Isaiah 5

New International Version

The Song of the Vineyard

5 I will sing for the one I love
    a song about his vineyard:^(A)
My loved one had a vineyard
    on a fertile hillside.
²He dug it up and cleared it of stones
    and planted it with the choicest vines.^(B)
He built a watchtower^(C) in it
    and cut out a winepress^(D) as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
    but it yielded only bad fruit.^(E)

³“Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,
    judge between me and my vineyard.^(F)
⁴What more could have been done for my vineyard
    than I have done for it?^(G)
When I looked for good grapes,
    why did it yield only bad?^(H)
⁵Now I will tell you
    what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
    and it will be destroyed;^(I)
I will break down its wall,^(J)
    and it will be trampled.^(K)
⁶I will make it a wasteland,^(L)
    neither pruned nor cultivated,
    and briers and thorns^(M) will grow there.
I will command the clouds
    not to rain^(N) on it.”

⁷The vineyard^(O) of the Lord Almighty
    is the nation of Israel,
and the people of Judah
    are the vines he delighted in.
And he looked for justice,^(P) but saw bloodshed;
    for righteousness,^(Q) but heard cries of distress.^(R)

Woes and Judgments

⁸Woe^(S) to you who add house to house
and join field to field^(T)
till no space is left
and you live alone in the land.

⁹The Lord Almighty^(U) has declared in my hearing:^(V)

“Surely the great houses will become desolate,^(W)
the fine mansions left without occupants.
¹⁰A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a bath^[a] of wine;
a homer^[b] of seed will yield only an ephah^[c] of grain.”^(X)

¹¹Woe^(Y) to those who rise early in the morning
    to run after their drinks,
who stay up late at night
    till they are inflamed with wine.^(Z)
¹²They have harps and lyres at their banquets,
    pipes^(AA) and timbrels^(AB) and wine,
but they have no regard^(AC) for the deeds of the Lord,
    no respect for the work of his hands.^(AD)
¹³Therefore my people will go into exile^(AE)
    for lack of understanding;^(AF)
those of high rank^(AG) will die of hunger
    and the common people will be parched with thirst.^(AH)
¹⁴Therefore Death^(AI) expands its jaws,
    opening wide its mouth;^(AJ)
into it will descend their nobles and masses
    with all their brawlers and revelers.^(AK)
¹⁵So people will be brought low^(AL)
    and everyone humbled,^(AM)
    the eyes of the arrogant^(AN) humbled.
¹⁶But the Lord Almighty will be exalted^(AO) by his justice,^(AP)
    and the holy God will be proved holy^(AQ) by his righteous acts.
¹⁷Then sheep will graze as in their own pasture;^(AR)
    lambs will feed^[d] among the ruins of the rich.

¹⁸Woe^(AS) to those who draw sin along with cords^(AT) of deceit,
    and wickedness^(AU) as with cart ropes,
¹⁹to those who say, “Let God hurry;
    let him hasten^(AV) his work
    so we may see it.
The plan of the Holy One^(AW) of Israel—
    let it approach, let it come into view,
    so we may know it.”^(AX)

²⁰Woe^(AY) to those who call evil good^(AZ)
    and good evil,^(BA)
who put darkness for light
    and light for darkness,^(BB)
who put bitter for sweet
    and sweet for bitter.^(BC)

²¹Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes^(BD)
and clever in their own sight.

²²Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine^(BE)
    and champions at mixing drinks,^(BF)
²³who acquit the guilty for a bribe,^(BG)
    but deny justice^(BH) to the innocent.^(BI)
²⁴Therefore, as tongues of fire^(BJ) lick up straw^(BK)
    and as dry grass sinks down in the flames,
so their roots will decay^(BL)
    and their flowers blow away like dust;^(BM)
for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty
    and spurned the word^(BN) of the Holy One^(BO) of Israel.
²⁵Therefore the Lord’s anger^(BP) burns against his people;
    his hand is raised and he strikes them down.
The mountains shake,^(BQ)
    and the dead bodies^(BR) are like refuse^(BS) in the streets.^(BT)

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,^(BU)
his hand is still upraised.^(BV)

²⁶He lifts up a banner^(BW) for the distant nations,
    he whistles^(BX) for those at the ends of the earth.^(BY)
Here they come,
    swiftly and speedily!
²⁷Not one of them grows tired^(BZ) or stumbles,
    not one slumbers or sleeps;
not a belt^(CA) is loosened at the waist,^(CB)
    not a sandal strap is broken.^(CC)
²⁸Their arrows are sharp,^(CD)
    all their bows^(CE) are strung;
their horses’ hooves^(CF) seem like flint,
    their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.^(CG)
²⁹Their roar is like that of the lion,^(CH)
    they roar like young lions;
they growl as they seize^(CI) their prey
    and carry it off with no one to rescue.^(CJ)
³⁰In that day^(CK) they will roar over it
    like the roaring of the sea.^(CL)
And if one looks at the land,
    there is only darkness^(CM) and distress;^(CN)
    even the sun will be darkened^(CO) by clouds.