Isaiah 5:9

9 I heard the LORD who rules over all announce a message. He said, "You can be sure that the great houses will become empty. The fine homes will be left with no one living in them.

Isaiah 5:9 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 5:9

In mine ears, [said] the Lord of hosts
This may be understood either of the ears of the Lord of hosts, into which came the cry of the sins of covetousness and ambition before mentioned; these were taken notice of by the Lord, and he was determined to punish them; or of the ears of the prophet, in whose hearing the Lord said what follows: so the Targum,

``the prophet said, with mine ears I have heard, when this was decreed from before the Lord of hosts:''

of a truth many houses shall be desolate;
or "great" ones ^F26; such as the houses of the king, of the princes, and nobles, judges, counsellors, and great men of the earth; not only the house of God, the temple, but a multitude of houses in Jerusalem and elsewhere; which was true not only at the taking of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, but at the destruction of it by the Romans, to which this prophecy belongs, ( Matthew 23:38 ) the words are a strong asseveration, and in the form of an oath, as Jarchi and Kimchi observe; (al Ma) , "if not"; if many houses are not left desolate, let it be so or so, I swear they shall: [even] great and fair, without inhabitants:
houses of large and beautiful building shall be laid in such a ruinous condition, that they will not be fit for any to dwell in, nor shall any dwell in them: and this is the judgment upon them for joining house to house; that for laying field to field follows.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 (Mybr Mytb) "domus magnificae, sive sumptuosae", Vatablus.

Isaiah 5:9 In-Context

7 The vineyard of the LORD who rules over all is the nation of Israel. The people of Judah are the garden he takes delight in. He kept looking for them to do what is fair. But all he saw was blood being spilled. He kept looking for them to do what is right. But all he heard were cries of suffering.

8 How terrible it will be for you who get too many houses! How terrible for you who get too many fields! Finally there won't be any space left in the land. Then you will live all alone.

9 I heard the LORD who rules over all announce a message. He said, "You can be sure that the great houses will become empty. The fine homes will be left with no one living in them.

10 A ten-acre vineyard will produce only six gallons of wine. Six bushels of seeds will produce less than a bushel of grain."

11 How terrible it will be for those who get up early in the morning to start drinking! How terrible for those who stay up late at night until they are drunk with wine!