Isaiah 5:1-7

A Love Song Gone Sour

5:1 I ¹  will sing to my love –

a song to my lover about his vineyard. ² 

My love had a vineyard

on a fertile hill. ³ 

5:2 He built a hedge around it, ⁴  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 

5:3 So now, residents of Jerusalem, ⁶ 

people ⁷  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, ⁸ 

I will break its wall and allow animals to graze there. ⁹ 

5:6 I will make it a wasteland;

no one will prune its vines or hoe its ground, ¹⁰ 

and thorns and briers will grow there.

I will order the clouds

not to drop any rain on it.

5:7 Indeed ¹¹  Israel ¹²  is the vineyard of the Lord who commands armies,

the people ¹³  of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight.

He waited for justice, but look what he got – disobedience! ¹⁴ 

He waited for fairness, but look what he got – cries for help! ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 27:2-3

27:2 When that time comes, ¹⁶ 

sing about a delightful vineyard! ¹⁷ 

27:3 I, the Lord, protect it; ¹⁸ 

I water it regularly. ¹⁹ 

I guard it night and day,

so no one can harm it. ²⁰ 

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? ²¹ 

Ezekiel 15:6

15:6 “Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Like the wood of the vine is among the trees of the forest which I have provided as fuel for the fire – so I will provide the residents of Jerusalem ²²  as fuel. ²³ 

Ezekiel 17:6

17:6 It sprouted and became a vine,

spreading low to the ground; ²⁴ 

its branches turning toward him, ²⁵  its roots were under itself. ²⁶ 

So it became a vine; it produced shoots and sent out branches.

Ezekiel 19:10

19:10 “‘Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, ²⁷  planted by water.

It was fruitful and full of branches because it was well-watered.

Matthew 21:33-41

The Parable of the Tenants

21:33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner ²⁸  who planted a vineyard. ²⁹  He put a fence around it, dug a pit for its winepress, and built a watchtower. Then ³⁰  he leased it to tenant farmers ³¹  and went on a journey. 21:34 When the harvest time was near, he sent his slaves ³²  to the tenants to collect his portion of the crop. ³³  21:35 But the tenants seized his slaves, beat one, ³⁴  killed another, and stoned another. 21:36 Again he sent other slaves, more than the first, and they treated them the same way. 21:37 Finally he sent his son to them, ³⁵  saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 21:38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and get his inheritance!’ 21:39 So ³⁶  they seized him, ³⁷  threw him out of the vineyard, ³⁸  and killed him. 21:40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 21:41 They said to him, “He will utterly destroy those evil men! Then he will lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his portion at the harvest.”

John 15:1-8

The Vine and the Branches

15:1 “I am the true vine ³⁹  and my Father is the gardener. ⁴⁰  15:2 He takes away ⁴¹  every branch that does not bear ⁴²  fruit in me. He ⁴³  prunes ⁴⁴  every branch that bears ⁴⁵  fruit so that it will bear more fruit. 15:3 You are clean already ⁴⁶  because of the word that I have spoken to you. 15:4 Remain ⁴⁷  in me, and I will remain in you. ⁴⁸  Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, ⁴⁹  unless it remains ⁵⁰  in ⁵¹  the vine, so neither can you unless you remain ⁵²  in me.

15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains ⁵³  in me – and I in him – bears ⁵⁴  much fruit, ⁵⁵  because apart from me you can accomplish ⁵⁶  nothing. 15:6 If anyone does not remain ⁵⁷  in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, ⁵⁸  and are burned up. ⁵⁹  15:7 If you remain ⁶⁰  in me and my words remain ⁶¹  in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you. ⁶²  15:8 My Father is honored ⁶³  by this, that ⁶⁴  you bear ⁶⁵  much fruit and show that you are ⁶⁶  my disciples.

[5:1]  ¹ tn It is uncertain who is speaking here. Possibly the prophet, taking the role of best man, composes a love song for his friend on the occasion of his wedding. If so, יָדִיד (yadid) should be translated “my friend.” The present translation assumes that Israel is singing to the Lord. The word דוֹד (dod, “lover”) used in the second line is frequently used by the woman in the Song of Solomon to describe her lover.

[5:1]  ² sn Israel, viewing herself as the Lord’s lover, refers to herself as his vineyard. The metaphor has sexual connotations, for it pictures her capacity to satisfy his appetite and to produce children. See Song 8:12.

[5:1]  ³ tn Heb “on a horn, a son of oil.” Apparently קֶרֶן (qeren, “horn”) here refers to the horn-shaped peak of a hill (BDB 902 s.v.) or to a mountain spur, i.e., a ridge that extends laterally from a mountain (HALOT 1145 s.v. קֶרֶן; H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:180). The expression “son of oil” pictures this hill as one capable of producing olive trees. Isaiah’s choice of קֶרֶן, a rare word for hill, may have been driven by paronomastic concerns, i.e., because קֶרֶן sounds like כֶּרֶם (kerem, “vineyard”).

[5:2]  ⁴ tn Or, “dug it up” (so NIV); KJV “fenced it.’ See HALOT 810 s.v. עזק.

[5:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “wild grapes,” i.e., sour ones (also in v. 4).

[5:3]  ⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[5:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “men,” but in a generic sense.

[5:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “and it will become [a place for] grazing.” בָּעַר (ba’ar, “grazing”) is a homonym of the more often used verb “to burn.”

[5:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “and it will become a trampled place” (NASB “trampled ground”).

[5:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “it will not be pruned or hoed” (so NASB); ASV and NRSV both similar.

[5:7]  ¹¹ tn Or “For” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[5:7]  ¹² tn Heb “the house of Israel” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[5:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “men,” but in a generic sense.

[5:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “but, look, disobedience.” The precise meaning of מִשְׂפָּח (mishpakh), which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain. Some have suggested a meaning “bloodshed.” The term is obviously chosen for its wordplay value; it sounds very much like מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat, “justice”). The sound play draws attention to the point being made; the people have not met the Lord’s expectations.

[5:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “but, look, a cry for help.” The verb (“he waited”) does double duty in the parallelism. צְעָקָה (tsa’qah) refers to the cries for help made by the oppressed. It sounds very much like צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “fairness”). The sound play draws attention to the point being made; the people have not met the Lord’s expectations.

[27:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV).

[27:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “vineyard of delight,” or “vineyard of beauty.” Many medieval mss read כֶּרֶם חֶמֶר (kerem khemer, “vineyard of wine”), i.e., “a productive vineyard.”

[27:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “her.” Apparently “vineyard” is the antecedent, though normally this noun is understood as masculine (see Lev 25:3, however).

[27:3]  ¹⁹ tn Or perhaps, “constantly.” Heb “by moments.”

[27:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “lest [someone] visit [harm] upon it, night and day I guard it.”

[2:21]  ²¹ 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.

[15:6]  ²² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[15:6]  ²³ tn The words “as fuel” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

[17:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “short of stature.”

[17:6]  ²⁵ tn That is, the eagle.

[17:6]  ²⁶ tn Or “him,” i.e., the eagle.

[19:10]  ²⁷ tc The Hebrew text reads “in your blood,” but most emend to “in your vineyard,” assuming a ב-כ (beth-kaph) confusion. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:284. Another attractive emendation assumes a faulty word division and yields the reading “like a vine full of tendrils, which/because…”; see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:607, n. 68.

[21:33]  ²⁸ tn The term here refers to the owner and manager of a household.

[21:33]  ²⁹ sn The vineyard is a figure for Israel in the OT (Isa 5:1-7). The nation and its leaders are the tenants, so the vineyard here may well refer to the promise that resides within the nation. The imagery is like that in Rom 11:11-24.

[21:33]  ³⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[21:33]  ³¹ sn The leasing of land to tenant farmers was common in this period.

[21:34]  ³² tn See the note on the word “slave” in 8:9.

[21:34]  ³³ tn Grk “to collect his fruits.”

[21:35]  ³⁴ sn The image of the tenants mistreating the owner’s slaves pictures the nation’s rejection of the prophets and their message.

[21:37]  ³⁵ sn The owner’s decision to send his son represents God sending Jesus.

[21:39]  ³⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the tenants’ decision to kill the son in v. 38.

[21:39]  ³⁷ tn Grk “seizing him.” The participle λαβόντες (labontes) has been translated as attendant circumstance.

[21:39]  ³⁸ sn Throwing the heir out of the vineyard pictures Jesus’ death outside of Jerusalem.

[15:1]  ³⁹ sn I am the true vine. There are numerous OT passages which refer to Israel as a vine: Ps 80:8-16, Isa 5:1-7, Jer 2:21, Ezek 15:1-8, 17:5-10, 19:10-14, and Hos 10:1. The vine became symbolic of Israel, and even appeared on some coins issued by the Maccabees. The OT passages which use this symbol appear to regard Israel as faithless to Yahweh (typically rendered as “Lord” in the OT) and/or the object of severe punishment. Ezek 15:1-8 in particular talks about the worthlessness of wood from a vine (in relation to disobedient Judah). A branch cut from a vine is worthless except to be burned as fuel. This fits more with the statements about the disciples (John 15:6) than with Jesus’ description of himself as the vine. Ezek 17:5-10 contains vine imagery which refers to a king of the house of David, Zedekiah, who was set up as king in Judah by Nebuchadnezzar. Zedekiah allied himself to Egypt and broke his covenant with Nebuchadnezzar (and therefore also with God), which would ultimately result in his downfall (17:20-21). Ezek 17:22-24 then describes the planting of a cedar sprig which grows into a lofty tree, a figurative description of Messiah. But it is significant that Messiah himself is not described in Ezek 17 as a vine, but as a cedar tree. The vine imagery here applies to Zedekiah’s disobedience. Jesus’ description of himself as the true vine in John 15:1 ff. is to be seen against this background, but it differs significantly from the imagery surveyed above. It represents new imagery which differs significantly from OT concepts; it appears to be original with Jesus. The imagery of the vine underscores the importance of fruitfulness in the Christian life and the truth that this results not from human achievement, but from one’s position in Christ. Jesus is not just giving some comforting advice, but portraying to the disciples the difficult path of faithful service. To some degree the figure is similar to the head-body metaphor used by Paul, with Christ as head and believers as members of the body. Both metaphors bring out the vital and necessary connection which exists between Christ and believers.

[15:1]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “the farmer.”

[15:2]  ⁴¹ tn Or “He cuts off.”

[15:2]  ⁴² tn Or “does not yield.”

[15:2]  ⁴³ tn Grk “And he”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been omitted in the translation in keeping with the tendency in contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[15:2]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “trims”; Grk “cleanses” (a wordplay with “clean” in v. 3). Καθαίρει (kaqairei) is not the word one would have expected here, but it provides the transition from the vine imagery to the disciples – there is a wordplay (not reproducible in English) between αἴρει (airei) and καθαίρει in this verse. While the purpose of the Father in cleansing his people is clear, the precise means by which he does so is not immediately obvious. This will become clearer, however, in the following verse.

[15:2]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “that yields.”

[15:3]  ⁴⁶ sn The phrase you are clean already occurs elsewhere in the Gospel of John only at the washing of the disciples’ feet in 13:10, where Jesus had used it of the disciples being cleansed from sin. This further confirms the proposed understanding of John 15:2 and 15:6 since Judas was specifically excluded from this statement (but not all of you).

[15:4]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “Reside.”

[15:4]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “and I in you.” The verb has been repeated for clarity and to conform to contemporary English style, which typically allows fewer ellipses (omitted or understood words) than Greek.

[15:4]  ⁴⁹ sn The branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it remains connected to the vine, from which its life and sustenance flows. As far as the disciples were concerned, they would produce no fruit from themselves if they did not remain in their relationship to Jesus, because the eternal life which a disciple must possess in order to bear fruit originates with Jesus; he is the source of all life and productivity for the disciple.

[15:4]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “resides.”

[15:4]  ⁵¹ tn While it would be more natural to say “on the vine” (so NAB), the English preposition “in” has been retained here to emphasize the parallelism with the following clause “unless you remain in me.” To speak of remaining “in” a person is not natural English either, but is nevertheless a biblical concept (cf. “in Christ” in Eph 1:3, 4, 6, 7, 11).

[15:4]  ⁵² tn Or “you reside.”

[15:5]  ⁵³ tn Or “resides.”

[15:5]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “yields.”

[15:5]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “in him, this one bears much fruit.” The pronoun “this one” has been omitted from the translation because it is redundant according to contemporary English style.

[15:5]  ⁵⁶ tn Or “do.”

[15:6]  ⁵⁷ tn Or “reside.”

[15:6]  ⁵⁸ sn Such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire. The author does not tell who it is who does the gathering and throwing into the fire. Although some claim that realized eschatology is so prevalent in the Fourth Gospel that no references to final eschatology appear at all, the fate of these branches seems to point to the opposite. The imagery is almost certainly that of eschatological judgment, and recalls some of the OT vine imagery which involves divine rejection and judgment of disobedient Israel (Ezek 15:4-6, 19:12).

[15:6]  ⁵⁹ tn Grk “they gather them up and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”

[15:7]  ⁶⁰ tn Or “reside.”

[15:7]  ⁶¹ tn Or “reside.”

[15:7]  ⁶² sn Once again Jesus promises the disciples ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you. This recalls 14:13-14, where the disciples were promised that if they asked anything in Jesus’ name it would be done for them. The two thoughts are really quite similar, since here it is conditioned on the disciples’ remaining in Jesus and his words remaining in them. The first phrase relates to the genuineness of their relationship with Jesus. The second phrase relates to their obedience. When both of these qualifications are met, the disciples would in fact be asking in Jesus’ name and therefore according to his will.

[15:8]  ⁶³ tn Grk “glorified.”

[15:8]  ⁶⁴ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause is best taken as substantival in apposition to ἐν τούτῳ (en toutw) at the beginning of the verse. The Father is glorified when the disciples bring forth abundant fruit. Just as Jesus has done the works which he has seen his Father doing (5:19-29) so also will his disciples.

[15:8]  ⁶⁵ tn Or “yield.”

[15:8]  ⁶⁶ tc Most mss (א A Ψ Ë¹³ 33 Ï) read the future indicative γενήσεσθε (genhsesqe; perhaps best rendered as “[and show that] you will become”), while some early and good witnesses (Ì^66vid B D L Θ 0250 1 565 al) have the aorist subjunctive γένησθε (genhsqe; “[and show that] you are”). The original reading is difficult to determine because the external evidence is fairly evenly divided. On the basis of the external evidence alone the first reading has some credibility because of א and 33, but it is not enough to overthrow the Alexandrian and Western witnesses for the aorist. Some who accept the future indicative see a consecutive (or resultative) sequence between φέρητε (ferhte) in the ἵνα (Jina) clause and γενήσεσθε, so that the disciples’ bearing much fruit results in their becoming disciples. This alleviates the problem of reading a future indicative within a ἵνα clause (a grammatical solecism that is virtually unattested in Attic Greek), although such infrequently occurs in the NT, particularly in the Apocalypse (cf. Gal 2:4; Rev 3:9; 6:4, 11; 8:3; 9:4, 5, 20; 13:12; 14:13; 22:14; even here, however, the Byzantine mss, with א occasionally by their side, almost always change the future indicative to an aorist subjunctive). It seems more likely, however, that the second verb (regardless of whether it is read as aorist or future) is to be understood as coordinate in meaning with the previous verb φέρητε (So M. Zerwick, Biblical Greek §342). Thus the two actions are really one and the same: Bearing fruit and being Jesus’ disciple are not two different actions, but a single action. The first is the outward sign or proof of the second – in bearing fruit the disciples show themselves to be disciples indeed (cf. 15:5). Thus the translation followed here is, “that you bear much fruit and show that you are my disciples.” As far as the textual reading is concerned, it appears somewhat preferable to accept the aorist subjunctive reading (γένησθε) on the basis of better external testimony.