Isaiah 5:10

10 For ten fields of vines will only give one measure of wine, and a great amount of seed will only give a small measure of grain.

Isaiah 5:10 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 5:10

Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath
They shall get nothing by laying field to field, for their fields shall be barren and unfruitful; though Jarchi and Kimchi take this to be a reason why their houses should be desolate, and without inhabitants, because there would be a famine, rendering the words, "for ten acres", &c. The Targum makes this barrenness to be the punishment of their sin, in not paying tithes; paraphrasing the words thus,

``for because of the sin of not giving tithes, the place of ten acres of vineyard shall produce one bath.''

The word (ydmu) signifies "yokes", and is used of yokes of oxen; hence the Septuagint and Arabic versions render the words thus, "for where ten yoke of oxen work", or "plough, it shall make one flagon"; and so Kimchi explains them, the place in a vineyard, which ten yoke of oxen plough in one day, shall yield no more wine than one bath. A bath is a measure for liquids; according to Godwin ^F1, it held four gallons and a half; a small quantity indeed, to be produced out of ten acres of ground; an acre, according to our English measure, being a quantity of land containing four square roods, or one hundred sixty square poles or perches: and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah:
that is, as much seed as an "homer" would hold, which was a dry measure, and which, according to the above writer, contained five bushels and five gallons, should yield only an ephah, which was the tenth part of an homer, ( Ezekiel 45:11 ) so that it would only produce a tenth part of the seed sown.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Moses and Aaron, l. 6. c. 9.

Isaiah 5:10 In-Context

8 Cursed are those who are joining house to house, and putting field to field, till there is no more living-space for any but themselves in all the land!

9 The Lord of armies has said to me secretly, Truly, numbers of great and fair houses will be waste, with no one living in them.

10 For ten fields of vines will only give one measure of wine, and a great amount of seed will only give a small measure of grain.

11 Cursed are those who get up early in the morning to give themselves up to strong drink; who keep on drinking far into the night till they are heated with wine!

12 And corded instruments and wind-instruments and wine are in their feasts: but they give no thought to the work of the Lord, and they are not interested in what his hands are doing.