Isaiah 5

A Song about the Lord’s Vineyard

5Now I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a rich and fertile hill.H7891H3039H7892H1730H3754H3039H3754H1121H8081H71612He plowed the land, cleared its stones, and planted it with the best vines. In the middle he built a watchtower and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks. Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes, but the grapes that grew were bitter.H5823H5619H5193H8321H1129H4026H8432H2672H3342H6960H6213H6025H6213H8913Now, you people of Jerusalem and Judah, you judge between me and my vineyard.H3427H3389H376H3063H8199H37544What more could I have done for my vineyard that I have not already done? When I expected sweet grapes, why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes?H6213H3754H6213H4069H6960H6213H6025H6213H8915Now let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will tear down its hedges and let it be destroyed. I will break down its walls and let the animals trample it.H3045H6213H3754H5493H4881H1197H6555H1447H48236I will make it a wild place where the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed, a place overgrown with briers and thorns. I will command the clouds to drop no rain on it.H7896H1326H2168H5737H5927H8068H7898H6680H5645H4305H43067The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. The people of Judah are his pleasant garden. He expected a crop of justice, but instead he found oppression. He expected to find righteousness, but instead he heard cries of violence.H3754H3068H6635H1004H3478H376H3063H8191H5194H6960H4941H4939H6666H6818

Judah’s Guilt and Judgment

8What sorrow for you who buy up house after house and field after field, until everyone is evicted and you live alone in the land.H1945H5060H1004H1004H7126H7704H7704H657H4725H3427H7130H7769But I have heard the Lord of Heaven’s Armies swear a solemn oath. “Many houses will stand deserted; even beautiful mansions will be empty.H241H3068H6635H3808H7227H1004H8047H1419H2896H342710Ten acres

of vineyard will not produce even six gallons of wine. Ten baskets of seed will yield only one basket of grain.”H3588H6235H6776H3754H6213H259H1324H2233H2563H6213H37411What sorrow for those who get up early in the morning looking for a drink of alcohol and spend long evenings drinking wine to make themselves flaming drunk.H1945H7925H1242H7291H7941H309H5399H3196H181412They furnish wine and lovely music at their grand parties—lyre and harp, tambourine and flute—but they never think about the Lord or notice what he is doing.H3658H5035H8596H2485H3196H4960H5027H6467H3068H7200H4639H302713So my people will go into exile far away because they do not know me. Those who are great and honored will starve, and the common people will die of thirst.H5971H1540H1847H3519H4962H7458H1995H6704H677214The grave

is licking its lips in anticipation, opening its mouth wide. The great and the lowly and all the drunken mob will be swallowed up.H7585H7337H5315H6473H6310H2706H1926H1995H7588H5938H338115Humanity will be destroyed, and people brought down; even the arrogant will lower their eyes in humiliation.H120H7817H376H8213H5869H1364H821316But the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will be exalted by his justice. The holiness of God will be displayed by his righteousness.H3068H6635H1361H4941H410H6918H6942H666617In that day lambs will find good pastures, and fattened sheep and young goats

will feed among the ruins.H3532H7462H1699H2723H4220H1481H39818What sorrow for those who drag their sins behind them with ropes made of lies, who drag wickedness behind them like a cart!H1945H4900H5771H2256H7723H2403H5699H568819They even mock God and say, “Hurry up and do something! We want to see what you can do. Let the Holy One of Israel carry out his plan, for we want to know what it is.”H559H4116H2363H4639H7200H6098H6918H3478H7126H935H304520What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.H1945H559H7451H2896H2896H7451H7760H2822H216H216H2822H7760H4751H4966H4966H475121What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever.H1945H2450H5869H995H644022What sorrow for those who are heroes at drinking wine and boast about all the alcohol they can hold.H1945H1368H8354H3196H582H2428H4537H794123They take bribes to let the wicked go free, and they punish the innocent.H6663H7563H6118H7810H5493H6666H666224Therefore, just as fire licks up stubble and dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will rot and their flowers wither. For they have rejected the law of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies; they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.H784H398H7179H3956H3852H7503H2842H8328H4716H6525H5927H80H3988H8451H3068H6635H5006H565H6918H347825That is why the Lord’s anger burns against his people, and why he has raised his fist to crush them. The mountains tremble, and the corpses of his people litter the streets like garbage. But even then the Lord’s anger is not satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike!H639H3068H2734H5971H5186H3027H5221H2022H7264H5038H5478H7130H2351H639H7725H3027H518626He will send a signal to distant nations far away and whistle to those at the ends of the earth. They will come racing toward Jerusalem.H5375H5251H1471H7350H8319H7097H776H935H4120H703127They will not get tired or stumble. They will not stop for rest or sleep. Not a belt will be loose, not a sandal strap broken.H5889H3782H5123H3462H232H2504H6605H8288H5275H542328Their arrows will be sharp and their bows ready for battle. Sparks will fly from their horses’ hooves, and the wheels of their chariots will spin like a whirlwind.H2671H8150H7198H1869H5483H6541H2803H6862H1534H549229They will roar like lions, like the strongest of lions. Growling, they will pounce on their victims and carry them off, and no one will be there to rescue them.H7581H3833H7580H7580H3715H5098H270H2964H6403H533730They will roar over their victims on that day of destruction like the roaring of the sea. If someone looks across the land, only darkness and distress will be seen; even the light will be darkened by clouds.H3117H5098H5100H3220H5027H776H2822H6862H216H2821H6183