Isaiah 5

Let me sing for my beloved A song of my lover about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard On a fruitful hill.

He broke the ground, cleared it of stones, And planted it with choice vines. He built a watchtower inside it, He even hewed a wine press in it; For he hoped it would yield grapes. Instead, it yielded wild grapes.

“Now, then, Dwellers of Jerusalem And citizenry of Judah, You be the judges Between Me and My vineyard:

What more could have been done for My vineyard That I failed to do in it? Why, when I hoped it would yield grapes, Did it yield wild grapes?

“Now I am going to tell you What I will do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge, That it may be ravaged; I will break down its wall, That it may be trampled.

And I will make it a desolation; It shall not be pruned or hoed, And it shall be overgrown with briers and thistles. And I will command the clouds To drop no rain on it.”

For the vineyard of GOD of Hosts Is the House of Israel, And the seedlings he lovingly tended Is the citizenry of Judah. And [God] hoped for justice, But behold, injustice; For equity, But behold, iniquity!

Ah, Those who add house to house And join field to field, Till there is room for none but you To dwell in the land!

In my hearing [said] GOD of Hosts: Surely, great houses Shall lie forlorn, Spacious and splendid ones Without occupants.

For ten acres of vineyard Shall yield just one bath, And a field sown with a ḥomer of seed Shall yield a mere ephah.

Ah, Those who chase liquor From early in the morning, And till late in the evening Are inflamed by wine!

Who, at their banquets, Have lyre and lute, Timbrel, flute, and wine; But who never give a thought To the divine plan, And take no note Of GOD’s design.

Assuredly, My people will suffer exile For not giving heed, Its multitude victims of hunger And its masses parched with thirst.

Assuredly, Sheol has opened wide its gullet And parted its jaws in a measureless gape; And down into it shall go, That splendor and tumult, That din and revelry.

Yea, human is bowed, And mortal brought low; Brought low is the pride of the haughty.

And GOD of Hosts is exalted by judgment, The Holy God proved holy by retribution.

Then lambs shall graze As in their meadows, And strangers shall feed On the ruins of the stout.

Ah, Those who haul sin with cords of falsehood And iniquity as with cart ropes!

Who say, “Let [God] speed, let God’s purpose be hastened, If we are to give thought; Let the plans of the Holy One of Israel Be quickly fulfilled, If we are to give heed.”

Ah, Those who call evil good And good evil; Who present darkness as light And light as darkness; Who present bitter as sweet And sweet as bitter!

Ah, Those who are so wise— In their own opinion; So clever— In their own judgment!

Ah, Those who are so doughty— As drinkers of wine, And so valiant— As mixers of drink!

Who vindicate the one who is in the wrong In return for a bribe, And withhold vindication From those who are in the right.

Assuredly, As straw is consumed by a tongue of fire And hay shrivels as it burns, Their stock shall become like rot, And their buds shall blow away like dust. For they have rejected the instruction of GOD of Hosts, Spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.

That is why GOD’s anger was roused Against this covenanted people, Why God’s arm was stretched out against it And struck it, So that the mountains quaked, And its corpses lay Like refuse in the streets. Yet God’s anger has not turned back, And the divine arm is outstretched still.

[God] will raise an ensign to a nation afar, Whistle to one at the end of the earth. There it comes with lightning speed!

In its ranks, none is weary or stumbles, They never sleep or slumber; The belts on their waists do not come loose, Nor do the thongs of their sandals break.

Their arrows are sharpened, And all their bows are drawn. Their horses’ hoofs are like flint, Their chariot wheels like the whirlwind.

Their roaring is like a lion’s, They roar like the great beasts; When they growl and seize a prey, They carry it off and none can recover it.

But in that day, a roaring shall resound over My people like that of the sea; and then they shall look below and, behold, Distressing darkness, with light; Darkness, in its lowering clouds.