Open English Translation ISA Chapter 5

5 Let me sing, please, to my dearest one,

a song for my darling about his vineyard.

My dearest had a vineyard on very fertile hillside.[ref]

2 He dug it over and cleared it

and planted it with choice vines.

He built a watchtower in the middle of it

and also hewed a winepress in a rocky portion.

Then he waited for it to produce grapes,

but it produced sour, wild grapes.

3 So now, you who lives in Yerushalem

≈ and man from Yehudah,

judge, please, between me and between my vineyard.

4 What more could have been done for my vineyard,

that I haven’t already done for it?

I waited for it to produce grapes,

but why did it produce wild grapes?

5 So now, listen please,

because I’ll tell you what I’m going to do to my vineyard:

I’ll remove the hedge around it and burn it in a fire.

I’ll tear its wall down so people can trample over it.

6 Then I’ll allow it to become overgrown.

It won’t be pruned or hoed, and thistles and thorns will grow through it.

Then I’ll command the clouds not to rain on it any more.

7 Yes, army commander Yahweh’s vineyard is Yisrael,

and the people from Yehudah are his nice plants.

Then he waited for justice, but look, slaughter came.

He waited for people to do what’s right, but listen, screaming came.

8 Those who acquire houses won’t end well,

≈ or those who add to their fields until there’s no room left.

→ Then the poor are made to remain alone in the middle of the country.

9 I heard army commander Yahweh say:

‘Surely many houses will end up empty—

≈ even large and nice ones won’t have anyone living in them.

10 A large vineyard will produce a measly amount of juice,

≈ and ten baskets of seed will only give a harvest of one basket of grain.

11 Those who get up early in the morning to get a strong drink won’t end well,

≈ yes, those who loiter into the night as wine inflames them.

12 They celebrate with harp and lyre,

tambourine and flute and wine,

but they don’t care about anything that Yahweh does,

≈ in fact, they don’t even know what he’s done for them.

13 Therefore, my people will be exiled because of their for lack of understanding,

and its honourable people are hungry,

≈ and the parched crowds are thirsty.

14 Therefore, the grave has enlarged its appetite

≈ and opened its mouth without limit.

and its elite and its crowd will descend into it,

along with its noisy crowd and those celebrating.

15 Everyone will be brought into submission and humbled.

≈ All the proud people will be humiliated,

16 and army commander Yahweh will be honoured for his justice.

≈ God will demonstrate his holiness by doing what is right.

17 Then the lambs will feed in their pastures,

≈ and fattened calves will graze around the houses.

18 Those who pull in wickedness with cords of lies won’t end well,

≈ and nor will those who drag disobedience along behind them with cart ropes.

19 They say, ‘Let him hurry,

≈ let him speed up his work so we can see what he’s doing,

and let the counsel of the holy one of Yisrael approach,

≈ and let it come and let us know.’

20 Those who call evil good, and good evil, won’t end well.

≈ Nor will those who make darkness for light and light for darkness,

≈ or who set bitter as sweet and sweet as bitter!

21 Those who are wise in their own eyes won’t end well,

≈ nor those who think they’re clever.

22 Those who are experts at drinking wine won’t end well,

≈ nor those whose strength is mixing strong drinks,

23 or those who take a bribe then say a wicked person is innocent,

≈ or those that deny justice to innocent people.

24 Therefore, the roots of their families will rot,

≈ and their flowers will flower away like dust

just like how a tongue of fire devours stubble in a field

≈ and the dry grass goes up in flame,

because they’ve rejected army commander Yahweh’s instructions,

≈ and they’ve despised the message from the holy one of Yisrael.

25 That’s why Yahweh got very angry at his people,

and he’s taken action against them and has struck them.

The mountains tremble and their corpses become like garbage in the streets.

In all these things, his anger doesn’t subside,

≈ and he doesn’t withdraw the actions he’s started.

26 He’ll signal to faraway nations

≈ and will whistle to those at the ends of the earth.

Then wow, how quickly they’ll show up.

27 Those enemy armies won’t get tired or stumble.

≈ They won’t stop for a rest or to sleep.

They never take their weapons off,

≈ or loosen the straps on their sandals.

28 Their arrows are sharp,

≈ and all their bows are strung.

Their horses have hooves as hard as flint,

≈ and their chariot wheels are like a windstorm.

29 Their roar sounds like a lion,

≈ and they growl like young lions.

They seize their prey and carry it off,

→ and there’s no rescuer in sight.

30 They will roar above their prey on that day,

≈ like the roaring of the ocean.

If someone looks across the land they’d only see darkness and distress.

≈ The light has been darkened by the clouds.