Isaiah (Douay: Isaias) 5

¹ Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.

² He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in the middle of it, and also cut out a wine press in it. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.

³ “Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard.

⁴ What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes?

⁵ Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up. I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled down.

⁶ I will lay it a wasteland. It won’t be pruned or hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.”

⁷ For the vineyard of the LORD of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression, for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.

⁸ Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, until there is no room, and you are made to dwell alone in the middle of the land!

⁹ In my ears, the LORD of Armies says: “Surely many houses will be desolate, even great and beautiful, unoccupied.

¹⁰ For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield an ephah.”

¹¹ Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink, who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them!

¹² The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts; but they don’t respect the work of the LORD, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.

¹³ Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge. Their honorable men are famished, and their multitudes are parched with thirst.

¹⁴ Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire, and opened its mouth without measure; and their glory, their multitude, their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend into it.

¹⁵ So man is brought low, mankind is humbled, and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled;

¹⁶ but the LORD of Armies is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.

¹⁷ Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich.

¹⁸ Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope,

¹⁹ who say, “Let him make haste, let him hasten his work, that we may see it; let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it!”

²⁰ Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

²¹ Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

²² Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and champions at mixing strong drink;

²³ who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice for the innocent!

²⁴ Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust, because they have rejected the law of the LORD of Armies, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

²⁵ Therefore the LORD’s anger burns against his people, and he has stretched out his hand against them and has struck them. The mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the middle of the streets. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is still stretched out.

²⁶ He will lift up a banner to the nations from far away, and he will whistle for them from the end of the earth. Behold, they will come speedily and swiftly.

²⁷ No one shall be weary nor stumble among them; no one shall slumber nor sleep, neither shall the belt of their waist be untied, nor the strap of their sandals be broken,

²⁸ whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent. Their horses’ hoofs will be like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.

²⁹ Their roaring will be like a lioness. They will roar like young lions. Yes, they shall roar, and seize their prey and carry it off, and there will be no one to deliver.

³⁰ They will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress. The light is darkened in its clouds.

¹ II will sing to my beloved the canticle of my cousin concerning his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a hill in a fruitful place.

² And he fenced it in, and picked the stones out of it, and planted it with the choicest vines, and built a tower in the midst thereof, and set up a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

³ And now, O ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and ye men of Juda, judge between me and my vineyard.

⁴ What is there that I ought to do more to my vineyard, that I have not done to it? was it that I looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it hath brought forth wild grapes?

⁵ And now I will shew you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be wasted: I will break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down.

⁶ And I will make it desolate: it shall not be pruned, and it shall not be digged: but briers and thorns shall come up: and I will command the clouds to rain no rain upon it.

⁷ For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel: and the man of Juda, his pleasant plant: and I looked that he should do judgment, and behold iniquity: and do justice, and behold a cry.

⁸ Woe to you that join house to house and lay field to field, even to the end of the place: shall you alone dwell in the midst of the earth?

⁹ These things are in my ears, saith the Lord of hosts: Unless many great and fair houses shall become desolate, without an inhabitant.

¹⁰ For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one little measure, and thirty bushels of seed shall yield three bushels.

¹¹ Woe to you that rise up early in the morning to follow drunkenness, and to drink till the evening, to be inflamed with wine.

¹² The harp, and the lyre, and, the timbrel and the pipe, and wine are in your feasts: and the work of the Lord you regard not, nor do you consider the works of his hands.

¹³ Therefore is my people led away captive, because they had not knowledge, and their nobles have perished with famine, and their multitude were dried up with thirst.

¹⁴ Therefore hath hell enlarged her soul, and opened her mouth without any bounds, and their strong ones, and their people, and their high and glorious ones shall go down into it.

¹⁵ And man shall be brought down, and man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be brought low.

¹⁶ And the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and the holy God shall be sanctified in justice.

¹⁷ And the lambs shall feed according to their order, and strangers shall eat the deserts turned into fruitfulness.

¹⁸ Woe to you that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as the rope of a cart.

¹⁹ That say: Let him make haste, and let his work come quickly, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel come, that we may know it.

²⁰ Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.

²¹ Woe to you that are wise in your own eyes, and prudent in your own conceits.

²² Woe to you that are mighty to drink wine, and stout men at drunkenness.

²³ That justify the wicked for gifts, and take away the justice of the just from him.

²⁴ Therefore as the tongue of the fire devoureth the stubble, and the heat of the flame consumeth it: so shall their root be as ashes, and their bud shall go up as dust: for they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and have blasphemed the word of the Holy One of Israel.

²⁵ Therefore is the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath stretched out his hand upon them, and struck them: and the mountains were troubled, and their carcasses became as dung in the midst of the streets. For after this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

²⁶ And he will lift up a sign to the nations afar off, and will whistle to them from the ends of the earth: and behold they shall come with speed swiftly.

²⁷ There is none that shall faint, nor labour among them: they shall not slumber nor sleep, neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken.

²⁸ Their arrows are sharp, and all their bows are bent. The hoofs of their horses shall be like the flint, and their wheels like the violence of a tempest.

²⁹ Their roaring like that of a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea they shall roar, and take hold of the prey, and they shall keep fast hold of it, and there shall be none to deliver it.

³⁰ And they shall make a noise against them that day, like the roaring of the sea; we shall look towards the land, and behold darkness of tribulation, and the light is darkened with the mist thereof.