Isaiah 5 — Legacy Standard Bible

The Song of the Vineyard

5Let me sing now for my well-belovedA song of my beloved concerning His vineyard.My well-beloved had a ^avineyard on ¹a fertile hill.²He dug it all around, removed its stones,And planted it with ¹the ^achoicest vine.And He built a tower in the middle of itAnd also hewed out a ²wine vat in it;Then He ^bhoped for it to produce good grapes,But it produced only ³worthless ones.³“So now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,^aPlease judge between Me and My vineyard.⁴“^aWhat more was there to do for My vineyard ¹that I have not done in it?Why, when I hoped for it to produce good grapes did it produce ²worthless ones?⁵“So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard:I will ^aremove its hedge, and it will be consumed;I will ^bbreak down its wall, and it will become ^ctrampled ground.⁶“I will ^alay it waste;It will not be pruned or hoed,But briars and thorns will come up.I will also command the clouds to ^brain no rain on it.”⁷For the ^avineyard of Yahweh of hosts is the house of IsraelAnd the men of Judah His delightful plant.Thus He hoped for justice, but behold, ^bbloodshed;For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.

Woes to Those Who Call Evil Good

⁸Woe to those who ^aadd house to house and join field to field,Until there is no more room,So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!⁹In my ears Yahweh of hosts has sworn, “Surely, ^amany houses shall become ^bdesolate,Even great and good ones, without inhabitants.¹⁰“For ^aten ¹acres of vineyard will yield only one ²bath of wine,And a ³^,^bhomer of seed will yield but an ⁴ephah of grain.”¹¹Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue ^astrong drink,Who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them!¹²And their banquets are accompanied by lyre and ^aharp, by tambourine and flute, and by wine;But they ^bdo not look upon the deeds of Yahweh,Nor do they see the work of His hands.¹³Therefore My people go into exile for their ^alack of knowledge;And ¹their ^bhonorable men are famished,And their multitude is parched with thirst.¹⁴Therefore ^aSheol has enlarged its ¹throat and opened its mouth without limit;And ²Jerusalem’s majesty, her multitude, her rumbling, and the exultant within her, descend into it.¹⁵So the common man will be bowed down and the man of importance will be made low,^aThe eyes of the lofty also will be made low.¹⁶But ^aYahweh of hosts will be ^blofty in judgment,And the holy God will show Himself ^choly in righteousness.¹⁷^aThen the lambs will graze as in their pasture,And sojourners will eat in the waste places of the ¹wealthy.¹⁸Woe to those who drag ^ainiquity with the cords of worthlessness,And sin as if with cart ropes,¹⁹^aWho say, “Let Him hurry, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it;And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nearAnd come to pass, that we may know it!”²⁰Woe to those who ^acall evil good and good evil,Who ¹^,^bsubstitute darkness for light and light for darkness,Who ²substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!²¹Woe to those who are ^awise in their own eyesAnd understanding in their own ¹sight!²²^aWoe to those who are mighty men in drinking wineAnd valiant men in mixing strong drink,²³^aWho ¹declare the wicked righteous for a bribe,And ^bremove the ²righteous standing of the ones who are ³righteous!²⁴Therefore, ^aas a tongue of fire consumes stubbleAnd dry grass collapses into the flame,So their ^broot will become ^clike rot and their blossom ¹blow away as dust;For they have ^drejected the law of Yahweh of hostsAnd the word of the Holy One of Israel they have spurned.²⁵On this account, the ^aanger of Yahweh has burned against His people,And He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them down.And the ^bmountains trembled, and their ^ccorpses ¹lay like refuse in the middle of the streets.^dFor all this His anger is not turned back,But His ^ehand is still stretched out.²⁶He will also lift up a ^astandard to the ¹distant nations,And will ^bwhistle for it ^cfrom the ends of the earth;And behold, it will ^dcome with speed swiftly.²⁷^aNo one in it is weary or stumbles,None slumbers or sleeps;Nor is the ^bbelt at its waist undone,Nor its sandal strap broken.²⁸¹^,^aIts arrows are sharp and all its bows are bent;The hoofs of its horses ²seem like flint and its chariot ^bwheels like a whirlwind.²⁹Its ^aroaring is like a lioness, and it roars like young lions;It growls and ^bseizes the preyAnd carries it off with ^cno one to deliver it.³⁰And it will ^agrowl over it in that day like the roaring of the sea.If one ^blooks to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress;Even the light is darkened by its clouds.