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Isaiah 5
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1Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard.
- My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.
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2He dug it up,
- gathered out its stones,
- planted it with the choicest vine,
- built a tower in its midst,
- and also cut out a winepress therein.
- He looked for it to yield grapes,
- but it yielded wild grapes.
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3“Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
- please judge between me and my vineyard.
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4What 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?
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5Now 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 of it, and it will be trampled down.
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6I will lay it a wasteland.
- It won’t be pruned nor hoed,
- but it will grow briers and thorns.
- I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.”
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7For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel,
- and the men of Judah his pleasant plant:
- and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression;
- for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.
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8Woe 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 midst of the land!
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9In my ears, Yahweh of Armies says: “Surely many houses will be desolate,
- even great and beautiful, unoccupied.
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10For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath,
- and a homer of seed shall yield an ephah.”
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11Woe 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!
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12The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts;
- but they don’t respect the work of Yahweh,
- neither have they considered the operation of his hands.
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13Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge.
- Their honorable men are famished,
- and their multitudes are parched with thirst.
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14Therefore 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.
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15So man is brought low,
- mankind is humbled,
- and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled;
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16but Yahweh of Armies is exalted in justice,
- and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.
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17Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture,
- and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich.
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18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood,
- and wickedness as with cart rope;
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19Who say, “Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it;
- and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come,
- that we may know it!”
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20Woe 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!
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21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
- and prudent in their own sight!
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22Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine,
- and champions at mixing strong drink;
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23who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
- but deny justice for the innocent!
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24Therefore 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 Yahweh of Armies,
- and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
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25Therefore Yahweh’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 midst of the streets.
- For all this, his anger is not turned away,
- but his hand is still stretched out.
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26He will lift up a banner to the nations from far,
- and he will whistle for them from the end of the earth.
- Behold, they will come speedily and swiftly.
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27None shall be weary nor stumble among them;
- none shall slumber nor sleep;
- neither shall the belt of their waist be untied,
- nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
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28whose arrows are sharp,
- and all their bows bent.
- Their horses’ hoofs will be like flint,
- and their wheels like a whirlwind.
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29Their 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.
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30They 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.
