1 Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. 2 He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in its midst, and also cut out a winepress therein. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. 3 "Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard. 4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes? 5 Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up. I will break down its wall of it, and it will be trampled down. 6 I will lay it a wasteland. It won't be pruned nor hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it." 7 For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress. 8 Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, until there is no room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land! 9 In my ears, Yahweh of Armies says: "Surely many houses will be desolate, even great and beautiful, unoccupied. 10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield an ephah." 11 Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them! 12 The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts; but they don't respect the work of Yahweh, neither have they considered the operation of his hands. 13 Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge. Their honorable men are famished, and their multitudes are parched with thirst. 14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire, and opened its mouth without measure; and their glory, their multitude, their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend into it. 15 So man is brought low, mankind is humbled, and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled; 16 but Yahweh of Armies is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness. 17 Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich. 18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope; 19 Who say, "Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, 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 champions at mixing strong drink; 23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice for the innocent! 24 Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. 25 Therefore Yahweh's anger burns against his people, and he has stretched out his hand against them, and has struck them. The mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is still stretched out. 26 He will lift up a banner to the nations from far, and he will whistle for them from the end of the earth. Behold, they will come speedily and swiftly. 27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the belt of their waist be untied, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken: 28 whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent. Their horses' hoofs will be like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind. 29 Their roaring will be like a lioness. They will roar like young lions. Yes, they shall roar, and seize their prey and carry it off, and there will be no one to deliver. 30 They will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land behold, darkness and distress. The light is darkened in its clouds.
This chapter Isaiah. 5 commences a new subject, and is in itself an entire prophecy, having no connection with the preceding or the following chapter. "When" it was delivered is unknown; but from the strong resemblance between the circumstances referred to here, and those referred to in Isaiah. 2, it is probable it was at about the same period. The fact, also, that it is closely connected with that in the place which has been assigned it in the collection of the prophecies of Isaiah, is a circumstance which strongly corroborates that view. The general design of the chapter is to denounce the prevalent vices of the nation, and to proclaim that they will be followed with heavy judgments. The chapter may be conveniently regarded as divided into three parts.
I. A beautiful parable illustrative of the care which God had shown for his people, Isaiah 5:1-7. He states what he had done for them; calls on them to judge themselves whether he had not done for them all that he could have done; and, since his vineyard had brought forth no good fruit, he threatens to break down its hedges, and to destroy it.
II. The various vices and crimes which prevailed in the nation are denounced, and punishment threatened, Isaiah. 5:8-23.
1. The sin of covetousness, Isaiah 5:8-10.
2. The sins of intemperance, revelry, and dissipation, Isaiah 5:11-17.
3. The sin of despising and contemning God, and of practicing iniquity as if he did not see it, or could not punish it, Isaiah 5:18-19.
4. The sin of those who pervert things, and call evil good and good evil, Isaiah 5:20.
5. The sin of vain self-confidence, pride, and inordinate self-esteem, Isaiah 5:21.
6. The sin of intemperance is again reproved, and the sin of receiving bribes; probably because these were in fact connected, Isaiah 5:22-23.
III. Punishment is denounced on the nation for indulgence in these sins, Isaiah 5:24-30. The punishment would be, that he would, call distant nations to invade their land, and it should be laid waste.
"The subject of this prophecy," says Lowth, "does not differ materially from Isaiah. i., but it is greatly superior to it in force, in severity, in variety, in elegance."
This chapter begins with representing, in a beautiful parable, the tender care of God for his people, and their unworthy returns for his goodness, Isaiah 5:1-7. The parable or allegory is then dropped; and the prophet, in plain terms, reproves and threatens them for their wickedness; particularly for their covetousness, Isaiah 5:8-10; intemperance, Isaiah 5:11; and inattention to the warnings of Providence, Isaiah 5:12. Then follows an enumeration of judgments as the necessary consequence. Captivity and famine appear with all their horrors, Isaiah 5:13. Hades, or the grave, like a ravenous monster, opens wide its jaws, and swallows down its myriads, Isaiah 5:14. Distress lays hold on all ranks, Isaiah 5:15; and God is glorified in the execution of his judgments, Isaiah 5:16; till the whole place is left desolate, a place for the flocks to range in, Isaiah 5:17. The prophet then pauses; and again resumes his subject, reproving them for several other sins, and threatening them with woes and vengeance, Isaiah 5:18-24; after which he sums up the whole of his awful denunciation in a very lofty and spirited epiphonema or conclusion. The God of armies, having hitherto corrected to no purpose, is represented with inimitable majesty, as only giving a hist, and a swarm of nations hasten to his standard, Isaiah 5:25-27. Upon a guilty race, unpitied by heaven or by earth, they execute their commission; and leave the land desolate and dark, without one ray of comfort to cheer the horrid gloom, Isaiah 5:28-30.
This chapter likewise stands single and alone, unconnected with the preceding or following. The subject of it is nearly the same with that of the first chapter. It is a general reproof of the Jews for their wickedness; but it exceeds that chapter in force, in severity, in variety, and elegance; and it adds a more express declaration of vengeance by the Babylonian invasion.
INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 5
In this chapter, under the parable of a vineyard and its ruins, the Jews and their destruction are represented; the reasons of which are given, their manifold sins and transgressions, particularly enumerated, with the punishment threatened to them, and which is delivered in form of a song. The vineyard is described by the owner of it, a well beloved one; by the situation of it, in a fruitful hill; by the fence about it, and care and culture of it; and by its not answering the expectation of the owner, it bringing forth wild grapes instead of good ones, Isaiah 5:1 wherefore the men of Judah and Jerusalem are made judges between the owner and his vineyard, what more could have been done to it, or rather what was now to be done to it, since this was the case; and the result is, that it should be utterly laid waste, and come to ruin; and the whole is applied to the house of Israel, and men of Judah, Isaiah 5:3 whose sins, as the cause of their ruin, are mentioned in the following verses; their covetousness, with the punishment of it, Isaiah 5:8 their intemperance, luxury, and love of pleasure, with the punishment threatened thereunto, Isaiah 5:11 whereby haughty men should be humbled, the Lord be glorified, and at the same time his weak and innocent people would be taken care of, Isaiah 5:15 next, other sins are taken notice of, and woes pronounced on account of them, as, an impudent course of sinning, insolent impiety against God, confusion of good and evil, conceit of their own wisdom, drunkenness, and perversion of justice, Isaiah 5:18 wherefore for these things, and for their contempt and rejection of the law and word of the Lord, utter destruction is threatened them, Isaiah 5:24 yea, the anger of God had been already kindled against them, and they had felt it in some instances, Isaiah 5:25 but they are given to expect severer judgments, by means of foreign nations, that should be gathered against them; who are described by their swiftness, strength, and vigilance; by their armour, horses, and carriages; and by their terror and cruelty; the consequence of which would be utter darkness, distress, and calamities, in the land of Judea, Isaiah 5:26.
(Isaiah 5:1-7) The state and conduct of the Jewish nation.
(v. 8-23) The judgments which would come.
(Isaiah 5:24-30) The executioners of these judgments.
Judgment of Devastation upon the Vineyard of Jehovah - Isaiah 5
The foregoing prophecy has run through all the different phases of prophetic exhortation by the time that we reach the close of Isaiah 4:1-6; and its leading thought, viz., the overthrow of the false glory of Israel, and the perfect establishment of true glory through the medium of judgment, has been so fully worked out, that chapter 5 cannot possibly be regarded either as a continuation or as an appendix to that address. Unquestionably there are many points in which chapter 5 refers back to chapters 2-4. The parable of the vineyard in Isaiah 5:1-7 grows, as it were, out of Isaiah 3:14; and in Isaiah 5:15 we have a repetition of the refrain in Isaiah 2:9, varied in a similar manner to Isaiah 2:17. But these and other points of contact with chapters 2-4, whilst they indicate a tolerable similarity in date, by no means prove the absence of independence in chapter 5. The historical circumstances of the two addresses are the same; and the range of thought is therefore closely related. But the leading idea which is carried out in chapter 5 is a totally different one. The basis of the address is a parable representing Israel as the vineyard of Jehovah, which, contrary to all expectation, had produced bad fruit, and therefore was given up to devastation. What kind of bad fruit it produced is described in a six-fold "woe;" and what kind of devastation was to follow is indicated in the dark nocturnal conclusion to the whole address, which is entirely without a promise.
*More commentary available by clicking individual verses.