Old Testament · Prophets

Isaiah chapter 5

Let me sing for the one I love— a song of my about his : The one I love had a vineyard on a .He dug it up, cleared out every stone, and planted it with the . He built a watchtower in its center and carved out a wine press too. Then he waited for sweet grapes— but it grew only .“And now, people of , residents of — judge between me and my vineyard.What more could I have done for my vineyard that I haven’t already done? When I waited for sweet grapes, why did it grow only sour, worthless fruit?Now let me tell you what I’m going to do to my vineyard: I will tear down its and it will be devoured. I will break through its wall and it will be trampled.I will make it a wasteland— not pruned, not weeded, and thorns and briars will take it over. I will to send it no rain.Because the vineyard of is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are . He waited for . For . those who and join field to field until there’s no space left and you live alone in the middle of the land.Yahweh of Armies has sworn in my hearing: “Many great and beautiful houses will become ruins, empty, with no one living in them. of vineyard will produce only six gallons of wine, and ten bushels of seed will yield only one bushel of grain.”Disaster is coming to those who rise early in the morning chasing liquor, who stay up late into the night until wine .Their feasts have lyres and harps, tambourines, flutes, and wine— but they never notice what Yahweh is doing and never see .So my people will go into because they have no understanding. Their honored leaders will starve and their crowds will be parched with thirst.So has opened wide its throat, stretched its mouth beyond all limits— and down go their splendor and their crowds, their noise and their revelers.Humanity will be brought low, everyone humbled, and the eyes of the arrogant will be brought down.But Yahweh of Armies will be lifted high through , and will show what he is by .Then lambs will graze as in their own pasture, and will eat among the ruins of the rich.Disaster is coming to those who drag behind them with ropes of deception, and haul along as if with cart cables—who say, “Let him hurry up! Let him speed up what he’s doing so we can see it! Let the plan of hurry up and happen so we can know what it is!”Disaster is coming to those who call good and good evil, who turn darkness into light and light into darkness, who make bitter taste sweet and sweet taste bitter.Disaster is coming to those who are and clever in their own estimation.Disaster is coming to those who are at drinking wine and experts at mixing strong drinks,who let the guilty go free for a bribe and deny to the innocent.So, like a tongue of fire eating dry grass, like hay shrivelling in the flame, their roots will rot away and their blossoms scatter like dust, because they rejected the of Yahweh of Armies and despised the of the One Like No Other in Israel.This is why Yahweh’s anger burns against his people. He has raised his hand and struck them; the mountains trembled, and their corpses lay like garbage in the streets. Even after all this, his anger has not turned away— .He raises a for a distant nation, he for them from the ends of the earth— and look, here they come, swift and fast.None of them are tired, none of them stumble. None of them drowse or sleep. Not a belt on their waist comes loose, not a sandal strap breaks.Their arrows are sharpened, all their bows are strung. Their horses’ hooves are hard as , their chariot wheels spin like a whirlwind.Their roar is like a ; they growl like young lions. They snarl and seize their prey and carry it off where no one can rescue it.On that day they will growl over their prey like the growling of the sea. And if anyone looks out over the land— only and , and the light is swallowed by thick clouds.