Berean Standard Bible

Isaiah 5:8-25

8Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field until no place is left and you live alone in the land.

9I heard the LORD of Hosts declare:

“Surely many houses will become desolate,great mansions left unoccupied.10For ten acres of vineyardwill yield but a bath of wine,1and a homer of seedonly an ephah of grain.2”

11Woe to those who rise early in the morningin pursuit of strong drink,who linger into the evening,to be inflamed by wine.12At their feasts are the lyre and harp,tambourines and flutes and wine.They disregard the actions of the LORDand fail to see the work of His hands.

13Therefore My people will go into exilefor their lack of understanding;their dignitaries are starvingand their masses are parched with thirst.14Therefore Sheol enlarges its throatand opens wide its enormous jaws,and down go Zion’s nobles and masses,her revelers and carousers!

15So mankind will be brought low, and each man humbled;the arrogant will lower their eyes.16But the LORD of Hosts will be exalted by His justice,and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.17Lambs will graze as in their own pastures,and strangers3 will feed in the ruins of the wealthy.

18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of deceitand pull sin along with cart ropes,19to those who say, “Let Him hurry and hasten His workso that we may see it!Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel comeso that we may know it!”

20Woe to those who call evil goodand good evil,who turn darkness to lightand light to darkness,who replace bitter with sweetand sweet with bitter.

21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyesand clever in their own sight.

22Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wineand champions in mixing strong drink,23who acquit the guilty for a bribeand deprive the innocent of justice.

24Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw,and as dry grass shrivels in the flame,so their roots will decayand their blossoms will blow away like dust;for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hostsand despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.25Therefore the anger of the LORD burns against His people;His hand is raised against them to strike them down.The mountains quake,and the corpses lie like refuse in the streets.

Despite all this, His anger is not turned away;His hand is still upraised.

Read all of Isaiah 5

Notes

1. Isaiah 5:10 Literally ten yoke of vineyard will yield a bath; that is, the area ten yoke of oxen can plow in a day will yield approximately 5.8 gallons or 22 liters of wine. ↩
2. Isaiah 5:10 Literally and a homer of seed will yield an ephah; that is, a homer of seed (approximately 6.24 bushels or 220 liters) will yield a tenth of its weight in grain. ↩
3. Isaiah 5:17 LXX lambs ↩

Notes

Commentaries on Isaiah 5