Bible Study Isaiah 5
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Isaiah 5 · WEB

The Song of the Vineyard

Listen — WEB narration 0:00 / 0:00 Narration: World English Bible (David Williams), public domain — AudioTreasure.

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Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
2He 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, judge between me and my vineyard.
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?
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, and it will be trampled down.
6I will lay it waste. It won't be pruned or hoed, but it will come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it."
7For the vineyard of Yahweh 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.
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 middle of the land!
9In my ears, Yahweh of Armies says: "Surely many houses will be desolate, even great and beautiful ones, unoccupied.
10For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield an ephah."
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!
12The harp, lyre, tambourine, flute, and wine are in their feasts; but they don't respect the work of Yahweh, and they don't see the operation of his hands.
13Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge. Their honorable men are famished, and their multitude are parched with thirst.
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.
15So man is humbled, and mankind is brought low, and the eyes of the lofty are brought down;
16but Yahweh of Armies is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.
17Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich.
18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart ropes;
19who say, "Let him make haste, 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!"
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!
21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
22Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and champions at mixing strong drink;
23who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of justice!
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.
25Therefore Yahweh's anger is kindled 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 stretched out still.
26He will lift up a banner to the nations from far away, and he will whistle for them from the ends of the earth. Behold, they will come speedily and swiftly.
27No one shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the belt of their waist be untied, nor the lace of their shoes be broken.
28Their arrows will be sharp, and all their bows bent. Their horses' hoofs will be like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.
29Their roaring will be like a lioness. They will roar like young lions. Yes, they will roar and seize their prey. They will carry it away, and there will be no one to deliver it.
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.
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Summary

Isaiah 5 is one of the great prophetic poems — opening with the Song of the Vineyard, a legal parable in which God is the gardener, Israel the vine, and the verdict is devastating: despite every provision, the vine produced wild grapes. The parable gives way to six "woe" oracles — concentrated indictments of specific sins: land accumulation, drunkenness and disregard for God's work, cynical mockery of prophecy, moral inversion (calling evil good), self-wisdom, and bribed justice. The chapter closes with God whistling for a distant nation to come — the Assyrian army, powerful and unstoppable — as the instrument of judgment.

Themes

  • The vineyard parable: God's exhausted provision and Israel's wild fruit
  • The six woe oracles: economic exploitation, hedonism, cynicism, moral inversion, self-sufficiency, corrupt justice
  • The famous wordplay: mishpat/mishpach (justice/bloodshed), tsedaqah/tse'aqah (righteousness/cry)
  • God's holiness exalted through judgment
  • The coming of a distant, overwhelming army as divine instrument

Key verses

  • Isa 5:20 — “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness.”
  • Isa 5:4 — “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?”
  • Isa 5:7 — “He looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.”

Context & background

Isaiah 5's vineyard song (vv. 1-7) is a legal trap — the audience is invited to judge "between me and my vineyard" (v. 3) before realizing they are the vineyard. The same rhetorical strategy appears in Nathan's parable to David (2 Samuel 12) and in Jesus' parable of the tenants (Mark 12:1-12), which directly echoes this passage. The Hebrew wordplay in verse 7 is untranslatable: God looked for *mishpat* (justice) and found *mishpach* (bloodshed); for *tsedaqah* (righteousness) and heard *tse'aqah* (cry of distress) — the two pairs differ by a single letter. Verse 20's "calling evil good and good evil" has become a cultural touchstone for moral confusion. The six woe oracles move from economic sin (land-grabbing, vv. 8-10) through social sin (hedonism, vv. 11-12) to theological sin (mocking God's timing, v. 19; moral inversion, v. 20; self-wisdom, v. 21) to judicial sin (bribed justice, vv. 22-23).

Cross-references

  • 2 Timothy 3:3-4 — "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God" — vv. 11-12
  • Amos 6:4-6 — "you who lie on beds of ivory... but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph" — vv. 11-12
  • John 15:1-5 — "I am the true vine... you are the branches" — the vineyard imagery fulfilled in Christ
  • Mark 12:1-12 — the parable of the tenants, directly echoing this vineyard — vv. 1-7
  • Romans 1:18-25 — suppressing the truth and worshipping created things — v. 12's disregard for God's work

Check your reading

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  1. Observe

    What had the vineyard owner done for his vineyard according to verses 1-2?

  2. Observe

    What is the famous Hebrew wordplay in verse 7?

  3. Interpret

    What is the rhetorical strategy of the vineyard song (vv. 1-7)?

  4. Interpret

    What does "woe to those who call evil good and good evil" (v. 20) diagnose about a society?

  5. Apply

    What does the vineyard owner's question "What could have been done more?" (v. 4) call one to ask honestly?

  6. Apply

    What is the danger of feasting that "doesn't respect the work of Yahweh" (v. 12)?

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