Under the parable of a vineyard, God excuses his severe judgment, 1-7. His judgments upon covetousness, 8-10; upon lasciviousness, 11, 12; upon impiety, 13-19; and upon injustice, 20-25. The executioners of God's judgments, 26-30.
1 Now I will sing to my well-beloved/
a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard./
My well-beloved has a vineyard/
in a very fruitful hill.
2 And he fenced it, gathered out its stones,/
planted it with the choicest vine,/
built a tower in the midst of it,/
and made a wine-press therein./
And he expected that it would bring forth grapes,/
and it brought forth wild grapes.
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,/
judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard.
4 What more could have been done to my vineyard/
that I have not done in it?/
Why, when I expected that it would bring forth grapes,/
did it bring forth wild grapes?
5 And now come. I will tell you/
what I will do to my vineyard./
I will take away its hedge/
and it shall be eaten up,/
and break down its wall/
and it shall be trodden down.
6 And I will lay it waste./
It shall not be pruned, nor dug,/
but there shall come up briers and thorns./
I will also command the clouds/
that they rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel,/
and the men of Judah his pleasant plant./
And he looked for judgment, but behold oppression,/
for righteousness, but behold a cry.
8 Woe to those who join house to house,/
who lay field to field/
until there is no place and you have been placed/
alone in the midst of the earth!
9 In my ears the LORD of hosts said,/
"Of a truth many houses shall be desolate,/
even great and fair, without inhabitant.
10 Even ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath,/
and the seed of a homer shall yield an ephah."
11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning/
so that they may follow strong drink,/
who continue until night/
until wine inflames them!
12 And the harp, the psaltery, the tambourine, pipe,/
and wine are in their feasts,/
but they do not regard the work of the LORD,/
neither consider the operation of his hands.
13 Therefore, my people have gone into captivity/
because they have no knowledge./
And their honorable men are famished/
and their multitude dried up with thirst.
14 Therefore, hell has enlarged herself/
and opened her mouth without measure./
And their glory, their multitude, their pomp,/
and he who rejoices shall descend into it.
15 And man shall be brought down,/
the mighty man shall be humbled,/
and the eyes of the lofty shall be abased.
16 But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment,/
and God who is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.
17 Then the lambs shall feed after their manner,/
and strangers shall eat in the waste places of the fat ones.
18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity/
and sin as with a cart-rope,
19 Who say, "Let him make speed and hasten his work/
so that we may see it./
And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come/
so that we may know it!"
20 Woe to those who call evil good/
and good evil,/
who put darkness for light/
and light for darkness,/
who put bitter for sweet/
and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes/
and prudent in their own sight!
22 Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine/
and men of strength to mingle strong drink,
23 Who justify the wicked for reward/
and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
24 Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble/
and the flame consumes the chaff,/
so their root shall be as rottenness/
and their blossom shall go up as dust,/
because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts/
and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore, the anger of the LORD is kindled against his people,/
and he has stretched forth his hand against them and has smitten them./
And the hills trembled,/
and their carcasses were torn in the midst of the streets./
For all this his anger is not turned away,/
but his hand is stretched out still.
26 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from afar/
and will hiss to them from the end of the earth,/
and behold, they shall come with speed swiftly.
27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them/
and none shall slumber nor sleep,/
neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosened,/
nor the latchet of their shoes be broken,
28 Whose arrows are sharp/
and all their bows bent,/
their horses' hooves shall be counted like flint/
and their wheels like a whirlwind.
29 Their roaring shall be like a lion./
They shall roar like young lions./
They shall even roar and lay hold of the prey,/
and shall carry it away safe,/
and no one shall deliver it.
30 And in that day they shall roar against them/
like the roaring of the sea./
And if one looks to the land,/
behold, darkness and sorrow,/
and the light is darkened in its heavens.
Matthew Henry Commentary - Isaiah, Chapter 5[➚]
[v.1-7] - This passage is used as a parable in Matthew 21:33 and Mark 12:1.