Isaiah 5:10

10 For why ten acres of vines shall make one pottle, and thirty bushels of seed shall make three bushels.

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 Woe to you that join house to house, and couple field to field, till to the end of (the) place. Whether ye alone shall dwell in the midst of the land? (Woe to you who join house to house, and couple field to field, until the end of the place. Shall ye live alone in the midst of the land, with no room for anyone else?)

9 These things be in the ears of me, (yea,) the Lord of hosts (hath said); If many houses be not forsaken, great and fair, without dweller (If many houses be not abandoned, yea, large and beautiful, but with no inhabitants), believe ye not to me.

10 For why ten acres of vines shall make one pottle, and thirty bushels of seed shall make three bushels.

11 Woe to you that rise altogether early to follow drunkenness, and to drink till to eventide, that ye burn with wine. (Woe to you who rise up early to follow drunkenness, and drink until the evening, so that ye burn with wine.)

12 Harp, and gittern, and tympan, and pipe, and wine be in your feasts; and ye behold not the work of the Lord, neither ye behold the works of his hands. (Harp, and lute, and drum, or tambourine, and pipe, and wine be at your feasts; but ye do not see the work of the Lord, nor do ye see the works of his hands.)