Isaiah 5:1-10

English Standard Version

The Vineyard of the Lord Destroyed

5 Let me sing for my beloved
    my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had ^(A)a vineyard
    on a very fertile hill.
²He dug it and cleared it of stones,
    and planted it with ^(B)choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
    and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and ^(C)he looked for it to yield grapes,
    but it yielded wild grapes.

³And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
    and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
⁴^(D)What more was there to do for my vineyard,
    that I have not done in it?
^(E)When I looked for it to yield grapes,
    why did it yield wild grapes?

⁵And now I will tell you
    what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove ^(F)its hedge,
    and it shall be devoured;^[a]
^(G)I will break down its wall,
    and it shall be trampled down.
⁶I will make it a waste;
    it shall not be pruned or hoed,
    and ^(H)briers and thorns shall grow up;
^(I)I will also command the clouds
    that they rain no rain upon it.

⁷^(J)For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
    is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
    are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice,
    but behold, bloodshed;^[b]
for righteousness,
    but behold, an outcry!^[c]

Woe to the Wicked

⁸Woe to those who ^(K)join house to house,
    who add field to field,
until there is no more room,
    and you are made to dwell alone
    in the midst of the land.
⁹The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:
^(L)“Surely many houses shall be desolate,
    large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
¹⁰^(M)For ten acres^[d] of vineyard shall yield but one bath,
    and a ^(N)homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”^[e]

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Footnotes

Isaiah 5:5 Or grazed over; compare Exodus 22:5
Isaiah 5:7 The Hebrew words for justice and bloodshed sound alike
Isaiah 5:7 The Hebrew words for righteous and outcry sound alike
Isaiah 5:10 Hebrew ten yoke, the area ten yoke of oxen can plow in a day
Isaiah 5:10 A bath was about 6 gallons or 22 liters; a homer was about 6 bushels or 220 liters; an ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters