Isaiah 5
He Looked for Grapes, and It Yielded Wild Ones
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The Song of the Vineyard
5:1I will sing now to the beloved a song of the loved one for my vineyard. The beloved had a vineyard on a horn, in a fertile place.
5:2I put a fence around it, palisaded it, planted a Sorech vine, built a tower in its midst and dug a wine vat in it. I waited for it to produce grapes, but it produced thorns.
5:3Now, man of Judah and residents of Jerusalem, judge My case and the matter of My vineyard.
5:4What more shall I do for My vineyard that I did not do for it? For I waited for it to produce grapes, but it produced thorns.
5:5Now I will announce to you what I will do to My vineyard: I will remove its fence, and it will be plundered; I will pull down its wall, and it will be trampled,
5:6and I will abandon My vineyard. It will certainly not be pruned or dug, and thorns will rise in it as in fallow ground. I will command the clouds not to rain upon it.
The Vineyard of the Lord Sabaoth Is Israel
5:7For the vineyard of the Lord Sabaoth is Israel’s house, and the man of Judah a beloved new planting. I waited for it to produce judgment, but it produced lawlessness, not righteousness but an outcry.
5:8Woe to those joining house to house and bringing field beside field, so that they may take something from their neighbor! Surely you will not dwell alone upon the earth?
5:9For these things were heard in the ears of the Lord Sabaoth: “If many houses come to be, great and beautiful, they will become deserted, and there will be none inhabiting them.
5:10For where ten pairs of oxen work, it will yield one jar, and the one sowing six artabas will yield three measures.”
Woe to Those Rising Early for Strong Drink
5:11Woe to those rising in the morning and pursuing strong drink, lingering into the evening, for wine will burn them up!
5:12For with lyre and harp, drums and flutes they drink wine, but they do not look at the Lord’s works or consider the works of His hands.
5:13Therefore My people became captive because they did not know the Lord, and there came to be a multitude of dead through famine and thirst for water.
5:14Hades enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth without ceasing, and her glorious ones, great ones, rich ones and pestilent ones will go down.
5:15A human being will be humbled, a man dishonored, and lofty eyes humbled.
5:16The Lord Sabaoth will be exalted through judgment, and the holy God will be glorified through righteousness.
5:17Those who were plundered will be pastured like bulls, and lambs will feed upon the deserted places of those wiped out.
5:18Woe to those drawing sins as with a long cord and lawless deeds as with the strap of a heifer’s yoke,
5:19who say, “Let what He will do approach quickly, so that we may see, and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel come, so that we may know!”
5:20Woe to those calling evil good and good evil, making darkness light and light darkness, making bitter sweet and sweet bitter!
Woe to Those Discerning in Themselves
5:21Woe to those discerning in themselves and knowledgeable before themselves!
5:22Woe to your strong ones who drink wine and the powerful who mix strong drink,
5:23who justify the ungodly for gifts and take away the righteous person’s right!
5:24Therefore, as a stalk is burned by a fiery coal and consumed by a rising flame, their root will become like chaff and their blossom rise like dust. For they did not desire the law of the Lord Sabaoth, but provoked the utterance of the Holy One of Israel.
The Lord Was Enraged with Wrath
5:25The Lord Sabaoth was enraged with wrath against His people, brought His hand against them and struck them. The mountains were roused, and their carcasses became like dung in the middle of the road. In all these things the anger did not turn away, but the hand is still high.
5:26Therefore He will raise a signal among the distant nations and whistle to them from the earth’s end. Look, they come quickly and lightly!
5:27They will not hunger or grow weary, slumber or sleep, nor loosen the belts from their waists; their sandal straps will certainly not break.
5:28Their arrows are sharp and their bows drawn. Their horses’ feet are reckoned like solid rock, and their chariot wheels like a storm.
5:29They rush like lions and have taken their stand like a lion’s cub. It will seize and cry out as a beast does and cast out, and there will be none rescuing them.
5:30It will cry out because of them on that day like the sound of a surging sea. They will look to the earth, and look, harsh darkness in their perplexity.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.