CLARITY EDITION · OLD TESTAMENT
Isaiah 5
Chapter 5 of 66
Chapter Overview
What happens in Isaiah 5
Isaiah sings a song about a vineyard that represents God's people Israel. Despite all of God's care, the vineyard produced only bad fruit. Then Isaiah pronounces six "woes" (serious warnings of coming disaster) against people who are greedy, drunk, dishonest, and proud. The chapter ends with a terrifying description of a foreign army that God will send to punish his people.
Scripture
Isaiah 5
The Song of the Vineyard
Study note
Isaiah uses a parable, similar to what Jesus would do hundreds of years later. A farmer carefully planted a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He cleared the stones, chose the best vines, built a watchtower, and dug a winepress. He did everything right. But when harvest came, the vineyard produced only wild, sour, useless grapes. The vineyard represents Israel, and the farmer represents God. Despite everything God did for his people, they produced injustice instead of justice, and cries of suffering instead of righteousness.
1 Let me sing for the one I love, a song about his vineyard. My dear friend had a vineyard on a rich, fertile hillside. 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:
2 He dug up the soil and hauled out all the rocks. He planted the very best grapevines in it. He put up a watchtower right in the middle and carved out a winepress. Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes, but all the vineyard grew was sour, worthless fruit. 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.
3 "Now then, people of Jerusalem and Judah, you be the judge between me and my vineyard." And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
4 "Was there anything more I could have done for it? I gave it everything. So why did it only grow sour grapes when I was counting on sweet ones?" 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?
5 "Fine then, let me tell you what I plan to do with my vineyard. I am going to rip out its hedge so it gets eaten up. I am going to knock down its wall so it gets trampled." 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:
6 "I will let it go to waste. Nobody will trim it or take care of it. Thorns and weeds will take over. And I will order the clouds not to send any rain on it." 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.
7 Now here is what the story means: the vineyard of the Lord who commands heaven's armies is the nation of Israel. The people of Judah are the garden he loved. He was hoping for justice, but all he found was bloodshed. He was hoping for what is right, but all he heard was the screaming of people in pain. 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.
Six Woes Against Israel
Study note
Isaiah pronounces six 'woes,' which are solemn warnings of coming disaster. The first woe is against greedy people who buy up all the land and houses. The second is against those who spend all day drinking and partying while ignoring God. The third is against those who boldly drag sin along behind them like an animal on a leash. The fourth is against those who call evil good and good evil. The fifth is against those who think they are wiser than God. The sixth is against leaders who are heroes only at drinking and who take bribes to let guilty people go free.
8 How awful for you who keep buying up one house after another! You grab one field after another until there is no room left for anyone else. You end up living by yourselves in the middle of the land! 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!
9 I heard the Lord of heaven's armies say this. "Many big, fine houses will end up empty. No one will live in them." In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
10 A ten-acre vineyard will make only about six gallons of wine. A great amount of seed will grow only a tiny basket of grain. Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.
11 How awful for people who get up at the crack of dawn to start drinking and stay up late into the night getting drunk! Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!
12 Their parties have harps, lyres, tambourines, flutes, and plenty of wine. But they pay zero attention to what the Lord is doing and completely ignore the work of his hands. 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.
13 Because of this, my people will be dragged off as prisoners. They have no understanding of what matters. Their respected leaders will starve, and the regular people will be dying from thirst. 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.
14 The grave has opened its jaws extra wide, stretching without limit. Down into it goes the city's greatness, its noisy crowds, and everyone celebrating in it. 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.
15 Regular people will be humbled, important people will be brought low, and the eyes of the proud will be forced down. And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:
16 But the Lord who commands heaven's armies will be lifted up because he does right. The holy God will show his holiness through his fair justice. But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.
17 Then sheep will graze freely in the ruins. Wandering animals will feed among what the wealthy left behind. Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
18 How terrible for those who drag their sins behind them like an animal on a rope! They haul their wickedness around like a wagon loaded with chains! Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
19 They mock, "Let God hurry up and do what he is planning! We would love to see it! Let the Holy One of Israel go ahead with his plan so we can find out what it is!" 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!
20 How awful for those who call evil things good and good things evil! How awful for those who swap darkness for light and light for darkness! How awful for those who trade what is bitter for what is sweet and what is sweet for what is bitter! 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!
21 How terrible for those who think they know everything! How bad for those who think they are the smartest people around! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
22 How awful for those who brag about being great drinkers! How awful for those who are experts at mixing strong drinks! Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
23 They accept bribes to let guilty people walk free, while they steal justice from innocent people. Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
God's Anger and the Coming Army
Study note
Because the people rejected God's law, his anger burns against them. Isaiah describes a powerful foreign army that God will summon from far away with a signal flag and a whistle. This army will come swiftly and tirelessly. Their arrows are sharp, their bows are ready, and their horses' hooves are hard as stone. They roar like lions and carry away their prey. This is a prophecy about the Assyrian and Babylonian armies that would later invade Israel and Judah.
24 So just as fire burns up straw and dry grass shrivels in the flames, their roots will rot. Their flowers will blow off like dust. They threw away the teaching of the Lord who commands heaven's armies. They turned away from the words of the Holy One of Israel. 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.
25 Therefore the Lord's anger blazes against his people. He has lifted his hand and struck them so hard that the mountains shook, and dead bodies were left lying in the streets like trash. Yet even after all this, his anger has not cooled down, and his hand is still raised, ready to strike again. 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.
26 He will put up a flag to signal faraway nations. He will whistle for them from the other side of the world. Watch how fast they come! 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:
27 Not one of them gets tired or trips. Nobody stops to rest or take a nap. No belt comes undone, and no sandal strap breaks. 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:
28 Every arrow is sharp, and every bow is ready to fire. Their horses' hooves are as hard as rock, and their chariot wheels spin like a tornado. Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:
29 They roar like a lion. They growl like young lions grabbing their prey and carrying it off where nobody can get it back. 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.
30 When that day comes, they will roar over their victims the way the ocean roars. If you look across the land, all you will see is darkness and trouble. Even the daylight will be blocked out by thick clouds. 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.
Key Themes
Themes in Isaiah 5
God's vineyard parable and israel's failureSix woes against social and moral corruptionThe consequences of calling evil goodGod summoning foreign armies as instruments of judgment
Prophetic Connections
How this chapter points to Christ
Isaiah 5:1-7 Matthew 21:33-41
Jesus tells the parable of the wicked tenants, drawing on Isaiah's vineyard imagery to describe Israel's rejection of God's messengers and ultimately his Son.
Apply This Today
Living Isaiah 5
God invests deeply in His people, but He expects fruit in return: justice, righteousness, and compassion. When a culture begins to call evil good and good evil, it has crossed a dangerous moral threshold. We must guard our hearts against the gradual drift of redefining sin as acceptable.
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