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Text -- Isaiah 5:1-30 (NET)
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Strongs On/Off
Context
A Love Song Gone Sour
5:1 I will sing to my love – a song to my lover about his vineyard . My love had a vineyard on a fertile hill .
5:2 He built a hedge around it, removed its stones , and planted a vine . He built a tower in the middle of it, and constructed a winepress . He waited for it to produce edible grapes , but it produced sour ones instead.
5:3 So now , residents of Jerusalem , people of Judah , you decide between me and my vineyard !
5:4 What more can I do for my vineyard beyond what I have already done ? When I waited for it to produce edible grapes , why did it produce sour ones instead?
5:5 Now I will inform you what I am about to do to my vineyard : I will remove its hedge and turn it into pasture , I will break its wall and allow animals to graze there.
5:6 I will make it a wasteland ; no one will prune its vines or hoe its ground, and thorns and briers will grow there. I will order the clouds not to drop any rain on it.
5:7 Indeed Israel is the vineyard of the Lord who commands armies , the people of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight . He waited for justice , but look what he got– disobedience ! He waited for fairness , but look what he got– cries for help!
Disaster is Coming
5:8 Those who accumulate houses are as good as dead , those who also accumulate landed property until there is no land left , and you are the only landowners remaining within the land .
5:9 The Lord who commands armies told me this: “Many houses will certainly become desolate , large , impressive houses will have no one living in them.
5:10 Indeed , a large vineyard will produce just a few gallons , and enough seed to yield several bushels will produce less than a bushel .”
5:11 Those who get up early to drink beer are as good as dead , those who keep drinking long after dark until they are intoxicated with wine .
5:12 They have stringed instruments , tambourines , flutes , and wine at their parties . So they do not recognize what the Lord is doing , they do not perceive what he is bringing about.
5:13 Therefore my people will be deported because of their lack of understanding . Their leaders will have nothing to eat , their masses will have nothing to drink .
5:14 So Death will open up its throat , and open wide its mouth ; Zion’s dignitaries and masses will descend into it, including those who revel and celebrate within her.
5:15 Men will be humiliated , they will be brought low ; the proud will be brought low .
5:16 The Lord who commands armies will be exalted when he punishes, the sovereign God’s authority will be recognized when he judges .
5:17 Lambs will graze as if in their pastures , amid the ruins the rich sojourners will graze .
5:18 Those who pull evil along using cords of emptiness are as good as dead, who pull sin as with cart ropes .
5:19 They say , “Let him hurry , let him act quickly , so we can see ; let the plan of the Holy One of Israel take shape and come to pass, then we will know it!”
5:20 Those who call evil good and good evil are as good as dead , who turn darkness into light and light into darkness , who turn bitter into sweet and sweet into bitter .
5:21 Those who think they are wise are as good as dead , those who think they possess understanding .
5:22 Those who are champions at drinking wine are as good as dead , who display great courage when mixing strong drinks .
5:23 They pronounce the guilty innocent for a payoff , they ignore the just cause of the innocent .
5:24 Therefore , as flaming fire devours straw , and dry grass disintegrates in the flames , so their root will rot , and their flower will blow away like dust . For they have rejected the law of the Lord who commands armies , they have spurned the commands of the Holy One of Israel .
5:25 So the Lord is furious with his people ; he lifts his hand and strikes them. The mountains shake , and corpses lie like manure in the middle of the streets . Despite all this , his anger does not subside , and his hand is ready to strike again .
5:26 He lifts a signal flag for a distant nation , he whistles for it to come from the far regions of the earth . Look , they come quickly and swiftly .
5:27 None tire or stumble , they don’t stop to nap or sleep . They don’t loosen their belts , or unstrap their sandals to rest .
5:28 Their arrows are sharpened , and all their bows are prepared . The hooves of their horses are hard as flint , and their chariot wheels are like a windstorm .
5:29 Their roar is like a lion’s ; they roar like young lions . They growl and seize their prey ; they drag it away and no one can come to the rescue .
5:30 At that time they will growl over their prey, it will sound like sea waves crashing against rocks. One will look out over the land and see the darkness of disaster , clouds will turn the light into darkness .
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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Names, People and Places:
Dictionary Themes and Topics:
Sin |
Israel |
Isaiah |
Backsliders |
War |
Wicked |
Vine |
Presumption |
Judgment |
Punishment |
Parables |
Vineyard |
Unfaithfulness |
God |
Agriculture |
Wine |
PARABLE |
Music |
Fence |
Infidelity |
more
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> Isa 5:1; Isa 5:1; Isa 5:1; Isa 5:2; Isa 5:2; Isa 5:2; Isa 5:3; Isa 5:3; Isa 5:5; Isa 5:5; Isa 5:6; Isa 5:7; Isa 5:7; Isa 5:7; Isa 5:7; Isa 5:7; Isa 5:8; Isa 5:8; Isa 5:8; Isa 5:8; Isa 5:8; Isa 5:9; Isa 5:9; Isa 5:10; Isa 5:10; Isa 5:10; Isa 5:10; Isa 5:11; Isa 5:11; Isa 5:11; Isa 5:12; Isa 5:12; Isa 5:13; Isa 5:13; Isa 5:13; Isa 5:13; Isa 5:13; Isa 5:13; Isa 5:14; Isa 5:14; Isa 5:14; Isa 5:14; Isa 5:15; Isa 5:16; Isa 5:16; Isa 5:16; Isa 5:16; Isa 5:17; Isa 5:17; Isa 5:17; Isa 5:18; Isa 5:18; Isa 5:19; Isa 5:19; Isa 5:19; Isa 5:20; Isa 5:20; Isa 5:21; Isa 5:21; Isa 5:21; Isa 5:22; Isa 5:22; Isa 5:23; Isa 5:23; Isa 5:24; Isa 5:24; Isa 5:24; Isa 5:24; Isa 5:25; Isa 5:25; Isa 5:25; Isa 5:25; Isa 5:26; Isa 5:26; Isa 5:27; Isa 5:28; Isa 5:28; Isa 5:28; Isa 5:30; Isa 5:30; Isa 5:30; Isa 5:30; Isa 5:30
NET Notes: Isa 5:1 Heb “on a horn, a son of oil.” Apparently קֶרֶן (qeren, “horn”) here refers to the horn-shaped p...
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NET Notes: Isa 5:2 At this point the love song turns sour as the Lord himself breaks in and completes the story (see vv. 3-6). In the final line of v. 2 the love song pr...
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NET Notes: Isa 5:7 Heb “but, look, a cry for help.” The verb (“he waited”) does double duty in the parallelism. צְעָ...
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NET Notes: Isa 5:10 Heb “an ephah.” An ephah was a dry measure; there were ten ephahs in a homer. So this verse envisions major crop failure, where only one-t...
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NET Notes: Isa 5:11 This verse does not condemn drinking per se, but refers to the carousing lifestyle of the rich bureaucrats, made possible by wealth taken from the poo...
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NET Notes: Isa 5:12 Heb “the work of the Lord they do not look at, and the work of his hands they do not see.” God’s “work” can sometimes be...
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NET Notes: Isa 5:14 Heb “and her splendor and her masses will go down, and her tumult and the one who exults in her.” The antecedent of the four feminine sing...
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NET Notes: Isa 5:15 Heb “men are brought down, men are brought low, the eyes of pride are brought low.”
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NET Notes: Isa 5:17 The image completes the picture begun in v. 14 and adds to the irony. When judgment comes, Sheol will eat up the sinners who frequent the feasts; then...
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NET Notes: Isa 5:18 The Hebrew text reads literally, “Woe to those who pull evil with the ropes of emptiness, and, as [with] ropes of a cart, sin.” Though sev...
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NET Notes: Isa 5:20 In this verse the prophet denounces the perversion of moral standards. Darkness and bitterness are metaphors for evil; light and sweetness symbolize u...
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NET Notes: Isa 5:21 Verses 18-21 contain three “woe-sayings” that are purely accusatory and have no formal announcement of judgment attached (as in the “...
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NET Notes: Isa 5:23 In vv. 22-23 the prophet returns to themes with which he opened his speech. The accusatory elements of vv. 8, 11-12, 18-23 are arranged in a chiastic ...
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NET Notes: Isa 5:26 Heb “he.” Singular forms are used throughout vv. 26-30 to describe this nation, but for stylistic reasons the translation uses the plural ...
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NET Notes: Isa 5:27 Heb “and the belt on his waist is not opened, and the thong of his sandals is not torn in two.”
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NET Notes: Isa 5:28 They are like a windstorm in their swift movement and in the way they kick up dust.
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