Isaiah 5

Now I will sing to my beloved a song of the beloved concerning my vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a horn, in a fertile place.

And I put a hedge around it and fenced it in, and I planted a sorech vine, and I built a tower in the midst of it, and I dug out a wine vat in it; and I waited for it to produce grapes, but it produced thorns.

And now, O man of Judah and you who dwell in Jerusalem, judge between me and my vineyard.

What more shall I do for my vineyard that I have not done for it? Because I waited for it to produce grapes, but it produced thorns.

But now I will declare to you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be for plunder; and I will pull down its wall, and it shall be for trampling.

And I will abandon my vineyard, and it shall neither be pruned nor dug; and thorns shall come up on it as on waste ground; and I will command the clouds not to rain rain upon it.

For the vineyard of the Lord Sabaoth is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah is his beloved new plant. I waited for it to do judgment, but it did lawlessness; and not righteousness, but a cry.

Woe to those who join house to house and bring field near to field, that they may take away something of their neighbor's! Will you dwell alone upon the earth?

For these things were heard in the ears of the Lord Sabaoth: Though there be many houses, great and fair, they shall be desolate, and there shall be none dwelling in them.

For where ten yoke of oxen labor, it shall yield one jar; and the one sowing six artabas shall produce three measures.

Woe to those who rise early in the morning and pursue strong drink, who remain till late! For the wine will inflame them.

For they drink wine with harp and lute and drums and pipes, but they do not regard the works of the Lord, nor consider the works of his hands.

Therefore my people became captive because they do not know the Lord; and a multitude of dead came about through famine and thirst for water.

And Hades has enlarged its soul and opened its mouth without ceasing; and her glorious ones and her great ones and her rich ones and her pestilent ones shall go down.

And man shall be humbled, and a man shall be dishonored; and the lofty eyes shall be brought low.

But the Lord Sabaoth shall be exalted in judgment, and the holy God shall be glorified in righteousness.

And those who were plundered shall feed as bulls, and lambs shall eat the waste places of those who were taken away.

Woe to those who draw sins as with a long cord, and lawless deeds as with a heifer's yoke-strap;

who say: Let what he will do draw near quickly, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel come, that we may know it.

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!

Woe to those who are wise in themselves and knowing in their own sight!

Woe to your mighty ones who drink wine, and to the powerful ones who mix strong drink;

who justify the ungodly for the sake of gifts, and take away the right of the righteous.

Therefore, just as stubble shall be burned by a coal of fire and consumed by a rising flame, so their root shall be as chaff, and their blossom shall go up as dust; for they were unwilling to have the law of the Lord Sabaoth, but provoked the oracle of the Holy One of Israel.

And the Lord Sabaoth was enraged with anger against his people, and he laid his hand upon them and struck them; and the mountains were provoked, and their corpses became as dung in the midst of the road. And for all this his wrath has not turned away, but his hand is still uplifted.

Therefore he will lift up a signal among the nations that are far off, and will whistle for them from the end of the earth; and behold, swiftly and lightly they come.

They shall not hunger nor grow weary nor slumber nor sleep, nor shall they loose the belts from their loins, nor shall the thongs of their sandals be broken.

Their arrows are sharp and their bows are bent; the hoofs of their horses are counted as solid rock, the wheels of their chariots as a whirlwind.

They rush like lions and stand ready like a lion's cub; and he shall seize and roar as a wild beast, and shall carry off, and there shall be none to deliver them.

And in that day he shall roar over them as the sound of a surging sea; and they shall look to the earth, and behold, harsh darkness in their perplexity.