Isaiah — Chapter 5

Let me sing for my belovedA song of my lover about his vineyard.My beloved had a vineyardOn a fruitful hill.aOn a fruitful hill Meaning of Heb. uncertain.

He broke the ground, cleared it of stones,And planted it with choice vines.He built a watchtower inside it,He even hewed a wine press in it;For he hoped it would yield grapes.Instead, it yielded wild grapes.

“Now, then,Dwellers of JerusalemAnd citizenry of Judah,You be the judgesBetween Me and My vineyard:

What more could have been done for My vineyardThat I failed to do in it?Why, when I hoped it would yield grapes,Did it yield wild grapes?

“Now I am going to tell youWhat I will do to My vineyard:I will remove its hedge,That it may be ravaged;I will break down its wall,That it may be trampled.

And I will make it a desolation;bmake it a desolation Meaning of Heb. uncertain. It shall not be pruned or hoed,And it shall be overgrown with briers and thistles.And I will command the cloudsTo drop no rain on it.”

For the vineyard of GOD of HostsIs the House of Israel,And the seedlings he lovingly tendedIs the citizenry of Judah.cThis sentence contains two word-plays: “And [God] hoped for mishpaṭ, And there is mispaḥ [exact meaning uncertain]; / For ṣedaqah, But there is ṣeʻaqah [lit. ‘outcry’].” And [God] hoped for justice,But behold, injustice;For equity,But behold, iniquity!

Ah,Those who add house to houseAnd join field to field,Till there is room for none but youTo dwell in the land!

In my hearing [said] GOD of Hosts:Surely, great housesShall lie forlorn,Spacious and splendid onesWithout occupants.

For ten acres of vineyardShall yield just one bath,djust one bath Of wine. The bath was the liquid equivalent of the ephah; and the ḥomer was ten baths or ephahs (Ezek. 45.11). And a field sown with a ḥomer of seedShall yield a mere ephah.

Ah,Those who chase liquorFrom early in the morning,And till late in the eveningAre inflamed by wine!

Who, at their banquets,HaveeWho, at their banquets, / Have Emendation yields “whose interests are” (mishʻehem, from shaʻah “to turn to,” 17.7, 8; 31.1). lyre and lute,Timbrel, flute, and wine;But who never give a thoughtTo the divine plan,And take no noteOf GOD’s design.

Assuredly,My people will suffer exileFor not giving heed,Its multitude victims of hungerAnd its masses parched with thirst.

Assuredly,Sheol has opened wide its gulletAnd parted its jaws in a measureless gape;And down into it shall go,That splendor and tumult,That din and revelry.

Yea, human is bowed,And mortal brought low;Brought low is the pride of the haughty.

And GOD of Hosts is exalted by judgment,The Holy God proved holy by retribution.

fMeaning of verse uncertain. Emendation yields “The lambs shall graze / In the pasture of the fat [rams], / And the kids shall feed / On the ranges of the stout [bucks].” The lambs and the kids are the poor, and the rams and bucks are the rich oppressors (cf. Ezek. 34.17–22). Then lambs shall grazeAs in their meadows,And strangers shall feedOn the ruins of the stout.

Ah,Those who haul sin with cords of falsehoodAnd iniquity as with cart ropes!

Who say,gWho say By way of retort to v. 12. “Let [God] speed, let God’s purpose be hastened,If we are to give thought;Let the plans of the Holy One of IsraelBe quickly fulfilled,If we are to give heed.”

Ah,Those who call evil goodAnd good evil;Who present darkness as lightAnd light as darkness;Who present bitter as sweetAnd sweet as bitter!

Ah,Those who are so wise—In their own opinion;So clever—In their own judgment!

Ah,Those who are so doughty—As drinkers of wine,And so valiant—As mixers of drink!

Who vindicate the one who is in the wrongIn return for a bribe,And withhold vindicationFrom those who are in the right.

Assuredly,As straw is consumed by a tongue of fireAnd hay shrivels as it burns,hshrivels as it burns Emendation yields “is burned by flame”; cf. 33.11–12; 47.14. Their stock shall become like rot,And their buds shall blow away like dust.For they have rejected the instruction of GOD of Hosts,Spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.

That is why GOD’s anger was rousedAgainst this covenanted people,Why God’s arm was stretched out against itAnd struck it,So that the mountains quaked,iquaked An allusion to the destructive earthquake in the reign of King Uzziah: Amos 1.1; Zech. 14.5; cf. Isa. 9.18a. And its corpses layLike refuse in the streets.Yet God’s anger has not turned back,And the divine arm is outstretched still.

[God] will raise an ensign to a nationja nation Heb. “nations.” afar,Whistle to one at the end of the earth.There it comes with lightning speed!

In its ranks, none is weary or stumbles,They never sleep or slumber;The belts on their waists do not come loose,Nor do the thongs of their sandals break.

Their arrows are sharpened,And all their bows are drawn.Their horses’ hoofs are like flint,Their chariot wheels like the whirlwind.

Their roaring is like a lion’s,They roar like the great beasts;When they growl and seize a prey,They carry it off and none can recover it.

But in that day, a roaring shall resound over My peoplekMy people Lit. “it.” like that of the sea;la roaring shall resound … of the sea I.e., GOD will intervene and come to Israel’s aid. Cf. 29.6–7; 30.27. This verse may constitute a transition between chaps. 8 and 9. and then they shall look below and, behold,Distressing darkness, with light;Darkness, in its lowering clouds.min its lowering clouds Meaning of Heb. uncertain.