Isaiah 5:3

3 And now, you people of Jerusalem and you men of Judah, be the judges between me and my vine-garden.

Isaiah 5:3 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 5:3

And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah
All and everyone of them, who were parties concerned in this matter, and are designed by the vineyard, for whom so much had been done, and so little fruit brought forth by them, or rather so much bad fruit: judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard;
between God and themselves; they are made judges in their own cause; the case was so clear and evident, that God is as it were willing the affair should be decided by their own judgment and verdict: so the Targum,

``judge now judgment between me and my people.''

Isaiah 5:3 In-Context

1 Let me make a song about my loved one, a song of love for his vine-garden. My loved one had a vine-garden on a fertile hill:

2 And after working the earth of it with a spade, he took away its stones, and put in it a very special vine; and he put up a watchtower in the middle of it, hollowing out in the rock a place for the grape-crushing; and he was hoping that it would give the best grapes, but it gave common grapes.

3 And now, you people of Jerusalem and you men of Judah, be the judges between me and my vine-garden.

4 Is there anything which might have been done for my vine-garden which I have not done? why then, when I was hoping for the best grapes did it give me common grapes?

5 And now, this is what I will do to my vine-garden: I will take away the circle of thorns round it, and it will be burned up; its wall will be broken down and the beasts of the field will go through it;