the law of Jehovah of armies,+ and the saying of the Holy One of Israel they have disrespected.+
25 That is why the anger of Jehovah has grown hot against his people, and he will stretch out his hand against them and strike them.+ And the mountains will be agitated,+ and their dead bodies will become like the offal in the midst of the streets.+
In view of all this his anger has not turned back, but his hand is stretched out still.
26 And he has raised up a signal to a great nation* far away,+ and he has whistled to it at the extremity of the earth;+ and, look! in haste it will swiftly come in.+
27 There is no one tired nor is anyone stumbling among them.* No one is drowsy and no one sleeps. And the belt around their loins will certainly not be opened, nor the laces of their sandals be torn in two;
28 because their arrows are sharpened and all their bows are bent.+ The very hoofs of their horses will have to be accounted as flint itself,+ and their wheels as a storm wind.+
29 The roaring of theirs is like that of a lion, and they roar like maned young lions.+ And they will growl and grab hold of the prey and bring [it] safely away, and there will be no deliverer.+
30 And they will growl over it in that day as with the growling of the sea.+ And one will actually gaze at the land, and, look! there is distressing darkness;+ and even the light has grown dark because of the drops falling on it.
Footnotes
^ Lit., “a horn the son of oil.”
^ Or, “stinking things”; or, “putrid (rotten) berries.”
^ Lit., “O inhabitant,” sing. but in a collective sense.
^ “And . . . men of.” Heb., weʼishʹ, sing. but in a collective sense.
^ Or, “look! deviation”; or, “look! outpouring [of blood].”
^ About 22 L (20 dry qt).
^ About 220 L (200 dry qt).
^ About 22 L (5.81 gal). See App 8A.
^ “Those dead from hunger,” TSy and two Heb. mss.
^ “Its soul.” Heb., naph·shahʹ; Gr., psy·khenʹ; Lat., aʹni·mam. See App 4A.
^ “Her,” fem. sing., referring to Jerusalem. See vs 3.
^ “Sheol,” M(Heb., sheʼohlʹ)T; Gr., haiʹdes; Syr., shiul; Lat., in·ferʹnus. See App 4B.
^ “And the [true] God.” Heb., weha·ʼElʹ. See App 1G.
^ Or, “temporary residents.”
^ “Saying: ‘Quickly let Jehovah hasten his works,’ ” Sy.
^ “The righteous one,” LXXVg and a few Heb. mss; 1QIsaMSy, “the righteous ones.”
^ Or, “innocence.”
^ “To a great nation.” Heb., lag·goh·yimʹ, pl. to denote greatness, but with a sing. pronoun (“it”) and with a sing. verb, thus, “it will . . . come in.” See vs 27 ftn.
^ Lit., “it,” that is, the “nation,” sing. but in a collective sense.
