Psalms 51:17

51:17 The sacrifices God desires are a humble spirit ¹  –

O God, a humble and repentant heart ²  you will not reject. ³ 

Isaiah 5:4-5

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, ⁴ 

I will break its wall and allow animals to graze there. ⁵ 

Isaiah 5:10

5:10 Indeed, a large vineyard ⁶  will produce just a few gallons, ⁷ 

and enough seed to yield several bushels ⁸  will produce less than a bushel.” ⁹ 

[51:17]  ¹ tn Heb “a broken spirit.”

[51:17]  ² tn Heb “a broken and crushed heart.”

[51:17]  ³ tn Or “despise.”

[5:5]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “and it will become a trampled place” (NASB “trampled ground”).

[5:10]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “one bath.” A bath was a liquid measure. Estimates of its modern equivalent range from approximately six to twelve gallons.

[5:10]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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.