Isaiah 5

1Now let me sing for my Beloved, || A song of my Beloved as to His vineyard: My beloved has a vineyard in a fruitful hill,

2And He fences it, and casts out its stones, || And plants it [with] a choice vine, || And builds a tower in its midst, || And has also hewn out a winepress in it, || And He waits for the yielding of grapes, || And it yields bad ones!

3And now, O inhabitant of Jerusalem and man of Judah, || Please judge between Me and My vineyard.

4What [is there] to do still to My vineyard, || That I have not done in it? For what reason have I waited for the yielding of grapes, || And it yields [only] bad ones?

5And now, pray, let Me cause you to know, || That which I am doing to My vineyard, || To turn its hedge aside, || And it has been for consumption, || To break down its wall, || And it has been for a treading-place.

6And I make it a waste, || It is not pruned, nor arranged, || And brier and thorn have gone up, || And I lay a charge on the thick clouds, || From raining on it rain.

7Because the vineyard of YHWH of Hosts || [Is] the house of Israel, || And the man of Judah His pleasant plant, || And He waits for judgment, and behold, oppression, || For righteousness, and behold, a cry.

8Woe [to] those joining house to house, || They bring field near to field, || Until there is no place, || And you have been settled by yourselves || In the midst of the land!

9Do many houses not become a desolation by the weapons of YHWH of Hosts? Great and good without inhabitant!

10For ten acres of vineyard yield one bath, || And a homer of seed yields an ephah.

11Woe [to] those rising early in the morning, || They pursue strong drink! Lingering in twilight, wine inflames them!

12And harp, and stringed instrument, tambourine, and pipe, || And wine, have been their banquets, || And they do not behold the work of YHWH, || Indeed, they have not seen the work of His hands.

13Therefore my people removed without knowledge, || And its honorable ones are famished, || And its multitude dried up of thirst.

14Therefore Sheol has enlarged herself, || And has opened her mouth without limit. And its honor has gone down, and its multitude, || And its noise, and its exulting one—into her.

15And the low is bowed down, and the high humbled, || And the eyes of the haughty become low,

16And YHWH of Hosts is high in judgment, || And the Holy God sanctified in righteousness,

17And lambs have fed according to their leading, || And sojourners consume wastelands of the fat ones.

18Woe [to] those drawing out iniquity with cords of vanity, || And as [with] thick ropes of the cart—sin.

19Who are saying, “Let Him hurry, || Let Him hurry His work, that we may see, || And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel || Draw near and come, and we know.”

20Woe [to] those saying to evil “good,” and to good “evil,” || Putting darkness for light, and light for darkness, || Putting bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.

21Woe [to] the wise in their own eyes, || And—before their own faces—intelligent!

22Woe [to] the mighty to drink wine, || And men of strength to mingle strong drink.

23Declaring righteous the wicked for a bribe, || And the righteousness of the righteous || They turn aside from him.

24Therefore, as a tongue of fire devours stubble, || And flaming hay falls, || Their root is as muck, || And their flower goes up as dust. Because they have rejected the Law of YHWH of Hosts, || And despised the saying of the Holy One of Israel.

25Therefore the anger of YHWH has burned among His people, || And He stretches out His hand against it, || And strikes it, and the mountains tremble, || And their carcass is as filth in the midst of the out-places. With all this His anger did not turn back, || And still His hand is stretched out!

26And He lifted up an ensign to the far-off nations, || And hissed to it from the end of the earth, || And behold, with haste, it comes swiftly.

27There is none weary, nor stumbling in it, || It does not slumber, nor sleep, || Nor has the girdle of its loins been opened, || Nor the strap of its sandals drawn away.

28Whose arrows [are] sharp, and all its bows bent, || Hooves of its horses have been reckoned as flint, || And its wheels as a windstorm!

29Its roaring [is] like a lioness, || It roars like young lions, || And it howls, and seizes prey, || And carries away safely, and there is none delivering.

30And it howls against it in that day as the howling of a sea, || And it has looked attentively to the land, || And behold, darkness—distress, || And light has been darkened by its abundance!