Don’t Reject God’s Law – Isaiah 5:1-30
5 I will sing for my beloved a song about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. (2) He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress. Then he looked for it to produce a crop of good grapes, but it only produced wild grapes. (3) Now you inhabitants of Jerusalem and you men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. (4) What more could have been done for my vineyard that I have left undone? When I expected it to produce good grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? (5) Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard. I will remove its protective hedge, and it will be devoured by wild animals. I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled under foot. (6) I will make it a wasteland, it shall be neither pruned nor cultivated; briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain upon it. (7) The vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his choice plant. He looked for justice, but he found oppression; he expected righteousness, but he heard the cries of distress.
(8) Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field, until there is no space left and you live alone in the land! (9) Jehovah of hosts has spoken in my ear, Surely, many houses will become desolate—even great and beautiful mansions—they will be left without occupants; (10) because a ten-acre vineyard will produce only ten gallons of wine, and ten bushels of seed will produce only one bushel of grain. (11) Woe to those who get up early in the morning so that they may run for their strong drink, those who stay up late at night until they are inflamed with wine! (12) They have harps and lyres at their banquets, tambourines and flutes and wine—but they disregard the work of Jehovah, nor do they consider what his hands have done. (13) Therefore, because of their lack of understanding, my people will go into exile; their honorable men will be famished and the multitude of their common people will be parched with thirst. (14) Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite and opens its mouth wide—into it will descend their nobles and the multitude of their common people, together with their brawlers and their revelers. (15) The common man will be brought low and the man of importance will be humbled and the eyes of the arrogant will be humbled. (16) But Jehovah of hosts will be exalted by his judgment, and God—the Holy One—will be sanctified by his act of righteousness. (17) Then the lambs will graze just as if they were in their own pasture, and wandering sheep will eat among the ruins of the wealthy.
(18) Woe to those who pull iniquity along with cords of deceitfulness, and sin as if with cart ropes! (19) Woe to those who say, Let God hurry, let him be quick to do his work, so that we may see it! Let that which the Holy One has determined to do come and occur, so that we may experience it! (20) Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! (21) Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! (22) Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and champions at mixing strong drinks; (23) those who acquit the wicked for a bribe, and deny justice to the innocent! (24) Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw, and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their root will decay and their blossom will blow away like dust; because they have rejected the law of Jehovah of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. (25) Therefore, the anger of Jehovah burns against his people; his hand is raised against them and he strikes them down. The mountains shake, and the dead bodies are like filth in the streets. But even after all this, his anger is not pacified; his hand is still raised against them. (26) He will give a signal calling for the distant nations, he will whistle for those who dwell at the ends of the earth. With speed they shall come swiftly. (27) Not one of them is weary or stumbles, not one of them slumbers or sleeps; neither is the belt around their waist loosened nor the thongs of their sandals broken. (28) Their arrows are sharp, and all their bows are strung. The hoofs of their horses seem to be flint, and the wheels of their chariots are like a whirlwind. (29) Their roar is like that of the lioness, all of them roar like young lions. They roar as they seize their prey and carry it away—with no one to rescue. (30) On that day they shall roar against my people like the roaring of the sea. If someone looks upon the land he will only see darkness and distress; the light will be darkened by the clouds.
Now proceed to the next section of this study, entitled, Exploring the Passage.
