Isaiah 5

1. Now I will sing to my Beloved a song of my Beloved concerning His vineyard. My Beloved has a vineyard in a very fruitful hill.

2. And He dug it up, and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines, and built a tower in its midst, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and He looked for it to produce grapes. But it produced worthless fruits.

3. “And now, O people of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, I ask you to judge between Me and My vineyard.

4. What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it? Who knows? I looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.

5. And now I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard; I will take away its hedge, and it shall be consumed; and break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down;

6. And I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor dug; but briers and thorns shall come up. And 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 His pleasant plant; and He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress!

8. Woe to those who join house to house, that lay field to field, until there is no place left, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!

9. The LORD of hosts swore in my ears, “Truly, many houses shall be deserted, even great and fair, without inhabitant.

10. Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of a homer shall yield an ephah.”

11. Woe to those who rise up early in the morning to go after strong drink; who continue late into the night while wine inflames them!

12. And the lyre, and the harp, the drum, and pipe, and wine, are at their feasts; but they do not regard the work of the LORD. Yea, they do not see the work of His hands.

13. Therefore My people are gone into exile because they have no knowledge, and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude is dried up with thirst.

14. Therefore the grave has enlarged its appetite, and opened its mouth without limit; and down goes her glory and multitude and brawlers, and he who rejoices in her, shall go down into it.

15. And man is bowed down, and men are brought low, and the eyes of the lofty are humbled.

16. But the LORD of hosts is exalted in judgment, and God, the Holy One, is sanctified in righteousness.

17. Then shall the lambs feed in their own pasture, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.

18. Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin with cart ropes;

19. Who say, “Let Him hurry and hasten His work, so that we may see it; and let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, so that we may know!”

20. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil; who put darkness for light and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

21. Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

22. Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:

23. Who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

24. Therefore as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame burns up the chaff; their root shall be like rottenness, and their blossoms shall go up like dust because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the Word of the Holy One of Israel.

25. Therefore, the anger of the LORD is kindled against His people, and He has stretched out His hand against them, and has stricken them; and the hills trembled, and their dead bodies were as filth in the midst of the streets. In all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.

26. And He will lift up a banner to distant nations, and will whistle for them from the ends of the earth; and behold, they shall come with swift speed.

27. None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the waistcoat of their loins be loosened, nor the thong of their sandals be broken;

28. Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses’ hoofs seem like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.

29. Their roaring shall be like a lion; they shall roar like young lions; for, they shall roar and lay hold of the prey, and carry it away, and none shall deliver it.

30. And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea; and if one looks to the land, behold darkness! Distress! And the light shall be darkened by its clouds.