Isaiah 5:8

8 How terrible it will be for you who add more houses to your houses and more fields to your fields until there is no room left for other people. Then you are left alone in the land.

Isaiah 5:8 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 5:8

Woe unto them that join house to house
Or "O ye that join"; for, as Aben Ezra observes, it signifies calling, as in ( Isaiah 55:1 ) though Jarchi takes it to be expressive of crying and groaning, on account of future punishments; and he observes, that as there are twenty two blessings pronounced in the book of Psalms, on those that keep the law, so there are twenty two woes pronounced by Isaiah upon the wicked: [that] lay field to field;
the sin of covetousness is exposed and condemned in these words; not that it is unlawful in itself for a man that has a house or field of his own to purchase another that is next unto it; but when he is insatiable, and not content with his houses and lands, but is always coveting more, this is his sin, and especially if he seeks to get them by fraud or force: till [there] be no place;
for others to dwell in and possess; and so the Targum,

``and say, until we possess every place;''

or "unto the end of the place" ^F24, city, or field; till they have got all the houses in the town or city, and all the pieces of ground in the field, in their own possession: that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth,
or land; that is, of Judea; wholly inhabit it themselves, and have the sole power and jurisdiction over it. It is in the Hebrew text ^F25 "that ye may be placed"; the Targum is,

``and they think they shall dwell alone in the midst of the land.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 (Mwqm opa de) "usque ad terminum loci", V. L.
F25 (Mtbvwhw) "constituamini", Vatablus, Forerius, Montanus; "colloeemini", Calvin.

Isaiah 5:8 In-Context

6 I will ruin my field. It will not be trimmed or hoed, and weeds and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it."

7 The vineyard belonging to the Lord All-Powerful is the nation of Israel; the garden that he loves is the people of Judah. He looked for justice, but there was only killing. He hoped for right living, but there were only cries of pain.

8 How terrible it will be for you who add more houses to your houses and more fields to your fields until there is no room left for other people. Then you are left alone in the land.

9 The Lord All-Powerful said this to me: "The fine houses will be destroyed; the large and beautiful houses will be left empty.

10 At that time a ten-acre vineyard will make only six gallons of wine, and ten bushels of seed will grow only half a bushel of grain."