Isaiah 5:1-7

1 I shall sing for my darling the song of mine uncle's son, of his vineyard. A vinery was made to my darling, in the horn, that is, in an high place and excellent, in the son of oil, that is, in a place full of olives, of whose fruit is wrung out oil. (I shall sing for my darling the song of my darling's vineyard. A vineyard was made for my darling in the horn, that is, in a high and an excellent place, in the son of oil, that is, in a place full of olives, where oil is wrung out of the fruit.)
2 And he hedged it, and chose (the) stones thereof, and planted a chosen vinery; and he builded a tower in the midst thereof, and reared (up) a (wine)press therein; and he abode, that it should make grapes, and it made wild grapes (and he waited, for it to yield sweet new grapes, but only sour wild grapes grew there).
3 Now therefore, ye dwellers of Jerusalem, and ye men of Judah, deem between me and my vinery. (And so now, ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and ye people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.)
4 What is it that I ought to do more to my vinery, and I did not to it? whether that I abode, that it should make grapes, and it made wild grapes? (What more could I have done for my vineyard, that I did not do for it? but why, when I waited for it to yield sweet grapes, did it instead bring forth only sour wild grapes?)
5 And now I shall show to you, what I shall do to my vinery. I shall take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be into ravishing (and it shall be eaten up); I shall cast down the wall thereof, and it shall be into defouling;
6 and I shall set it deserted, either forsaken. It shall not be cut, and it shall not be digged, and briars and thorns shall grow upon it; and I shall command to [the] clouds, that they rain not rain on it.
7 Forsooth the vinery of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah be the delightable burgeoning of him. I abode, that it shall make doom, and lo! wickedness; and that it should do rightfulness, and lo! cry. (And the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah be his delightful burgeoning. I waited for them to yield justice, but lo! wickedness; and that they should do righteousness, or do what is right, but lo! cries of distress/cries for justice.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.