Isaiah 5

1 Let me sing, I pray you, for a well-beloved of mine, The song of my beloved concerning his vineyard: —A vineyard, had my well-beloved on a very fruitful hill;

Now will I sing to my beloued a song of my beloued to his vineyarde, My beloued had a vineyarde in a very fruitefull hill,

2 And he thoroughly digged it, And gathered out the stones thereof, And planted it with a precious vine, And built a tower in the midst thereof, Moreover also a wine-press, hewed he therein, —Then waited he that it should bring forth grapes. And it brought forth wild grapes:

And hee hedged it, and gathered out the stones of it, and he planted it with the best plants, and hee builte a towre in the middes thereof, and made a wine presse therein: then hee looked that it should bring foorth grapes: but it brought foorth wilde grapes.

3 Now, therefore, O inhabitant of Jerusalem, And men of Judah, —Judge, I pray you, betwixt me, and my vineyard: —

Now therefore, O inhabitants of Ierusalem and men of Iudah, iudge, I pray you, betweene me, and my vineyarde.

4 What could have been done further to my vineyard, That I had not done in it? Why then—When I had waited that it should bring forth grapes, Brought it forth, wild grapes?

What coulde I haue done any more to my vineyard that I haue not done vnto it? why haue I looked that it should bring foorth grapes, and it bringeth foorth wilde grapes?

5 Now, therefore, I pray you, let me tell, you, what I am about to do to my vineyard, —To take away the fence thereof And it shall be eaten up, To destroy the wall thereof And it shall be trodden down;

And nowe I will tell you what I will do to my vineyarde: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten vp: I will breake the wall thereof, and it shall be troden downe:

6 And I will make it a waste; —It shall be neither pruned nor hoed, But there shall come up briars and thorns, —And upon the clouds, will I lay a charge, That they rain thereon no rain.

And I will laye it waste: it shall not be cut, nor digged, but briers, and thornes shall growe vp: I will also commande the cloudes that they raine no raine vpon it.

7 Surely the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts, is the house of Israel, And, the men of Judah, are the plantation in which he dearly delighted, —And he waited, For equity but lo! murderous iniquity, For the rule of right but lo the cry of the wronged.

Surely the vineyard of the Lord of hostes is the house of Israel, and the men of Iudah are his pleasant plant, and hee looked for iudgement, but beholde oppression: for righteousnesse, but beholde a crying.

8 Alas for them who join house to house, Field to field, bring they near, —Until there is no room, But ye are left to dwell alone in the midst of the land.

Woe vnto them that ioyne house to house, and laye fielde to fielde, till there bee no place, that ye may be placed by your selues in the mids of the earth.

9 In mine ears, [said] Yahweh of hosts, —Verily, houses in abundance, shall become, a desolation, Large and fair, without inhabitant;

This is in mine cares, saith the Lord of hostes. Surely many houses shall be desolate, euen great, and faire without inhabitant.

10 For, ten yokes of vineyard, shall yield one bath, —And the seed of a homer, shall yield an ephah,

For ten acres of vines shall yelde one bath, and the seede of an homer shall yelde an ephah.

11 Alas, for them who rise early in the morning that strong drink, they may pursue, —Who follow on in the evening cool [until] with wine, they are heated;

Wo vnto them, that rise vp early to follow drunkennes, and to them that continue vntill night, till the wine doe inflame them.

12 And it cometh to pass—that lyre and harp, timbrel and flute and wine are in their banquets, —But, the doing of Yahweh, they do not discern, And the work of his hands, have they not seen.

And the harpe and viole, timbrel, and pipe, and wine are in their feastes: but they regard not the worke of the Lord, neither consider the worke of his handes.

13 Therefore, are my people taken away captive before they know it, —And their honourable men are famished with hunger, And, their multitude, do gape for thirst.

Therefore my people is gone into captiuitie, because they had no knowledge, and the glorie thereof are men famished, and the multitude thereof is dried vp with thirst.

14 Therefore, hath hades enlarged her desire, And opened her mouth to its widest, —And their glory, and their multitude and their pomp. and he that is uproarious shall descend thereinto. (Sheol h7585)

Therefore hell hath inlarged it selfe, and hath opened his mouth, without measure, and their glorie, and their multitude, and their pompe, and hee that reioyceth among them, shall descend into it. (Sheol h7585)

15 And the mean man hath been bowed down And the mighty man hath been humbled, —Yea the looks of the haughty shall be humbled.

And man shalbe brought downe, and man shalbe humbled, euen the eyes of the proude shalbe humbled.

16 But Yahweh of hosts, hath been exalted, in justice, —And the GOD that is holy hath been hallowed in righteousness;

And the Lord of hostes shalbe exalted in iudgement, and the holy God shalbe sanctified in iustice.

17 Then shall the young rams feed where they please, —And, the wastes of the wealthy, shall strangers consume.

Then shall the lambes feede after their maner, and the strangers shall eate the desolate places of the fat.

18 Alas! for them Who draw on themselves punishment with cords of falsehood, —And as with waggon-bands, penalty:

Woe vnto them, that draw iniquitie with cordes of vanitie, and sinne, as with cart ropes:

19 Who say—Let his work quicken—let it hasten, That we may see, —And let the purpose of Israel’s Holy One, draw near and come. That we may know!

Which say, Let him make speede: let him hasten his worke, that wee may see it: and let the counsell of the holy one of Israel draw neere and come, that we may knowe it.

20 Alas! for them 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.

Woe vnto them that speake good of euill, and euill of good, which put darkenes for light, and light for darkenes, that put bitter for sweete, and sweete for sowre.

21 Alas for them Who are wise in their own eyes, —And in their own sight, are prudent.

Woe vnto them that are wise in their owne eyes, and prudent in their owne sight.

22 Alas for them Who are heroes to drink wine, —And men of valour to mingle strong drink,

Wo vnto them that are mightie to drinke wine, and to them that are strong to powre in strong drinke:

23 Who justify the lawless, for a bribe, —Whereas the righteousness of the righteous, they take from him.

Which iustifie the wicked for a rewarde, and take away the righteousnesse of the righteous from him.

24 Therefore, As a tongue of fire, eateth up straw, And a flame reduceth, dry grass, to powder, Their root, like rottenness, shall become, And their blossom, like dust shall ascend, —Because they refused the law of Yahweh of hosts, And the utterance of the Holy One of Israel, they despised.

Therefore as the flame of fire deuoureth the stubble, and as the chaffe is cosumed of the flame: so their roote shalbe as rottennesse, and their bud shall rise vp like dust, because they haue cast off the Lawe of the Lord of hostes, and contemned the word of the holy one of Israel.

25 For this cause, did the anger of Yahweh kindle upon his own people, And he stretched out his hand against them and smote them—So that the mountains, trembled, And, their dead bodies, served, for fuel in the midst of the streets. For all this, hath his anger, not turned back, But still, is his hand outstretched,

Therefore is the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, and hee hath stretched out his hand vpon them, and hath smitten them that the mountaines did tremble: and their carkases were torne in the middes of the streetes, and for all this his wrath was not turned away, but his hande was stretched out still.

26 Therefore will he lift up an ensign to the nations afar off, And signal for him from the end of the earth, —And lo! with hot haste, will he come:

And he will lift vp a signe vnto the nations a farre, and wil hisse vnto them from the ende of the earth: and beholde, they shall come hastily with speede.

27 None shall be weary, and none shall stumble in his midst, He shall neither slumber nor sleep, —Nor shall be loosened, the girdle of his loins, Nor snapped, the thong of his sandals:

None shall faint nor fall among them: none shall slumber nor sleepe, neither shall the girdle of his loynes be loosed, nor the latchet of his shooes be broken:

28 Whose arrows, are sharpened, and all his bows, bent, —The hoofs of his horses, like flint, are accounted, And, his wheels, [are] like a storm-wind:

Whose arrowes shall be sharpe, and all his bowes bent: his horse hoofes shall be thought like flint, and his wheeles like a whirlewinde.

29 A roar, hath he, like a lioness, —He will roar like wild lions—And will growl, and lay hold on prey, and carry into safety, and there be none to deliver.

His roaring shalbe like a lyon, and he shall roare like lyons whelpes: they shall roare, and lay holde of the praye: they shall take it away, and none shall deliuer it.

30 Yea he will growl at him in that day, like the growling of the sea, —Though he look hard for the land, lo! the darkness of distress, Yea the light, hath grown dark in its clouds!

And in that day they shall roare vpon them, as the roaring of the sea: and if they looke vnto the earth, beholde darkenesse, and sorowe, and the light shalbe darkened in their skie.