Isaiah 5:1–14

The Vineyard of the Lord Destroyed

5:1   Let me sing for my beloved
    my love song concerning his vineyard:
  My beloved had a vineyard
    on a very fertile hill.
2   He dug it and cleared it of stones,
    and planted it with choice vines;
  he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
    and hewed out a wine vat in it;
  and he looked for it to yield grapes,
    but it yielded wild grapes.
3   And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
    and men 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?
  When I looked for it to yield grapes,
    why did it yield wild grapes?
5   And now I will tell you
    what I will do to my vineyard.
  I will remove its hedge,
    and it shall be devoured;¹
  I will break down its wall,
    and it shall be trampled down.
6   I will make it a waste;
    it shall not be pruned or hoed,
    and briers and thorns shall grow up;
  I will also command the clouds
    that they rain no rain upon it.
7   For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts
    is the house of Israel,
  and the men of Judah
    are his pleasant planting;
  and he looked for justice,
    but behold, bloodshed;²
  for righteousness,
    but behold, an outcry!³

Woe to the Wicked

8   Woe to those who join house to house,
    who add field to field,
  until there is no more room,
    and you are made to dwell alone
    in the midst of the land.
9   The LORD of hosts has sworn in my hearing:
  “Surely many houses shall be desolate,
    large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
10   For ten acres⁴ of vineyard shall yield but one bath,
    and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”⁵
11   Woe to those who rise early in the morning,
    that they may run after strong drink,
  who tarry late into the evening
    as wine inflames them!
12   They have lyre and harp,
    tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts,
  but they do not regard the deeds of the LORD,
    or see the work of his hands.
13   Therefore my people go into exile
    for lack of knowledge;⁶
  their honored men go hungry,⁷
    and their multitude is parched with thirst.
14   Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite
    and opened its mouth beyond measure,
  and the nobility of Jerusalem⁸ and her multitude will go down,
    her revelers and he who exults in her.

Footnotes

[1] 5:5 Or grazed over; compare Exodus 22:5
[2] 5:7 The Hebrew words for justice and bloodshed sound alike
[3] 5:7 The Hebrew words for righteous and outcry sound alike
[4] 5:10 Hebrew ten yoke, the area ten yoke of oxen can plow in a day
[5] 5:10 A bath was about 6 gallons or 22 liters; a homer was about 6 bushels or 220 liters; an ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters
[6] 5:13 Or without their knowledge
[7] 5:13 Or die of hunger
[8] 5:14 Hebrew her nobility

(ESV)