Isaiah 5:10

5:10 Indeed, a large vineyard ¹  will produce just a few gallons, ² 

and enough seed to yield several bushels ³  will produce less than a bushel.” ⁴ 

Isaiah 49:21

49:21 Then you will think to yourself, ⁵ 

‘Who bore these children for me?

I was bereaved and barren,

dismissed and divorced. ⁶ 

Who raised these children?

Look, I was left all alone;

where did these children come from?’”

[5:10]  ¹ tn Heb “a ten-yoke vineyard.” The Hebrew term צֶמֶד (tsemed, “yoke”) is here a unit of square measure. Apparently a ten-yoke vineyard covered the same amount of land it would take ten teams of oxen to plow in a certain period of time. The exact size is unknown.

[5:10]  ² tn Heb “one bath.” A bath was a liquid measure. Estimates of its modern equivalent range from approximately six to twelve gallons.

[5:10]  ³ tn Heb “a homer.” A homer was a dry measure, the exact size of which is debated. Cf. NCV “ten bushels”; CEV “five bushels.”

[5:10]  ⁴ tn 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-tenth of the anticipated harvest is realized.

[49:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “and you will say in your heart.”

[49:21]  ⁶ tn Or “exiled and thrust away”; NIV “exiled and rejected.”