Yeshayah 5

Orthodox Jewish Bible

5 Now will I sing of my beloved a shirat dodi touching His kerem (vineyard). My beloved had a kerem (vineyard) in a very fruitful hill;

² And He dug it up, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a migdal in the midst of it, and also made a yekev (winepress) therein; and He looked that it should bring forth anavim (grapes), and it brought forth b’ushim (wild grapes).

³ And now, O inhabitants of Yerushalayim, and Ish Yehudah, judge, now, between Me and My kerem (vineyard).

⁴ What could have been done more to My kerem (vineyard), that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked that it should bring forth anavim, brought it forth b’ushim?

⁵ And now then; I will tell you now what I will do to my kerem (vineyard): I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be grazed upon; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trampled down;

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

⁷ For the Kerem Hashem Tzva’os is Bais Yisroel, and the Ish Yehudah are the planting of His delight; and He looked for mishpat (justice), but, hinei, mishpach (bloodshed, rapaciousness); for tzedakah, but, hinei, tze’akah (cry of distress).

⁸ Hoy unto them that add bais to bais, that join sadeh to sadeh, till there be no makom (place, home), that ye alone are dwelling in the midst of ha’aretz!

⁹ Hashem Tzva’os said in my ozen, Batim rabbim shall be in ruins, gedolim and tovim, with no one to live in them.

¹⁰ Yea, ten yokes of kerem (vineyard) shall yield 10 gallons, and the homer (six bushels) of zera (seed) shall yield an ephah (three-fifths bushel).

¹¹ Hoy unto them that rise up early in the boker, that they may chase after shekhar (strong drink); that continue until night, till yayin inflame them!

¹² And the kinnor, and the nevel, the tambourine, and flute, and yayin, are in their mishtehim; but they regard not the Po’al Hashem (the work of Hashem), neither consider the ma’aseh of His hands.

¹³ Therefore my people [see Isa. 53:8] are gone into the Golus, because they have no da’as; and their men of rank are starved, and their multitude parched with thirst.

¹⁴ Therefore Sheol hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without chok (limit); and their nobility, and their masses, and their throngs, and the reveler, shall descend into it.

¹⁵ And adam shall be abased, and the ish shall be brought low, and the eyes of the haughty shall be humbled;

¹⁶ But Hashem Tzva’os shall be exalted in mishpat, and HaEl HaKadosh shall show Himself Kadosh in tzedakah.

¹⁷ Then shall the kevasim feed as upon their pasture, and the gerim (sojourners) will eat in the ruins of the rich.

¹⁸ Hoy unto them that draw avon (guilt) with cords of deceit, and tug at chatta’ah (sin) as with a cart rope;

¹⁹ That say, Let Him make speed, and hasten His Ma’aseh, that we may see it; and let the Atzat Kadosh Yisroel (purpose of the Holy One of Israel) draw near and come, that we may know it!

²⁰ Hoy unto them that call rah tov, and tov rah; that put choshech for ohr, and ohr for choshech; that put mar for matok, and matok for mar!

²¹ Hoy unto them that are chachamim in their own eyes, and clever in their own sight!

²² Hoy unto them that are Gibborim to drink yayin, and anshei chayil to mix shekhar;

²³ Which justify the rasha for shochad (bribe), and take away the tzidkat tzaddikim from him!

²⁴ Therefore as the eish licketh up the stubble, and the flame consumeth the dry grass, so their shoresh shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have cast away the Torat Hashem Tzva’os, and spurned the word of the Kadosh Yisroel.

²⁵ Therefore is the Af Hashem kindled against His people, and He hath stretched forth His yad against them, and hath struck them down; and the mountains did tremble, and their nevilah were like refuse in the streets. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His yad is stretched out still.

²⁶ And He will lift up a banner to the distant Goyim, and will whistle for him at the ketzeh ha’aretz; hinei, they shall come with speed swiftly;

²⁷ None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the ezor of their loins be loosed, nor the thong of their sandals be broken;

²⁸ Whose khitzim (arrows) are sharp, and all their bows bent, the hoofs of their susim shall seem like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:

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

³⁰ And in Yom Hahu they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea; and if one look unto ha’aretz, hinei, choshech and tzar (distress), and the ohr groweth dark with clouds.