Isaiah 5:9-10

5:9 The Lord who commands armies told me this: ¹ 

“Many houses will certainly become desolate,

large, impressive houses will have no one living in them. ² 

5:10 Indeed, a large vineyard ³  will produce just a few gallons, ⁴ 

and enough seed to yield several bushels ⁵  will produce less than a bushel.” ⁶ 

[5:9]  ¹ tn Heb “in my ears, the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].”

[5:9]  ² tn Heb “great and good [houses], without a resident.”

[5:10]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “one bath.” A bath was a liquid measure. Estimates of its modern equivalent range from approximately six to twelve gallons.

[5:10]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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.