Isaiah, 5

1. Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:

1. Let me sing for my beloved the love song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.

2. And he fenced 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 made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

2. He dug it up, cleared the stones, and planted the choicest vines. He built there a watchtower and hewed out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only wild grapes.

3. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.

3. Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.

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?

4. What more was there to do that I have not done for my vineyard? Good grapes was the yield I expected, why did it yield only sour grapes?

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; [and] break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:

5. Now I will let you know what I am going to do with my vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it will be burned; I will break down its wall and it will be trampled on.

6. And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

6. I will make it a wasteland, I will neither prune nor hoe it, and briers and thorns will grow there. I command the clouds, as well, not to send rain 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.

7. The vineyard of Yahweh Sabaoth is the people of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant vine. He looked for justice, but found bloodshed; He looked for righteousness but heard cries of distress.

8. Woe unto them that join house to house, [that] lay field to field, till [there be] no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!

8. Woe to you who join house to house, who add field to field! So no room will remain, with you alone in the land?

9. In mine ears [said] the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, [even] great and fair, without inhabitant.

9. Yahweh Sabaoth has sworn in my hearing: "Many houses will remain in ruins, beautiful mansions without occupants.

10. Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.

10. Ten acres of vineyard will yield only a barrel of wine; ten bushels of seed, only a bushel of grain."

11. Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, [that] they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, [till] wine inflame them!

11. Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after strong drink, and tarry late in the evening till they are inflamed with wine.

12. And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.

12. They have lyres and harps, timbrels and flutes, and wine at their banquets; but they have no thought for the deeds of the Lord, nor do they see his plans.

13. Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because [they have] no knowledge: and their honourable men [are] famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.

13. Thus my people will go into exile for want of understanding, their dignitaries dying of hunger, their masses parched with thirst.

14. Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.

14. Therefore the grave has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth to the full; it swallows the upper crust of Zion, their throngs and their revelry.

15. And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:

15. Man shall be humbled and the mortal fallen, and the eyes of the haughty cast down.

16. But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.

16. But Yahweh Sabaoth will be exalted when he comes in judgment; the sentences of the holy God will reveal his holiness.

17. Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.

17. Then will the lambs graze as at pasture, fatlings and kids will browse among the ruins.)

18. Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:

18. Woe to those who haul their wrongs with cords of deceit, to those who pull a cart of sins,

19. That say, Let him make speed, [and] 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]!

19. to those who say, "Let God hurry, let him speed up his work so that we may see it. Let the plans of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come true, which we are eager to learn about!"

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!

20. Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who change darkness for light and light for darkness, who give bitter for sweet and sweet for bittter.

21. Woe unto [them that are] wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

21. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and take themselves for sages.

22. Woe unto [them that are] mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:

22. Woe to those who are champions in mixing drinks and valiant at drinking bouts,

23. Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

23. but acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of his right.

24. Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth 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.

24. Therefore, as the tongues of fire lick up stubble, as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will rot, and their flowers be blown away like dust, for they have rejected the law of Yahweh Sabaoth and scorned the word of the Holy One 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] torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out still.

25. Therefore the Lord, his wrath burning against his people, raises his hand against them and strikes them down. The mountains quake: the corpses litter the streets. Yet for all this his anger does not subside, his hand is still raised, poised to strike.

26. And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:

26. He gives a signal to nations afar, he whistles to them from the ends of the earth; speedily and swiftly they come.

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:

27. None of them is weary, none stumbles none slumbers or sleeps; not a waist belt is loosened, not a sandal-thong broken.

28. Whose arrows [are] sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:

28. Their arrows are sharp, all their bows are strong: their horses' hoofs seem like flint, their chariot wheels like the whirlwind.

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 shall carry [it] away safe, and none shall deliver [it].

29. They roar like young lions; they growl as they seize their prey, no one to rescue it as they carry it off.

30. And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if [one] look unto the land, behold darkness [and] sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.

30. On that day they will roar over these people like the roaring of the sea. Just look at the land - darkness and distress, the light flickering out in shadows, darkened finally by the clouds.