Isaiah 5

Let me sing for my beloved my beloved’s song about his vineyard.
My beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug it, cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines.
He built a tower in its midst and hewed out a winepress in it.
He expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded bad grapes. “Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it?
Why, when I expected it to yield grapes, did it yield bad grapes? Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled. I will make it a wasteland;
it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow.
I will command the clouds not to rain on it.” For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his cherished planting.
He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed;
for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress. Woe to those who join house to house and add field to field until there is no room, and you are left to live alone in the midst of the land! The LORD of hosts has spoken in my hearing: “Surely many houses shall be desolate, great and beautiful houses without inhabitants. For about ten acres of vineyard shall yield only about six gallons of wine, and ten baskets of seed shall yield a single basket of grain.” Woe to those who rise early in the morning to pursue strong drink, who linger into the night until wine inflames them! They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute, and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the work of the LORD or see what his hands have done. Therefore my people have gone into exile for lack of knowledge;
their honored men are dying of hunger, and their multitude is parched with thirst. Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without limit;
her splendor, her multitude, her uproar, and those who rejoice in her descend into it. Humanity is brought low, and men are humbled;
the eyes of the haughty shall be lowered. But the LORD of hosts is exalted in judgment, and the holy God shows himself holy in righteousness. Lambs shall graze as in their pasture, and strangers shall eat among the ruins of the wealthy. Woe to those who drag iniquity with cords of falsehood, and sin as with cart ropes, who say, “Let him hurry;
let him hasten his work, so that we may see it.
Let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, so 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 their own eyes and discerning in their own sight! Woe to heroes at drinking wine and mighty men at mixing strong drink, who acquit the wicked for a bribe and deprive the righteous of their rights! Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble and dry grass sinks in the flame, their root shall become rot and their blossom rise like dust, because they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the anger of the LORD burned against his people;
he stretched out his hand against them and struck them.
The mountains trembled, and their corpses lay like refuse in the streets.
For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out. He will raise a banner for distant nations and whistle for one from the end of the earth.
Look, it comes swiftly, speedily! None among them is weary or stumbles;
none slumbers or sleeps.
No belt at the waist is loosened, and no sandal strap is broken. Their arrows are sharp and all their bows drawn;
their horses’ hoofs are like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind. Its roar is like a lion’s;
it roars like young lions.
It growls and seizes the prey;
it carries it away, and no one rescues it. In that day it will roar against it like the roaring of the sea.
If one looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress;
even the light is darkened by its clouds.

Rights and attribution