Isaiah 5

Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:

1I will sing a song for my dear friend. The song is about his vineyard, a garden of grapevines. My dear friend had a vineyard on a rich, good hill.

2And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

2He dug up the ground and picked out all the stones. He planted the very best grapevines. He built a tall watchtower in the middle. He also cut out a winepress for squeezing the grapes. He waited for the vineyard to give good grapes. But it gave sour, wild grapes instead.

3And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.

3"Now, people of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please decide. Who is right, me or my vineyard?

4What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?

4What more could I have done for my vineyard? I did everything. I waited for sweet grapes. So why did it give me sour ones?

5And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:

5Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up. I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled.

6And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

6I will leave it wild and empty. No one will trim it or dig it. Thorns and prickly weeds will grow there. I will tell the clouds not to rain on it."

7For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

7The vineyard belongs to the LORD of Hosts, the God who leads heaven's armies. That vineyard is the people of Israel. The men of Judah were the plants he loved. He looked for fair treatment, but he saw killing. He looked for right living, but he heard people crying for help.

8Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!

8It will go badly for people who buy house after house. They take field after field until no room is left. Then they live all alone in the land.

9In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.

9I heard the LORD of Hosts say this: "Many houses will be left empty. Even big, fine houses will have nobody living in them.

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

10Ten acres of grapevines will make only one small jar of wine. A big sack of seed will grow only a tiny basket of grain."

NoteA "bath" was a jar holding about six gallons. A "homer" of seed was ten times as much as an "ephah" of grain. So the field gave back only a tenth of what was planted.

11Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!

11It will go badly for people who get up early to drink. They keep drinking late into the night, until the wine burns inside them.

12And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.

12At their parties they have harps, lyres, drums, flutes, and wine. But they pay no attention to what the LORD does. They never think about the work of his hands.

13Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.

13So my people will be carried away to a faraway land. It is because they do not understand. Their important men are hungry. Their crowds are dry with thirst.

14Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.

14So the grave has made itself bigger and opened its mouth wide. Their proud crowds, their fine things, and their happy partygoers will all go down into it.

NoteThe KJV word here is "hell," but the Hebrew word is Sheol. It means the grave, the place where dead people go.

15And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:

15Ordinary people will be brought down low. Strong people will be humbled too. Proud eyes will look at the ground.

NoteIn 1611, "the mean man" meant a plain, ordinary person. It did not mean an unkind person.

16But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.

16But the LORD of Hosts will be lifted up high, because he judges fairly. God is holy, and his right ways show how holy he is.

17Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.

17Then lambs will eat grass there as if it were their own field. Strangers will eat among the ruins of the rich.

18Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:

18It will go badly for people who drag their sin along behind them. They pull it with ropes of lies, like pulling a heavy cart.

19That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!

19They say, "Let God hurry up and do his work, so we can see it. Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come, so we can know it."

20Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

20It will go badly for people who call bad things good and good things bad. They say dark is light and light is dark. They say bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.

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

21It will go badly for people who think they are so wise. They believe they are clever, all by themselves.

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

22It will go badly for men who are heroes at drinking wine. They are champions at mixing strong drink.

23Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

23For money, they say a guilty person did nothing wrong. And they refuse to be fair to people who did nothing wrong.

24Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

24Fire eats up dry straw fast. Flames burn up dry grass. In the same way, their roots will rot. Their flowers will blow away like dust. This happens because they threw away the teaching of the LORD of Hosts. They said no to the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

25So the LORD is angry with his people. He has raised his hand and struck them. The hills shook. Dead bodies lay in the streets like trash. Even after all this, his anger has not stopped. His hand is still raised.

26And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:

26He will raise a flag to call nations that live far away. He will whistle for them from the end of the earth. Look! They come fast, very fast.

27None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:

27Not one of them gets tired. Not one of them trips. None of them sleeps or even nods off. No belt comes loose. No shoe strap breaks.

28Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:

28Their arrows are sharp. All their bows are ready to shoot. Their horses' hooves are hard as stone. Their chariot wheels spin like a windstorm.

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

29They roar like lions. They growl like young lions. They grab what they catch and carry it away. No one can rescue it.

30And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.

30On that day they will roar over the land like the roaring sea. If you look at the land, you will see darkness and sadness. Even the light will go dark behind the clouds.