Isaiah 5
Berean Standard Bible · Compare translations · 750 BC – 735 BC · Divided kingdom · Tap a verse to copy, share or highlight ·
30 verses · 785 words · ~4 min read · ~5 min listen
The Song of the Vineyard
1I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2He dug it up and cleared the stones
and planted the finest vines.
He built a watchtower in the middle
and dug out a winepress as well.
He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes,
but the fruit it produced was sour!
3“And now, O dwellers of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
I exhort you to judge
between Me and My vineyard.
4What more could have been done for My vineyard
than I have done for it?
Why, when I expected sweet grapes,
did it bring forth sour fruit?
5Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
and it will be consumed;
I will tear down its wall,
and it will be trampled.
6I will make it a wasteland,
neither pruned nor cultivated,
and thorns and briers will grow up.
I will command the clouds
that rain shall not fall on it.”
7For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are the plant of His delight.
He looked for justice,
but saw bloodshed;
for righteousness,
but heard a cry of distress.
Woes to the Wicked
8Woe to you who add house to house
and join field to field
until no place is left
and you live alone in the land.
9I heard the Lord of Hosts declare:
“Surely many houses will become desolate,
great mansions left unoccupied.
10For ten acres of vineyard
will yield but a bath of wine,
and a homer of seed
only an ephah of grain.”
11Woe to those who rise early in the morning
in pursuit of strong drink,
who linger into the evening,
to be inflamed by wine.
12At their feasts are the lyre and harp,
tambourines and flutes and wine.
They disregard the actions of the Lord
and fail to see the work of His hands.
13Therefore My people will go into exile
for their lack of understanding;
their dignitaries are starving
and their masses are parched with thirst.
14Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat
and opens wide its enormous jaws,
and down go Zionʼs nobles and masses,
her revelers and carousers!
15So mankind will be brought low, and each man humbled;
the arrogant will lower their eyes.
16But the Lord of Hosts will be exalted by His justice,
and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.
17Lambs will graze as in their own pastures,
and strangers will feed in the ruins of the wealthy.
18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of deceit
and pull sin along with cart ropes,
19to those who say, “Let Him hurry and hasten His work
so that we may see it!
Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come
so that we may know it!”
20Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who turn darkness to light
and light to darkness,
who replace bitter with sweet
and sweet with bitter.
21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and clever in their own sight.
22Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine
and champions in mixing strong drink,
23who acquit the guilty for a bribe
and deprive the innocent of justice.
24Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw,
and as dry grass shrivels in the flame,
so their roots will decay
and their blossoms will blow away like dust;
for they have rejected the instruction of the Lord of Hosts
and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25Therefore the anger of the Lord burns against His people;
His hand is raised against them to strike them down.
The mountains quake,
and the corpses lie like refuse in the streets.
Despite all this, His anger is not turned away;
His hand is still upraised.
26He lifts a banner for the distant nations
and whistles for those at the ends of the earth.
Behold—how speedily and swiftly they come!
27None of them grows weary or stumbles;
no one slumbers or sleeps.
No belt is loose
and no sandal strap is broken.
28Their arrows are sharpened,
and all their bows are strung.
The hooves of their horses are like flint;
their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.
29Their roaring is like that of a lion;
they roar like young lions.
They growl and seize their prey;
they carry it away, and no one can rescue it.
30In that day they will roar over it,
like the roaring of the sea.
If one looks over the land,
he will see darkness and distress;
even the light will be obscured by clouds.
Footnotes (3)
- a v10 Literally ten yoke of vineyard will yield a bath; that is, the area ten yoke of oxen can plow in a day will yield approximately 5.8 gallons or 22 liters of wine.
- b v10 Literally and a homer of seed will yield an ephah; that is, a homer of seed (approximately 6.24 bushels or 220 liters) will yield a tenth of its weight in grain.
- c v17 LXX lambs
Study notes on this chapter · 2
Type / patternWidely held reading
Israel the vine and Jesus the true vine
The Old Testament often pictures Israel as a vine or vineyard planted by God, sometimes fruitful and often failing. Jesus says 'I am the true vine', and that his followers must remain in him to bear fruit.
When: Psalm 80, Isaiah 5, Hosea 10; Jesus' upper-room discourse, c. AD 30–33.
Echoed inJohn 15:1–8
Ways people read this (2)
- Jesus replaces or fulfills Israel as God's true vine, bearing the fruit Israel did not.
- The image also draws on the vine as a symbol of the temple (a golden vine decorated its gate) and of Israel's restoration.
Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.
Type / patternWidely held reading
The vineyard and the tenants
Isaiah's song of the vineyard describes God planting a vineyard that yields wild grapes, standing for Israel. Jesus' parable of the wicked tenants borrows the opening details of the planting, wall and winepress, and directs the charge at Israel's leaders. The leaders perceive that he is speaking about them.
When: Isaiah, c. 740–700 BC; parable told in Jesus' last week, c. AD 30–33.
Original passageIsaiah 5:1–7
Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.