Isaiah 5

1 I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

2 He dug it up and cleared the stones and planted the finest vines. He built a watchtower in the middle and dug out a winepress as well. He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes, but the fruit it produced was sour!

3 “And now, O dwellers of Jerusalem and men of Judah, I exhort you to judge between Me and My vineyard.

4 What more could have been done for My vineyard than I have done for it? Why, when I expected sweet grapes, did it bring forth sour fruit?

5 Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled.

6 I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and thorns and briers will grow up. I will command the clouds that rain shall not fall on it.”

7 For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of His delight. He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard a cry of distress.

8 Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field until no place is left and you live alone in the land.

9 I heard the LORD of Hosts declare: “Surely many houses will become desolate, great mansions left unoccupied.

10 For ten acres of vineyard will yield but a bath of wine, and a homer of seed only an ephah of grain.”

11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of strong drink, who linger into the evening, to be inflamed by wine.

12 At their feasts are the lyre and harp, tambourines and flutes and wine. They disregard the actions of the LORD and fail to see the work of His hands.

13 Therefore My people will go into exile for their lack of understanding; their dignitaries are starving and their masses are parched with thirst.

14 Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat and opens wide its enormous jaws, and down go Zion’s nobles and masses, her revelers and carousers!

15 So mankind will be brought low, and each man humbled; the arrogant will lower their eyes.

16 But the LORD of Hosts will be exalted by His justice, and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.

17 Lambs will graze as in their own pastures, and strangers will feed in the ruins of the wealthy.

18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes,

19 to those who say, “Let Him hurry and hasten His work so that we may see it! Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come so that we may know it!”

20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness to light and light to darkness, who replace bitter with sweet and sweet with bitter.

21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.

22 Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and champions in mixing strong drink,

23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice.

24 Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25 Therefore the anger of the LORD burns against His people; His hand is raised against them to strike them down. The mountains quake, and the corpses lie like refuse in the streets. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.

26 He lifts a banner for the distant nations and whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Behold—how speedily and swiftly they come!

27 None of them grows weary or stumbles; no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose and no sandal strap is broken.

28 Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows are strung. The hooves of their horses are like flint; their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.

29 Their roaring is like that of a lion; they roar like young lions. They growl and seize their prey; they carry it away, and no one can rescue it.

30 In that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. If one looks over the land, he will see darkness and distress; even the light will be obscured by clouds.

1 ¶ Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:

2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.

4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?

5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; [and] break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:

6 And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts [is] the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

8 ¶ Woe unto them that join house to house, [that] lay field to field, till [there be] no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!

9 In mine ears [said] the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, [even] great and fair, without inhabitant.

10 Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.

11 Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, [that] they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, [till] wine inflame them!

12 And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.

13 Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because [they have] no knowledge: and their honourable men [are] famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.

14 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.

15 And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:

16 But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.

17 Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.

18 ¶ Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:

19 That say, Let him make speed, [and] hasten his work, that we may see [it]: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know [it]!

20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

21 Woe unto [them that are] wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

22 Woe unto [them that are] mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:

23 Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

24 Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, [so] their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25 Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases [were] torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out still.

26 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:

27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:

28 Whose arrows [are] sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:

29 Their roaring [shall be] like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry [it] away safe, and none shall deliver [it].

30 And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if [one] look unto the land, behold darkness [and] sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.

1 Come, I will sing to my beloved a song of my cousin's from his vineyard. My beloved has a vineyard in a fat place.

2 And he fenced it, and covered it with heaps of stones, and put noble vines therein. And he built a tower in it, and digged a winepress in it, and waited for it to bring forth grapes. But he brought forth grapes.

3 Now therefore judge, ye citizens of Jerusalem, and ye men of Judah, between me and my vineyard.

4 What more shall be done in my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why then hath he brought forth seedlings, when I waited for him to bring forth grapes?

5 Now therefore, I will shew you what I will do unto my vineyard. The wall thereof shall be taken away, that it may be desolate; and the fence thereof shall be broken down, that it may be trodden under foot.

6 I will leave it desolate, and it shall not be cut, neither chopped, but thorns and briers shall grow upon it: and I will command the clouds that they rain not upon it.

7 Now the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel; and the men of Judah are his tender flock. He waiteth for justice, behold, it is drudgery; for righteousness, behold, it is lamentation.

8 Woe unto them that set house against house, and bring one field to another, until there be no more room, that they alone may possess the land!

9 It is in the ears of the LORD of hosts: what is the matter, but that the many houses shall be desolate, and the great and the good shall stand waste?

10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bucket, and one bushel of seed shall yield but one bushel.

11 Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning to be diligent to drink, and sit up to night, to be heated with wine,

12 And they have harps, and psalteries, and timbrels, and pipes, and wine, in their good pleasure, and look not on the work of the LORD, nor consider the business of his hands.

13 Therefore shall my people be taken away unawares; and their nobles shall hunger, and their people thirst.

14 Therefore hath hell opened wide the soul, and opened the jaws without measure, that both her glorious and her vile, both her rich and her merry, may go down,

15 That every man should stoop, and every man be humbled, and the eyes of the proud be humbled,

16 But let the LORD of hosts be exalted in judgment, and let God the Holy One be sanctified in righteousness.

17 Then shall the lambs feed in that place, and the strangers shall feed in the wilderness of fatness.

18 Woe unto them that cleave together with loose cords to do iniquity, and with chariot ropes to sin,

19 Saying: Let his work come quickly and speedily, that we may see it; let it come, and let the stroke of the Holy One come upon Israel, that we may know it.

20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that turn darkness into light, and light into darkness; that turn sour into sweet, and sweet into sour!

21 Woe unto them that are wise in themselves, and think themselves wise!

22 Woe unto them that are valiant in drinking wine, and warriors in gluttony,

23 Who give judgment to the wicked for a gift, and turn away the judgment of the righteous from them.

24 Therefore as the flame of the fire devoureth straw, and as the tuft taketh up stubble, so shall their root rot, and their shoot as dust. For they despise the law of the LORD of hosts, and blaspheme the words of the Holy One in Israel.

25 Therefore the anger of the LORD is kindled against his people, and he stretcheth out his hand against them, and smiteth them, that the mountains quake; and their carcase is as dung in the streets. And in all this his anger is not abated, but his hand is stretched out.

26 For he shall cast a banner afar off among the heathen, and shall draw them from the ends of the earth. And, behold, they come with haste and speed!

27 And there is none of them that is weary or faint, neither slumbereth nor sleepeth, neither doth his girdle unloose from his loins, neither doth his shoe-strap rent.

28 Their arrows are sharp, and all their bows are strained. The hoofs of his horses are like rocks, and the wheels of his chariots are like a whirlwind.

29 They shall roar like lions, and roar like young lions: they shall roar, and take the spoil, and carry it away, that no man shall deliver.

30 And shall roar upon them in that day as the sea. And when they look upon the land, behold, it is dark with fear, and the light shineth no more above them.