Deuteronomy 32:32-33

32:32 For their vine is from the stock ¹  of Sodom,

and from the fields of Gomorrah. ² 

Their grapes contain venom,

their clusters of grapes are bitter.

32:33 Their wine is snakes’ poison,

the deadly venom of cobras.

Isaiah 1:21-22

Purifying Judgment

1:21 How tragic that the once-faithful city

has become a prostitute! ³ 

She was once a center of ⁴  justice,

fairness resided in her,

but now only murderers. ⁵ 

1:22 Your ⁶  silver has become scum, ⁷ 

your beer is diluted with water. ⁸ 

Jeremiah 2:21

2:21 I planted you in the land

like a special vine of the very best stock.

Why in the world have you turned into something like a wild vine

that produces rotten, foul-smelling grapes? ⁹ 

[32:32]  ¹ tn Heb “vine.”

[32:32]  ² sn Sodom…Gomorrah. The term “vine” is a reference to the pagan deities which, the passage says, find their ultimate source in Sodom and Gomorrah, that is, in the soil of perversion exemplified by these places (cf. Gen 18:20; 19:4-28; Isa 1:10; 3:9; Jer 23:14; Lam 4:6; Ezek 16:44-52; Matt 10:15; 11:23-24).

[1:21]  ³ tn Heb “How she has become a prostitute, the faithful city!” The exclamatory אֵיכָה (’ekhah, “how!”) is used several times as the beginning of a lament (see Lam 1:1; 2;1; 4:1-2). Unlike a number of other OT passages that link references to Israel’s harlotry to idolatry, Isaiah here makes the connection with social and moral violations.

[1:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “filled with.”

[1:21]  ⁵ tn Or “assassins.” This refers to the oppressive rich and/or their henchmen. R. Ortlund (Whoredom, 78) posits that it serves as a synecdoche for all varieties of criminals, the worst being mentioned to imply all lesser ones. Since Isaiah often addressed his strongest rebuke to the rulers and leaders of Israel, he may have in mind the officials who bore the responsibility to uphold justice and righteousness.

[1:22]  ⁶ tn The pronoun is feminine singular; personified Jerusalem (see v. 21) is addressed.

[1:22]  ⁷ tn Or “dross.” The word refers to the scum or impurites floating on the top of melted metal.

[1:22]  ⁸ sn The metaphors of silver becoming impure and beer being watered down picture the moral and ethical degeneration that had occurred in Jerusalem.

[2:21]  ⁹ tc Heb “I planted you as a choice vine, all of it true seed. How then have you turned into a putrid thing to me, a strange [or wild] vine.” The question expresses surprise and consternation. The translation is based on a redivision of the Hebrew words סוּרֵי הַגֶּפֶן (sure haggefen) into סוֹרִיָּה גֶּפֶן (soriyyah gefen) and the recognition of a hapax legomenon סוֹרִיָּה (soriyyah) meaning “putrid, stinking thing.” See HALOT 707 s.v. סוֹרִי.