The Prophets · Old Testament
Isaiah 5
Isaiah 5: the song of the vineyard and six woes
General context
The speaker sings a song for his wellbeloved about a vineyard on a fruitful hill. The owner fenced it, cleared the stones, planted the choicest vine, built a tower and made a winepress, yet it brought forth wild grapes. The inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah are asked to judge between the owner and the vineyard, and the owner announces he will remove its hedge, break its wall, leave it unpruned to briers and thorns, and command the clouds to give no rain. The song is then explained: the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah, and he looked for judgment but found oppression. Six woes follow, against those who join house to house and field to field, those who rise early for strong drink and feast with harp and viol while ignoring the Lord's work, those who draw iniquity with cart ropes and dare the Holy One to hasten his work, those who call evil good and good evil, those wise in their own eyes, and those mighty to drink wine who justify the wicked for reward. Captivity, hunger, thirst and an enlarged hell are named as consequences, with the lofty humbled and the Lord exalted in judgment. Fire consuming stubble pictures their rot because they have despised the word of the Holy One. The Lord's anger has already struck, with carcases torn in the streets, and his hand is stretched out still. He lifts an ensign to distant nations who come swiftly, unwearied, with sharp arrows, flint hoofs and whirlwind wheels, roaring like lions and carrying off prey, until the land shows only darkness and sorrow.
Cited passages: Isaiah 5:1, Isaiah 5:2, Isaiah 5:3, Isaiah 5:5, Isaiah 5:6, Isaiah 5:7, Isaiah 5:8, Isaiah 5:11, Isaiah 5:12, Isaiah 5:13, Isaiah 5:14, Isaiah 5:16, Isaiah 5:18, Isaiah 5:19, Isaiah 5:20, Isaiah 5:21, Isaiah 5:22, Isaiah 5:23, Isaiah 5:24, Isaiah 5:25, Isaiah 5:26, Isaiah 5:28, Isaiah 5:29, Isaiah 5:30
Isaiah 5 (KJV)
1Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
2And 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.
3And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
4What 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?
5And 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:
6And 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.
7For 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.
8Woe 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!
9In mine ears said the Lord of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
10Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.
11Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!
12And 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.
13Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.
14Therefore 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.
15And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:
16But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.
17Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
18Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
19That 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!
20Woe 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!
21Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
22Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
23Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
24Therefore 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.
25Therefore 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.
26And 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:
27None 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:
28Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:
29Their 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.
30And 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.
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Historical context
The song begins in the singer's own voice about his wellbeloved, shifts to the owner speaking in the first person from the third verse, and is decoded in the seventh verse: the vineyard is the house of Israel and the men of Judah, so both names apply to the one plant. The hearers are the inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah. No king or year is given, and the chapter carries no heading. The captivity in the thirteenth verse is stated as already happened, my people are gone into captivity, and the twenty-fifth verse says the Lord hath smitten them with carcases in the streets; the text does not say which event either refers to. The nations summoned from far and from the end of the earth are not named; the description of their arrows, horses and wheels does not identify them, and the reader should not supply a name the chapter withholds. A single reported saying appears in the nineteenth verse, where the accused challenge the Holy One of Israel to hasten his work. The prophet reports hearing the Lord directly, In mine ears said the Lord of hosts. The refrain his hand is stretched out still recurs in chapter nine. The parable of a householder who planted a vineyard, hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower is later told in Matthew's gospel using the same features.
Cited passages: Isaiah 5:1, Isaiah 5:4, Isaiah 5:7, Isaiah 5:3, Isaiah 5:13, Isaiah 5:25, Isaiah 5:26, Isaiah 5:19, Isaiah 5:9, Isaiah 9:12, Matthew 21:33
Literary context
The chapter opens as a love song and turns into a verdict. The owner's care is listed in five actions before the single disappointment, wild grapes, and the hearers are invited to judge before they learn they are the vineyard. The explanation in the seventh verse turns on two contrasts: judgment against oppression, righteousness against a cry. Six woes follow, each beginning Woe unto them, and their subjects run from land-grabbing through drink and feasting to the reversal of moral words, light for darkness and bitter for sweet. Therefore introduces each consequence, captivity, an opened hell, fire in stubble, so accusation and result alternate. The fruit that failed in the song returns as root and blossom that rot in the twenty-fourth verse. The last section leaves the woes for a picture of an unnamed army in relentless motion, every clause a denial of weariness or delay, and closes with the light darkened, which chapter nine will answer with a people that walked in darkness seeing a great light. The closing refrain, his hand is stretched out still, is picked up in the series of stanzas in chapter nine, and the vineyard charge already appeared in chapter three.
Cited passages: Isaiah 5:2, Isaiah 5:3, Isaiah 5:7, Isaiah 5:8, Isaiah 5:20, Isaiah 5:13, Isaiah 5:14, Isaiah 5:24, Isaiah 5:27, Isaiah 5:30, Isaiah 9:2, Isaiah 5:25, Isaiah 3:14
Key moments
- A song for the wellbeloved (Isaiah 5:1). The speaker sings of a vineyard planted on a fruitful hill.
- Wild grapes (Isaiah 5:2). After every care, the vineyard yields wild grapes instead of grapes.
- Judge between me and my vineyard (Isaiah 5:3). Jerusalem and Judah are asked to judge the case.
- The vineyard named (Isaiah 5:7). The vineyard is the house of Israel and the men of Judah, and oppression was found instead of judgment.
- Evil called good (Isaiah 5:20). A woe falls on those who swap good and evil, light and darkness, bitter and sweet.
- His hand stretched out still (Isaiah 5:25). The Lord has already struck his people and his anger is not turned away.
- An ensign to distant nations (Isaiah 5:26). The Lord summons a swift, unwearied army from the end of the earth.
For reflection
The owner asks, What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? The hearers are asked to judge before they are told they are the vineyard. How does that order change the way the question lands?
