Isaiah 5

1Let me sing a song for my dear friend, my friend’s song about his vineyard: My friend owned a vineyard on a hilltop rich in soil. 2He broke up its soil, removed the stones, and set out vines of the finest kind. He built a tower in the middle of it and also hewed out a wine vat there. He waited for it to bear grapes, but what it bore was stinking fruit. 3Now then, people of Jerusalem and people of Judah, be the judges between me and my vineyard. 4What else could I have done for my vineyard that I left undone? I waited for it to bear grapes; why did it bear stinking ones? 5So now I will let you know what I mean to do to my vineyard: I will pull up its hedge so that it is grazed bare; I will knock down its wall so that it is trampled. 6I will lay it waste. No one will prune it or hoe around its vines; thorns and briers will spring up. I will even forbid the clouds to drop rain on it. 7The vineyard of the LORD of Armies is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are the planting that delighted him. He waited for justice, but what he found was bloodshed; for righteousness, but what he heard was a cry of the wronged.

8Woe to those who buy up house after house and attach field after field, until no room is left and you are settled all alone in the heart of the land. 9In my hearing the LORD of Armies has sworn: Many houses will surely be left in ruins, large, fine houses standing empty, with no one to live in them. 10Ten acres of vineyard will yield only about 6 gallons of wine, and about 6 bushels of seed will produce only about half a bushel of grain.

11Woe to those who get up at dawn to chase after beer, who linger late into the evening until wine sets them on fire. 12Lyre and harp, tambourine and flute, and wine fill their banquets, but they pay no attention to what the LORD is doing and do not notice the work of his hands. 13That is why my people will be carried off into exile, because they do not know. Their leading men will starve, and the common crowd will faint from thirst. 14So Sheol has stretched its throat wide and opened its jaws beyond measure, and down into it go the city’s nobles and its crowds, its noisy throng and all who revel in it. 15So humankind is bowed down, each person is made low, and proud eyes are cast down. 16But the LORD of Armies stands high in justice, and the holy God shows that he is holy by acting in righteousness. 17Lambs will graze there as in their own pasture, and strangers will feed among the ruins of the rich. 18Woe to those who tow their guilt behind them with ropes of falsehood and haul their sin along as though hitched to a cart. 19They say, “Let him be quick and hurry up with his work, so we can see it! May the plan of the Holy One of Israel draw near and arrive, so we can know it!”

20Woe to those who name evil as good and good as evil, who turn darkness into light and light into darkness, who turn bitter into sweet and sweet into bitter.

21Woe to those who are wise in their own view and shrewd as they see themselves. 22Woe to the mighty warriors of the wine cup, the valiant men who excel at blending strong drink, 23who declare the guilty innocent in exchange for a bribe and rob the righteous of their righteous cause.

24So, just as flames devour stubble and dry grass collapses into the fire, their root will turn to rot and their blossom will rise like dust, because they have thrown away the instruction of the LORD of Armies and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. 25That is why the anger of the LORD blazes against his people. He has raised his hand against them and struck them down. The mountains shook, and their corpses lay like trash in the middle of the streets. In spite of all this, his anger has not turned back; his hand is still stretched out. 26He will raise a signal flag for the nations far away and whistle to call them from the ends of the earth. And see, they come at full speed! 27Among them no one is weary, no one trips; they do not nod off or fall asleep. No soldier’s belt is untied at the waist, no strap of a sandal snaps. 28Their arrows have keen points, and every bow is drawn back ready. The hoofs of their horses are counted as hard as flint; the wheels of their chariots whirl like a storm wind. 29The roar they raise is like a lion’s; they roar like young lions. Growling, they take hold of the prey and drag it away, and there is no one to snatch it back. 30On that day they will growl over their prey like the roaring of the sea. Look out over the land: there is darkness and distress, and the light has grown dark in its clouds.