Isaiah 5New King James Version
God’s Disappointing Vineyard
5 Now let me sing to my Well-beloved
A song of my Beloved(A)regarding His vineyard:
My Well-beloved has a vineyard
[a]On a very fruitful hill.
2 He dug it up and cleared out its stones,
And planted it with the choicest vine.
He built a tower in its midst,
And also[b]made a winepress in it;
(B)So He expecteditto bring forthgoodgrapes,
But it brought forth wild grapes.
3 “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
(C)Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard.
4 What more could have been done to My vineyard
That I have not done in(D)it?
Why then, when I expecteditto bring forthgoodgrapes,
Did it bring forth wild grapes?
5 And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard:
(E)I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned;
Andbreak down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.
6 I will lay it(F)waste;
It shall not be pruned or[c]dug,
But there shall come up briers and(G)thorns.
I will also command the clouds
That they rain no rain on it.”
7 For the vineyard of theLordof hostsisthe house of Israel,
And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant.
He looked for justice, but behold, oppression;
For righteousness, but behold,[d]a cryfor help.
Impending Judgment on Excesses
8 Woe to those who[e]join(H)house to house;
They add field to field,
Tillthere isno place
Where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land!
9 (I)In my hearing theLordof hostssaid,
“Truly, many houses shall be desolate,
Great and beautiful ones, without inhabitant.
10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one(J)bath,[f]
And a homer of seed shall yield one[g]ephah.”
11 (K)Woe to those who rise early in the morning,
Thatthey may[h]follow intoxicating drink;
Who continue until night,tillwine inflames them!
12 (L)The harp and the strings,
The tambourine and flute,
And wine are in their feasts;
But(M)they do not regard the work of theLord,
Nor consider the operation of His hands.
13 (N)Therefore my people have gone into captivity,
Becausethey haveno(O)knowledge;
Their honorable menarefamished,
And their multitude dried up with thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged itself
And opened its mouth beyond measure;
Their glory and their multitude and their pomp,
And he who is jubilant, shall descend into it.
15 People shall be brought down,
(P)Each man shall be humbled,
And the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled.
16 But theLordof hosts shall be(Q)exalted in judgment,
And God who is holy shall be hallowed in righteousness.
17 Then the lambs shall feed in their pasture,
And in the waste places of(R)the[i]fat ones strangers shall eat.
18 Woe to those who[j]draw iniquity with cords of[k]vanity,
And sin as if with a cart rope;
19 (S)That say, “Let Him make speedandhasten His work,
That we may seeit;
And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come,
That we may knowit.”
20 Woe 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!
21 Woe tothose who are(T)wise in their own eyes,
And prudent in their own sight!
22 Woe to men mighty at drinking wine,
Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink,
23 Who(U)justify the wicked for a bribe,
And take away justice from the righteous man!
24 Therefore,(V)as the[l]fire devours the stubble,
And the flame consumes the chaff,
So(W)their root will be as rottenness,
And their blossom will ascend like dust;
Because they have rejected the law of theLordof hosts,
And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 (X)Therefore the anger of theLordis aroused against His people;
He has stretched out His hand against them
And stricken them,
And(Y)the hills trembled.
Their carcasseswereas refuse in the midst of the streets.
(Z)For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His handisstretched out still.
26 (AA)He will lift up a banner to the nations from afar,
And will(AB)whistle to them from(AC)the end of the earth;
Surely(AD)they shall come with speed, swiftly.
27 No one will be weary or stumble among them,
No one will slumber or sleep;
Nor(AE)will the belt on their loins be loosed,
Nor the strap of their sandals be broken;
28 (AF)Whose arrowsaresharp,
And all their bows bent;
Their horses’ hooves will[m]seem like flint,
And their wheels like a whirlwind.
29 Their roaringwill belike a lion,
They will roar like young lions;
Yes, they will roar
And lay hold of the prey;
They will carryitaway safely,
And no one will deliver.
30 In that day they will roar against them
Like the roaring of the sea.
And ifone(AG)looks to the land,
Behold, darknessand[n]sorrow;
And the light is darkened by the clouds.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 5:1Lit.In a horn, the son of fatness
- Isaiah 5:2Lit.hewed out
- Isaiah 5:6hoed
- Isaiah 5:7wailing
- Isaiah 5:8Accumulate houses
- Isaiah 5:101 bath=1⁄10 homer
- Isaiah 5:101 ephah=1⁄10 homer
- Isaiah 5:11pursue
- Isaiah 5:17Lit.fatlings,rich ones
- Isaiah 5:18drag
- Isaiah 5:18emptinessorfalsehood
- Isaiah 5:24Lit.tongue of fire
- Isaiah 5:28Lit.be regarded as
- Isaiah 5:30distress
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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