New International Reader s Version - NIrV - 1996
Isaiah 5
1
I will sing a song for the Lord. He is the one I love. It's a song about his vineyard Israel. The one I love had a vineyard. It was on a hillside that had rich soil.
Reference
2
He dug up the soil and removed its stones. He planted the very best vines in it. He built a lookout tower there. He also cut out a winepress for it. Then he kept looking for a crop of good grapes. But the vineyard produced only bad fruit.
Reference
3
So the Lord said, "People of Jerusalem and Judah, you be the judge between me and my vineyard.
4
What more could I have done for my vineyard? I did everything I could. I kept looking for a crop of good grapes. So why did it produce only bad ones?
Reference
5
Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard. I will take away its fence. And it will be destroyed. I will break down its wall. And people will walk all over it.
Reference
6
I will turn my vineyard into a dry and empty desert. It will not be pruned or taken care of. Thorns and bushes will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it."
Reference
Parallel theme
Jeremiah 25:11
7
The vineyard of the Lord who rules over all is the nation of Israel. The people of Judah are the garden he takes delight in. He kept looking for them to do what is fair. But all he saw was blood being spilled. He kept looking for them to do what is right. But all he heard were cries of suffering.
Reference
Judgment
Isaiah 3:14
Parallel theme
Isaiah 5:2
Isaiah 1:6
Isaiah 62:5
Psalm 80:15
Job 34:28
References Lord
James 5:4
Isaiah 3:17
Psalm 147:11
Psalm 149:4
8
How terrible it will be for you who get too many houses! How terrible for you who get too many fields! Finally there won't be any space left in the land. Then you will live all alone.
Reference
Parallel theme
Micah 2:2
9
I heard the Lord who rules over all announce a message. He said, "You can be sure that the great houses will become empty. The fine homes will be left with no one living in them.
Reference
10
A ten-acre vineyard will produce only six gallons of wine. Six bushels of seeds will produce less than a bushel of grain."
Reference
11
How terrible it will be for those who get up early in the morning to start drinking! How terrible for those who stay up late at night until they are drunk with wine!
Reference
12
They have harps and lyres at their big dinners. They have tambourines, flutes and wine. But they don't have any concern for the mighty acts of the Lord. They don't have any respect for what his powerful hands have done.
Reference
13
So my people will be taken away as prisoners. That's because they don't understand what the Lord has done. Their government leaders will die of hunger. The rest of the people won't have any water to drink.
Reference
14
So the grave is hungry to receive them. Its mouth is open wide to swallow them up. Their nobles and the rest of the people will go down into it. They will go there together with all those who have wild parties.
Reference
15
So man will be brought low. People will be put to shame. Those who brag will be brought down.
Reference
16
But the Lord who rules over all will be honored because he judges fairly. The holy God will show that he is holy by doing what is right.
Reference
Holy
Isaiah 29:23
Ezekiel 36:23
Revelation 3:7
References God
Psalm 46:10
1 Peter 2:15
References Lord
Isaiah 12:4
1 Chronicles 29:11
Isaiah 8:13
Isaiah 2:17
Righteousness
Isaiah 33:5
17
Then sheep will graze as if they were in their own grasslands. Lambs will eat grass among the destroyed buildings where rich people used to live.
Reference
18
How terrible it will be for those who continue to sin and lie about it! How terrible for those who keep on doing what is evil as if they were tied to it!
Reference
19
How terrible for those who say, "Let God hurry up and do what he says he will. We want to see it happen. Let the Holy One of Israel carry out his plan soon. We want to know what it is."
Reference
20
How terrible it will be for those who say that what is evil is good! How terrible for those who say that what is good is evil! How terrible for those who say that darkness is light and light is darkness! How terrible for those who say that what is bitter is sweet and what is sweet is bitter!
Reference
Evil
Proverbs 17:15
Malachi 3:15
Light
Malachi 2:17
Job 17:12
Parallel theme
Luke 16:15
2 Peter 2:1
Amos 5:7
21
How terrible it will be for those who think they are wise! How terrible for those who think they are really clever!
Reference
22
How terrible it will be for those who are heroes at drinking wine! How terrible for those who are heroes at mixing drinks!
Reference
23
How terrible for those who take money to set guilty people free! How terrible for those who don't treat good people fairly!
Reference
Evil
Micah 3:11
Micah 7:3
Proverbs 17:23
Parallel theme
Isaiah 10:2
Isaiah 1:23
Righteousness
Psalm 94:21
Proverbs 17:15
James 5:6
Proverbs 24:24
Deuteronomy 16:19
24
Flames of fire burn up straw. Dry grass sinks down into those flames. Evil people will be like plants whose roots rot away. They will be like flowers that are blown away like dust. That's because they have said no to the law of the Lord who rules over all. They have turned against the message of the Holy One of Israel.
Reference
Holy
Isaiah 30:12
Parallel theme
Job 18:16
Luke 3:17
Joel 2:5
Isaiah 47:14
Exodus 15:7
Word
Isaiah 30:9
25
So the Lord's anger burns against his people. He raises his hand against them. He strikes them down. The mountains shake. The bodies of dead people lie in the streets like trash. Even then, the Lord is still angry. His hand is still raised against them.
Reference
Parallel theme
Isaiah 10:4
Isaiah 9:21
2 Kings 9:37
Jeremiah 4:24
Psalm 18:7
Jeremiah 16:4
Nahum 1:5
1 Thessalonians 2:16
References Lord
Isaiah 9:17
Daniel 9:16
26
He lifts up a banner to gather the nations that are far away. He whistles for them to come from the farthest places on earth. Here they come. They are moving very quickly.
Reference
27
None of them grows tired. None of them falls down. None of them sleeps or even takes a nap. All of them are ready for battle. Every belt is pulled tight. Not a single sandal strap is broken.
Reference
28
The enemies' arrows are sharp. All of their bows are ready. The hoofs of their horses are as hard as rock. Their chariot wheels turn like a twister.
Reference
Parallel theme
Psalm 45:5
29
The sound of their army is like the roar of lions. It's like the roar of young lions. They growl as they capture what they were chasing. They carry it off. No one can take it away from them.
Reference
30
At that time the enemy army will roar over Israel. It will sound like the roaring of the ocean. If someone looks at the land of Israel, he will see darkness and trouble. The clouds will make even the light become dark.
Reference
Darkness
Isaiah 8:22
Joel 2:10
Light
Isaiah 13:10
Matthew 24:29
Parallel theme
Revelation 6:12
Jeremiah 6:23
Summary of Isaiah 5
Isaiah 5 presents Judah as a nation that has received enormous care and opportunity from God but has failed to produce the justice and righteousness He expected.
The chapter begins with the image of a carefully cultivated vineyard.
The owner prepares fertile land, removes stones, plants the best vines, builds protection around it, and provides everything necessary for a productive harvest.
Yet instead of good grapes, the vineyard produces worthless fruit.
Isaiah then reveals that the vineyard represents God's people.
The image shows that Judah's failure cannot be explained by a lack of opportunity or God's neglect.
The people have been given guidance, protection, and the conditions necessary to live faithfully, but they have chosen a different path.
Instead of justice, violence appears.
Instead of righteousness, the cries of oppressed people are heard.
The chapter then describes several forms of social corruption.
Wealthy people accumulate houses and fields until ordinary families lose access to land.
Others spend their lives pursuing alcohol, feasting, music, and pleasure while ignoring God's work and the problems surrounding them.
The issue is not simply wealth, celebration, or possessions themselves.
The problem is that these things have become more important than responsibility toward God and other people.
Isaiah warns that such prosperity will not last.
Large houses will become empty, productive land will fail to produce, and people who once appeared secure will experience hunger, thirst, displacement, and loss.
The chapter then becomes a series of increasingly serious warnings against moral corruption.
People deliberately continue in sin and even mock God's warnings.
Some reverse moral values so completely that they call evil good and good evil.
Others believe themselves wise while rejecting God's wisdom.
Judges accept bribes and release guilty people while denying justice, showing that corruption has entered the very institutions that should protect society.
Isaiah's concern is therefore much broader than individual wrongdoing.
The entire social structure has become distorted.
The wealthy exploit the poor, leaders abuse their authority, people pursue pleasure without restraint, and moral standards are being deliberately reversed.
The result is a society that has lost its ability to recognize right from wrong.
The chapter then returns to the vineyard image and explains the consequence.
Because the vineyard has repeatedly failed to produce good fruit, its protection will be removed.
The nation that once appeared secure will become vulnerable.
Isaiah then describes a foreign army being summoned from a distant land.
The final verses portray this army as disciplined, powerful, fast, and terrifying.
Its soldiers are compared to lions, while its military equipment creates the sound and appearance of an approaching storm.
The description strongly reflects the military power of the Assyrian Empire, which was expanding aggressively throughout the region during Isaiah's lifetime.
The chapter ends with darkness and distress covering the land.
The image is of a nation that once enjoyed prosperity but now finds itself surrounded by danger.
Isaiah 5 therefore connects spiritual rebellion with social consequences.
The people's failure to produce justice and righteousness eventually affects their economy, leadership, security, land, and national survival.
The central lesson of the chapter is that God expects the people He has blessed to produce good fruit through justice, righteousness, responsibility, and faithfulness.
When they instead produce greed, violence, corruption, pride, and moral confusion, their apparent prosperity cannot protect them.
The chapter's vineyard therefore becomes a picture of both privilege and responsibility.
The more a society has been given, the greater its responsibility to use those blessings rightly.
Isaiah 5 ultimately warns that when people repeatedly reject God's standards and replace justice with greed, pleasure, pride, and corruption, the structures that appear to protect them can eventually collapse, leaving them exposed to consequences they once refused to believe would come.
The chapter begins with the image of a carefully cultivated vineyard.
The owner prepares fertile land, removes stones, plants the best vines, builds protection around it, and provides everything necessary for a productive harvest.
Yet instead of good grapes, the vineyard produces worthless fruit.
Isaiah then reveals that the vineyard represents God's people.
The image shows that Judah's failure cannot be explained by a lack of opportunity or God's neglect.
The people have been given guidance, protection, and the conditions necessary to live faithfully, but they have chosen a different path.
Instead of justice, violence appears.
Instead of righteousness, the cries of oppressed people are heard.
The chapter then describes several forms of social corruption.
Wealthy people accumulate houses and fields until ordinary families lose access to land.
Others spend their lives pursuing alcohol, feasting, music, and pleasure while ignoring God's work and the problems surrounding them.
The issue is not simply wealth, celebration, or possessions themselves.
The problem is that these things have become more important than responsibility toward God and other people.
Isaiah warns that such prosperity will not last.
Large houses will become empty, productive land will fail to produce, and people who once appeared secure will experience hunger, thirst, displacement, and loss.
The chapter then becomes a series of increasingly serious warnings against moral corruption.
People deliberately continue in sin and even mock God's warnings.
Some reverse moral values so completely that they call evil good and good evil.
Others believe themselves wise while rejecting God's wisdom.
Judges accept bribes and release guilty people while denying justice, showing that corruption has entered the very institutions that should protect society.
Isaiah's concern is therefore much broader than individual wrongdoing.
The entire social structure has become distorted.
The wealthy exploit the poor, leaders abuse their authority, people pursue pleasure without restraint, and moral standards are being deliberately reversed.
The result is a society that has lost its ability to recognize right from wrong.
The chapter then returns to the vineyard image and explains the consequence.
Because the vineyard has repeatedly failed to produce good fruit, its protection will be removed.
The nation that once appeared secure will become vulnerable.
Isaiah then describes a foreign army being summoned from a distant land.
The final verses portray this army as disciplined, powerful, fast, and terrifying.
Its soldiers are compared to lions, while its military equipment creates the sound and appearance of an approaching storm.
The description strongly reflects the military power of the Assyrian Empire, which was expanding aggressively throughout the region during Isaiah's lifetime.
The chapter ends with darkness and distress covering the land.
The image is of a nation that once enjoyed prosperity but now finds itself surrounded by danger.
Isaiah 5 therefore connects spiritual rebellion with social consequences.
The people's failure to produce justice and righteousness eventually affects their economy, leadership, security, land, and national survival.
The central lesson of the chapter is that God expects the people He has blessed to produce good fruit through justice, righteousness, responsibility, and faithfulness.
When they instead produce greed, violence, corruption, pride, and moral confusion, their apparent prosperity cannot protect them.
The chapter's vineyard therefore becomes a picture of both privilege and responsibility.
The more a society has been given, the greater its responsibility to use those blessings rightly.
Isaiah 5 ultimately warns that when people repeatedly reject God's standards and replace justice with greed, pleasure, pride, and corruption, the structures that appear to protect them can eventually collapse, leaving them exposed to consequences they once refused to believe would come.