LEB ISA Chapter 5

The Song of the Vineyard

• a song of my love concerning his vineyard:
• My beloved had a vineyard[fn] on a fertile hill .[fn]
  • 2 And he dug it and cleared it of stones, and he planted it with choice vines,[fn]
• and he built a watchtower in the middle of it,
  • and he even hewed out a wine vat in it,
• and he waited for it to yield grapes—
  • but it yielded wild grapes.
  • 3 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men[fn] of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.
  • 4 What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why did I hope for it to yield grapes, and it yielded wild grapes?
• 5 And now let me tell you what I myself am about to do to my vineyard.I will remove its hedge, and it shall become a devastation.
  • I will break down its wall, and it shall become a trampling.
  • 6 And I will make it a wasteland; it shall not be pruned and hoed,
• and it shall be overgrown with briers[fn] and thornbushes.[fn]
  • And concerning the clouds, I will command them not to send[fn] rain down upon it.
  • 7 For the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts is the house of Israel, and the man[fn] of Judah is the plantation of his delight.
• And he waited for justice,[fn]
  • but look! Bloodshed![fn]
• For righteousness,[fn]
  • but look! A cry of distress![fn]

Woes on the Wicked

• 8 Ah! Those who join[fn] house with house, they join field together with field
• until there is no place[fn]
  • and you are caused to dwell alone in the midst of the land.
• 9 Yahweh of hosts said in my ears:Surely[fn] many houses shall become a desolation,
  • large and beautiful ones without inhabitant.
• 10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath,[fn] and the seed of a homer will yield an ephah.[fn]
  • 11 Ah! Those who rise early in the morning, they pursue strong drink.
• Those who linger in the evening,
  • wine inflames them.
  • 12 And there will be lyre and harp, tambourine and flute,
  • and wine at their feasts,
• but they do not look at the deeds[fn] of Yahweh,
  • and they do not see the work of his hands.
• 13 Therefore my people will go into exile without knowledge, and their[fn] nobles[fn] will be men of hunger,
• and their[fn] multitude is parched with thirst.
  • 14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat, and it has opened wide its mouth without limit,
• and her[fn] nobles[fn] will go down, and her multitude,
  • her tumult and those who revel in her.
  • 15 And humankind is bowed down, and man is brought low,
  • and the eyes of the haughty are humiliated.
  • 16 But Yahweh of hosts is exalted by justice, and the holy God shows himself holy by righteousness.
  • 17 And then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and fatlings, kids[fn] will eat among the sites of ruins.[fn]
  • 18 Ah! Those who drag iniquity along with the cords of falsehood and sin as with rope of the cart,
• 19 those who say, “Let him make haste;
  • let him hurry his work
    • so that we may see it
• and let it draw near
  • and let the plan of the holy one of Israel come
    • so that we may know it!”
  • 20 Ah! Those who call evil good and good evil, those who put darkness for light and light for darkness,
  • those who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
  • 21 Ah! Those who are wise in their own eyes and have understanding in their view ![fn]
  • 22 Ah! Heroes at drinking wine, and men of capability at mixing strong drink!
  • 23 Those who acquit the guilty because of a bribe and remove the justice of the innocent from him.
  • 24 Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and dry grass sinks down in the flame,
• so their root will become like the stench,
  • and their blossom will go up like the dust.
• For they have rejected the instruction of Yahweh of hosts,
  • and they have treated the word of the holy one of Israel with contempt.
  • 25 Therefore Yahweh’s wrath was kindled[fn] against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them[fn] and struck them,[fn]
• and the mountains quaked,
  • and their corpses[fn] were like refuse in the middle of the streets.

Yahweh’s Outstretched Hand

• In all of this his anger has not turned back,
  • and still his hand is stretched out.
• 26 And he will raise a signal for a nation[fn] from afar, and he will whistle for it from the end of the earth.
• And look! It comes quickly, swiftly!
  • 27 None is weary, and none among him stumbles;
  • none slumbers and none sleeps.
• And no loincloth on his waist is opened,
  • and no thong of his sandals is drawn away.
  • 28 Whose arrows are sharp, and all of his bows are bent.
• The hoofs of his horses are reckoned like flint,
  • and his wheels like the storm wind.
  • 29 His roaring is like the lion, and he roars like young lions.
• And he growls and seizes his prey,
  • and he carries it off,
  • and not one can rescue it.
  • 30 And he will roar over him on that day like the roaring of the sea,
• and if one looks to the land, look! Darkness! Distress!
  • And the light grows dark with its[fn] clouds.