Isaiah 5:6

6 And I will make it a wasteland; it shall not be pruned and hoed, and it shall be overgrown [with] briers and thornbushes. And concerning the clouds, I will command {them not to send} rain down upon it.

Isaiah 5:6 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 5:6

And I will lay it waste
Or "desolate", as it was by the Romans: the whole land of Judea, as well as the city and temple ( Matthew 23:38 ) , it shall not be pruned nor digged;
as vineyards are, to make them more fruitful; but no care shall be taken of it, no means made use of to cultivate it, all being ineffectual: but there shall come up briers and thorns;
sons of Belial, wicked and ungodly men; immoralities, errors, heresies, contentions, quarrels, &c. which abounded about the time of Jerusalem's destruction, and before: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon them;
by "the clouds" are meant the apostles of Christ, who were full of the doctrines of grace, from whom they dropped as rain upon the mown grass; these, when the Jews contradicted and blasphemed the Gospel, and judged themselves unworthy of it, were commanded by Christ to turn from them, and go to the Gentiles, ( Acts 13:45-47 ) ( Zechariah 14:17 Zechariah 14:18 ) ( Revelation 11:6 ) agreeably to this sense is the Targum,

``and I will command the prophets, that they do not prophesy upon them prophecy.''

Isaiah 5:6 In-Context

4 What more [was there] to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why did I hope for [it] to yield grapes, and it yielded wild grapes?

5 And now let me tell you what I myself am about to do to my vineyard. [I will] remove its hedge, and it shall become a devastation. [I will] break down its wall, and it shall become a trampling.

6 And I will make it a wasteland; it shall not be pruned and hoed, and it shall be overgrown [with] briers and thornbushes. And concerning the clouds, I will command {them not to send} rain down upon it.

7 For the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts [is] the house of Israel, and the man of Judah [is] the plantation of his delight. [And] he waited for justice, but look! Bloodshed! For righteousness, but look! A cry of distress!

8 Ah! Those who {join} house with house, they join field together with field until {there is no place} and you are caused to dwell alone in the midst of the land.

Footnotes

• [a] Hebrew "brier"
• [b] Hebrew "thornbush"
• [c] Literally "from sending"