Isaiah 5

New American Standard Bible

Parable of the Vineyard

5 Let me sing now for my beloved
A song of my beloved about His vineyard.
My beloved had a ^(A)vineyard on ^[a]a fertile hill.
²He dug it all around, cleared it of stones,
And planted it with ^[b]the ^(B)choicest vine.
And He built a tower in the middle of it,
And also carved out a ^[c]wine vat in it;
Then He ^(C)expected it to produce good grapes,
But it produced only ^[d]worthless ones.

³“And now, you inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah,
^(D)Judge between Me and My vineyard.
⁴^(E)What more was there to do for My vineyard ^[e]that I have not done in it?
Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce ^[f]worthless ones?
⁵So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard:
I will ^(F)remove its hedge and it will be consumed;
I will ^(G)break down its wall and it will become ^(H)trampled ground.
⁶I will ^(I)lay it waste;
It will not be pruned nor hoed,
But briars and thorns will come up.
I will also command the clouds not to ^(J)rain on it.”

⁷For the ^(K)vineyard of the Lord of armies is the house of Israel,
And the people of Judah are His delightful plant.
So He waited for justice, but behold, there was ^(L)bloodshed;
For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.

Woes for the Wicked

⁸Woe to those who ^(M)attach house to house and join field to field,
Until there is no more room,
And you alone are a landowner in the midst of the land!
⁹In my ears the Lord of armies has sworn, “^(N)Many houses shall certainly become ^(O)desolate,
Even great and fine ones, without occupants.
¹⁰For ^(P)ten acres of vineyard will yield only one ^[g]bath of wine,
And a ^[h]^(Q)homer of seed will yield only an ^[i]ephah of grain.”
¹¹Woe to those who rise early in the morning so that they may pursue ^(R)intoxicating drink,
Who stay up late in the evening so that wine may inflame them!
¹²Their banquets are accompanied by lyre and ^(S)harp, by tambourine and flute, and by wine;
But they ^(T)do not pay attention to the deeds of the Lord,
Nor do they consider the work of His hands.

¹³Therefore My people go into exile for their ^(U)lack of knowledge;
And their ^[j]^(V)nobles are famished,
And their multitude is parched with thirst.
¹⁴Therefore ^(W)Sheol has enlarged its ^[k]throat and opened its mouth beyond measure;
And ^[l]Jerusalem’s splendor, her multitude, her noise of revelry, and the jubilant within her, descend into it.
¹⁵So the common people will be humbled and the person of importance brought low,
^(X)The eyes of the haughty also will be brought low.
¹⁶But the ^(Y)Lord of armies will be ^(Z)exalted in judgment,
And the holy God will show Himself ^(AA)holy in righteousness.
¹⁷^(AB)Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture,
And strangers will eat in the ruins of the ^[m]wealthy.

¹⁸Woe to those who drag ^(AC)wrongdoing with the cords of ^[n]deceit,
And sin as if with cart ropes;
¹⁹^(AD)Who say, “Let Him hurry, let Him do His work quickly, so that we may see it;
And let the plan of the Holy One of Israel approach
And come to pass, so that we may know it!”
²⁰Woe to those who ^(AE)call evil good, and good evil;
Who ^[o]^(AF)substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;
Who ^[p]substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
²¹Woe to those who are ^(AG)wise in their own eyes
And ^[q]clever in their own sight!
²²^(AH)Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine,
And valiant men in mixing intoxicating drink,
²³^(AI)Who declare the wicked innocent for a bribe,
And ^(AJ)take away the ^[r]rights of the ones who are in the right!

²⁴Therefore, ^(AK)as a tongue of fire consumes stubble,
And dry grass collapses in the flame,
So their ^(AL)root will become ^(AM)like rot, and their blossom ^[s]blow away like dust;
For they have ^(AN)rejected the Law of the Lord of armies,
And discarded the word of the Holy One of Israel.
²⁵For this reason the ^(AO)anger of the Lord has burned against His people,
And He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them.
And the ^(AP)mountains quaked, and their ^(AQ)corpses ^[t]lay like refuse in the middle of the streets.
^(AR)Despite all this, His anger ^[u]is not spent,
But His ^(AS)hand is still stretched out.

²⁶He will also lift up a ^(AT)flag to the distant ^[v]nation,
And ^(AU)whistle for it ^(AV)from the ends of the earth;
And behold, it will ^(AW)come with speed swiftly.
²⁷^(AX)No one in it is tired or stumbles,
No one slumbers or sleeps;
Nor is the ^(AY)undergarment at his waist loosened,
Nor his sandal strap broken.
²⁸^[w]^(AZ)Its arrows are sharp and all its bows are bent;
The hoofs of its horses ^[x]seem like flint, and its chariot ^(BA)wheels like a storm wind.
²⁹Its ^(BB)roaring is like a lioness, and it roars like young lions;
It growls as it ^(BC)seizes the prey
And carries it off with ^(BD)no one to save it.
³⁰And it will ^(BE)roar against it on that day like the roaring of the sea.
If one ^(BF)looks across to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress;
Even the light is darkened by its clouds.