A V¹ 1-7. The Parable of the Vineyard. V² 8-30. The Parable interpreted.
V¹ W¹ i 1,2. The Vineyard. Yahaveh's care.
k 3,4. Requital by Vineyard.
X 5. Yahaveh's requital. Externals destroyed.
X 6. Yahaveh's requital. Internals wasted.
W² i 7-. The Vineyard. Yahaveh's care.
k -7. Requital by Vineyard.
649-588 B.C.Isaiah 5)
1 Now will I sing to My well-beloved a song of My beloved touching His vineyard (8 sentences describe the vineyard, of which 7 give the characteristics, and 1 [v.7] the result. This "song" sets forth the doom of the Vineyard: the Parable [Luke 20:9-16], the doom of the husbandmen.). My well-beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful (= oil's son. Can it refer to David and his anointing? Cp. 1 Sam. 2:10; 16:13; Pss. 132:7. Cp. v7-, below) horn (Heb. keren, always "horn"):
2 And He fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine (for Israel as this vine, see 27:2-6. Jer. 2:21; 12:10. Ps. 80:8. Hos. 10:1; 14:5-7, &c. One of the 3 trees to which Israel is likened: the fig = national privilege; the olive = religious privilege; the vine = spiritual privilege. See Judg. 9:8-13), and built a watchtower in the midst of it, and also made a wine-vat therein (Heb. yekeb. See Prov. 3:10): and He looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth bad grapes (Heb. behushim, from bashash, to stink. The Hebrew word only occurs inn vv.2,4).
3 And now (referring to time), O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between Me and My vineyard.
4 What could have been done more to My vineyard, that I have not done in (or for) it ? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth bad grapes?
5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
6 And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor dug; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it (cp. Deut. 28:23,24. Lev. 26:19).
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel (occ. 4 times in Isaiah; 5:7; 14:2; 46:3; 63:7. Note the introversion: "vineyard", "Israel", Judah", "pleasant plant"), and the men of Judah His pleasant plant:
and He looked for judgment, but behold oppression (fig., put for great and solemn emphasis, to attract our attention and impress our minds. Not a "pun" or a "play" on words); for righteousness, but behold a cry (see note above. The 2 lines may be Englished by "He looked for equity, but behold iniquity; for right but behold might " [as used in oppression and producing a "cry"]).
V² Y¹ 8. Woe. Incrimination. Covetousness.
Z¹ 9,10. Threatening. Desolation.
Y² 11,12. Woe. Incrimination. Excess.
Z² 13-17. Threatening. Captivity.
Y³ 18-23. Woe. Incrimination. Iniquity.
Z³ 24-30. Threatening. Destruction. Invasion.
8 Woe (fig. "Woe" repeated 6 times in succession [vv.8,11,18,20,21,22]. Note the 6 subjects) to them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!
9 “In My ears” said the Lord of hosts (note the Ellipsis of the verb "to say". See instructive examples in Pss. 109:5; 114:12. Isa .28:9. Jer. 9:19, &c.), “Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
10 Yes, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath (= approx. 6 gal.), and the seed of an homer (aprox. 8 bushels) shall yield an ephah (about 3 pecks).
11 Woe to them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night (Heb. nephesh. Cp. 21:4 and 59:10. See Job 24:15, and 1 Sam. 30:17), till wine inflame them!
12 And the harp, and the viol, the drum, and fife, and wine, are in their banquets: but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of His hands.
Z³ l 13. Captivity.
m 14,15. Judgment. Man abased.
m 16. Judgment. Yahaveh exhaled.
l 17. Restoration.13 Therefore My People are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.
14 Therefore Sheôl has enlarged her soul, and opened her mouth without measure (all these feminine pronouns mean that the nouns belong to Sheôl): and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoices, shall descend into it.
15 And the commoner shall be brought down, and the peer shall be humbled (see 2:11,17), and the eyes of the proud shall be humbled:
16 But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and the mighty God that is set apart shall be sanctified in righteousness.
17 Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall foreigners eat.
18 Woe to them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity (which draws on sin by the load), and sin as it were with a cart rope (implies sin by the cart-load):
19 That say, ‘Let Him make speed (cp. Jer. 17:15), and hasten His work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel (see 1:4 and Ps. 71:22) draw nigh and come, that we may know it!’
20 Woe to them that are calling evil good, and good evil; that give out darkness for light, and light for darkness; that give out bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! (fig., put for themselves, or their own view of matters)
22 Woe to them that are mighty men to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
23 Which justify a lawless one for a bribe, and take away the righteous of the righteous ones from them!
24 Therefore as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts (see 1:10), and despised the saying (or spoken word) of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against His People, and He has stretched forth [in judgment] His hand against them, and has smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcasses were as the sweepings the streets.
For all this (cp. the fivefold consequences of Isa .5:25; 9:12,17,21; 10:4: with the fivefold cause in Lev. 26:14,18,21,24,28) His anger is not turned away, but His hand remains stretched out.
26 And He will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss for [as men call bees] them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:
27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latches of their shoes be broken:
28 Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:
29 Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yes, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.
30 And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the skies thereof.”