Isaiah 5:8-25

8It will be very bad for you people who buy many houses for yourselves. You also buy land to join to the land that you already have. Then there is no more land left for anyone else. You are the only people who remain on the land.

9I have heard the Lord Almighty promise this: ‘All these great, beautiful houses will certainly become empty. There will be nobody to live in them.

10Large vineyards will give only a few bottles of wine. If you plant ten bags of seed, you will only get one bag of grain as your harvest.’

11It will be bad for you people who like to get up early to start drinking. You continue to drink late into the night, until you are very drunk.

12You have wild parties with plenty of music and wine. You make music with your lyres, harps, tambourines and flutes. But you do not understand the things that the Lord is doing. You do not see the things that he has made.

13Because of that, my people will go into exile in countries far away. They do not know God. Their leaders will die because they have nothing to eat. All the other people will have nothing to drink.

14So the deep hole of death will be hungry! It will open wide to eat the people of Jerusalem. The leaders and the people will go down into it. It will eat up those who are happy at their wild parties in Jerusalem.

15So the Lord will bring its people down low. Its proud people will become ashamed.

16But the Lord Almighty will be lifted up high by his justice. People will know that he is holy when he comes as judge.

17Then lambs will find good grass to eat, as they do in their own fields. Fat sheep will find food to eat among the stones of the old houses.

18It will be very bad for you people who are always deceiving others. You cannot leave your sins behind, like someone who pulls a cart with a rope.

19People like that laugh at God. They say, ‘The Lord should do something quickly! We want to see what he can do. The holy God of Israel should do what he has decided to do. Then we will really know what that is!’

20It will be very bad for people who call evil things good. And they call good things evil. They say, ‘It is light’, when it is dark. And they say, ‘It is dark’, when it is light. They say that bitter things are sweet. And they say that sweet things are bitter.

21It will be very bad for people who think that they are wise. They think that they are very clever.

22It will be very bad for people who think that they are famous because they can drink a lot of wine. They think that they are very brave to mix strong drinks together.

23If people like that receive a bribe, they will not say that wicked people are guilty. They also refuse to say that righteous people are not guilty.

24Because of that, they will come to a bad end. It will be for them like a hot fire that destroys dry grass. Their roots will die and their flowers will blow away like dust. They have refused to obey the laws of the Lord Almighty. They have not listened to the message that the holy God of Israel has taught them.

25So the Lord has become angry with his people. He is ready to punish them. He has lifted up his hand, so that the mountains shake. Dead bodies of people are lying all over the streets. But that is not enough! The Lord is still angry with them. His hand is ready to punish them even more.