Isaiah 5
1 Let me sing for my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
I schal synge for my derlyng the song of myn vnclis sone, of his vyner. A vyner was maad to my derlyng, in the horne in the sone of oile.
2 and he made a trench about it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
And he heggide it, and chees stoonys therof, and plauntide a chosun vyner; and he bildide a tour in the myddis therof, and rerede a presse ther ynne; and he abood, that it schulde bere grapis, and it bare wielde grapis.
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
Now therfor, ye dwelleris of Jerusalem, and ye men of Juda, deme bitwixe me and my viner.
4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
What is it that Y ouyt to do more to my vyner, and Y dide not to it? whether that Y abood, that it schulde bere grapis, and it bare wielde grapis?
5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; I will break down the fence thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
And now Y schal schewe to you, what Y schal do to my vyner. Y schal take awei the hegge therof, and it schal be in to rauyschyng; Y schal caste doun the wal therof, and it schal be in to defoulyng; and Y schal sette it desert,
6 and I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor hoed; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
ether forsakun. It schal not be kit, and it schal not be diggid, and breris and thornes schulen `growe vp on it; and Y schal comaunde to cloudis, that tho reyne not reyn on 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.
Forsothe the vyner of the Lord of oostis is the hous of Israel, and the men of Juda ben the delitable buriownyng of hym. Y abood, that it schal make doom, and lo! wickidnesse; and that it schulde do riytfulnesse, and lo! cry.
8 Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no room, and ye be made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!
Wo to you that ioynen hows to hous, and couplen feeld to feeld, `til to the ende of place. Whether ye aloone schulen dwelle in the myddis of the lond?
9 In mine ears [saith] the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
These thingis ben in the eeris of me, the Lord of oostis; if many housis ben not forsakun, grete housis and faire, with outen dwellere, bileue ye not to me.
10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield [but] an ephah.
For whi ten acris of vynes schulen make a potel, and thretti buschels of seed schulen make thre buschels.
11 Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that tarry late into the night, till wine inflame them!
Wo to you that risen togidere eerli to sue drunkennesse, and to drinke `til to euentid, that ye brenne with wyn.
12 And the harp and the lute, the tabret and the pipe, and wine, are [in] their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.
Harpe, and giterne, and tympan, and pipe, and wyn ben in youre feestis; and ye biholden not the werk of the Lord, nether ye biholden the werkis of hise hondis.
13 Therefore my people are gone into captivity, for lack of knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude are parched with thirst.
Therfor my puple is led prisoner, for it hadde not kunnyng; and the noble men therof perischiden in hungur, and the multitude therof was drye in thirst.
14 Therefore hell hath enlarged her desire, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth among them, descend [into it]. (Sheol h7585)
Therfor helle alargide his soule, and openyde his mouth with outen ony ende; and strong men therof, and the puple therof, and the hiy men, and gloriouse men therof, schulen go doun to it. (Sheol h7585)
15 And the mean man is bowed down, and the great man is humbled, and the eyes of the lofty are humbled:
And a man schal be bowid doun, and a man of age schal be maad low; and the iyen of hiy men schulen be pressid doun.
16 but the LORD of hosts is exalted in judgment, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.
And the Lord of oostis schal be enhaunsid in doom, and hooli God schal be halewid in riytfulnesse.
17 Then shall the lambs feed as in their pasture, and the waste places of the fat ones shall wanderers eat.
And lambren schulen be fed bi her ordre, and comelyngis schulen ete desert places turned in to plentee.
18 Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
Wo to you that drawen wickydnesse in the cordis of vanyte, and drawen synne as the boond of a wayn; and ye seien,
19 that 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 nigh and come, that we may know it!
The werk of hym haaste, and come soone, that we se; and the counsel of the hooli of Israel neiy, and come, and we schulen knowe it.
20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Wo to you that seien yuel good, and good yuel; and putten derknessis liyt, and liyt derknessis; and putten bittir thing in to swete, and swete thing in to bittir.
21 Woe unto them that are wise their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
Wo to you that ben wise men in youre iyen, and ben prudent bifor you silf.
22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
Wo to you that ben myyti to drynke wyn, and ben stronge to meddle drunkenesse;
23 which justify the wicked for a reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
and ye iustifien a wickid man for yiftis, and ye taken awei the riytfulnesse of a iust man fro hym.
24 Therefore as the tongue of fire devoureth the stubble, and as the dry grass sinketh 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 the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
For this thing, as the tunge of fier deuourith stobil, and the heete of flawme brenneth, so the roote of hem schal be as a deed sparcle, and the seed of hem schal stie as dust; for thei castiden awei the lawe of the Lord of oostis, and blasfemyden the speche of the hooli of Israel.
25 Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them, and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
Therfor the strong veniaunce of the Lord was wrooth ayens his puple, and he stretchide forth his hond on it, and smoot it; and hillis weren disturblid, and the deed bodies of hem weren maad as a toord in the myddis of stretis. In alle these thingis the stronge vengeaunce of him was not turned awei, but yit his hond was stretchid forth.
26 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss for them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:
And he schal reise a signe among naciouns afer, and he schal hisse to hym fro the endis of erthe; and lo! he schal haaste, and schal come swiftli.
27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
Noon is failynge nethir trauelynge in that oost; he schal not nappe, nether slepe, nether the girdil of his reynes schal be vndo, nether the lace of his scho schal be brokun.
28 whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:
Hise arowis ben scharpe, and alle hise bowis ben bent; the houys of hise horsis ben as a flynt, and hise wheelis ben as the feersnesse of tempest.
29 their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and carry it away safe, and there shall be none to deliver.
His roryng schal be as of lioun; he schal rore as the whelpis of liouns; and he schal gnaste, and schal holde prey, and schal biclippe, and noon schal be, that schal delyuere.
30 And they shall roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness [and] distress, and the light is darkened in the clouds thereof.
And he schal sowne on it in that dai, as doith the soun of the see; we schulen biholde in to the erthe, and lo! derknessis of tribulacioun, and liyt is maad derk in the derknesse therof.
