Isaiah 5

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Let me sing my beloved the song of my friend for his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a fertilehil side.	1 Let me now sing of my friend, my friend's song concerning his vineyard. My friend had a vineyard on a fertile hillside;
2 He dug it, cleared it of stones, and planted it with red grapes. In the middle he built a tower, he hewed apress there too. He expected it to yield fine grapes: wild grapes were all it yielded.	2 He spaded it, cleared it of stones, and planted the choicest vines; Within it he built a watchtower, and hewed out a wine press. Then he looked for the crop of grapes, but what it yielded was wild grapes.
3 And now, citizens of Jerusalem and people of Judah, I ask you to judge between me and my vineyard.	3 Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard:
4 What more could I have done for my vineyard that I have not done? Why, when I expected it to yield finegrapes, has it yielded wild ones?	4 What more was there to do for my vineyard that I had not done? Why, when I looked for the crop of grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes?
5 Very wel , I shal tel you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I shal take away its hedge, for it to begrazed on, and knock down its wal , for it to be trampled on.	5 Now, I will let you know what I mean to do to my vineyard: Take away its hedge, give it to grazing, break through its wall, let it be trampled!
6 I shall let it go to waste, unpruned, undug, overgrown by brambles and thorn-bushes, and I shallcommand the clouds to rain no rain on it.	6 Yes, I will make it a ruin: it shall not be pruned or hoed, but overgrown with thorns and briers; I will command the clouds not to send rain upon it.
7 Now, the vineyard of Yahweh Sabaoth is the House of Israel, and the people of Judah the plant hecherished. He expected fair judgement, but found injustice, uprightness, but found cries of distress.	7 The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his cherished plant; He looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed! for justice, but hark, the outcry!
8 Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field until there is nowhere left and they are thesole inhabitants of the country.	8 Woe to you who join house to house, who connect field with field, Till no room remains, and you are left to dwell alone in the midst of the land!
9 Yahweh Sabaoth has sworn this in my hearing, 'Many houses wil be brought to ruin, great and fine ones left untenanted;	9 In my hearing the LORD of hosts has sworn: Many houses shall be in ruins, large ones and fine, with no one to live in them.
10 for ten acres of vineyard wil yield only one barrel, and ten bushel of seed wil yield only one bushel.'	10 Ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one liquid measure, And a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.
11 Woe to those who get up early to go after strong drink, and stay up late at night inflamed with wine.	11 Woe to those who demand strong drink as soon as they rise in the morning, And linger into the night while wine inflames them!
12 Nothing but harp and lyre, tambourine and pipe, and wine for their drinking bouts. Never a thought forthe works of Yahweh, never a glance for what his hands have done.	12 With harp and lyre, timbrel and flute, they feast on wine; But what the LORD does, they regard not, the work of his hands they see not.
13 That is why my people is in exile, for want of perception; her dignitaries starving, her populace parchedwith thirst.	13 Therefore my people go into exile, because they do not understand; Their nobles die of hunger, and their masses are parched with thirst.
14 That is why Sheol opens wide its throat and gapes with measureless jaw and down go her noblemenand populace and her loud revellers merry to the last!	14 Therefore the nether world enlarges its throat and opens its maw without limit; Down go their nobility and their masses, their throngs and their revelry.
15 Human nature has been humbled, humankind brought low, and the eyes of the proud have beenhumbled.	15 Men shall be abased, each one brought low, and the eyes of the haughty lowered,
16 Yahweh Sabaoth is the more respected for his judgement, God the Holy One has displayed hisholiness by his justice!	16 But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted by his judgment, and God the Holy shall be shown holy by his justice.
17 Now the lambs wil graze in their old pastures, and the fields laid waste by fat cattle wil feed the kids.	17 Lambs shall graze there at pasture, and kids shall eat in the ruins of the rich.
18 Woe to those who drag guilt along by the reins of duplicity, drag along sin as though with a cart rope;	18 Woe to those who tug at guilt with cords of perversity, and at sin as if with cart ropes!
19 to those who say, 'Why doesn't he do his work quickly so that we can see it; why doesn't the Holy Oneof Israel's design hurry up and come true so that we can experience it?'	19 To those who say, "Let him make haste and speed his work, that we may see it; On with the plan of the Holy One of Israel! let it come to pass, that we may know it!"
20 Woe to those who cal what is bad, good, and what is good, bad, who substitute darkness for light andlight for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.	20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who change darkness into light, and light into darkness, who change bitter into sweet, and sweet into bitter!
21 Woe to those who think themselves wise and believe themselves enlightened.	21 Woe to those who are wise in their own sight, and prudent in their own esteem!
22 Woe to those whose might lies in wine bibbing, their heroism in mixing strong drinks,	22 Woe to the champions at drinking wine, the valiant at mixing strong drink!
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deny justice to the upright.	23 To those who acquit the guilty for bribes, and deprive the just man of his rights!
24 Yes, as the flame devours the stubble, as the straw flares up and disappears, their root wil be likedecay and their shoot be carried off like dust, for having rejected the law of Yahweh Sabaoth, for havingdespised the word of the Holy One of Israel.	24 Therefore, as the tongue of fire licks up stubble, as dry grass shrivels in the flame, Even so their root shall become rotten and their blossom scatter like dust; For they have spurned the law of the LORD of hosts, and scorned the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 This is why Yahweh's anger has blazed out against his people; and he has raised his hand againstthem to strike them; why the mountains have shuddered and why corpses are lying like dung in the streets. Afteral this, his anger is not spent. No, his hand is stil raised!	25 Therefore the wrath of the LORD blazes against his people, he raises his hand to strike them; When the mountains quake, their corpses shall be like refuse in the streets. For all this, his wrath is not turned back, and his hand is still outstretched.
26 He hoists a signal for a distant nation, he whistles them up from the ends of the earth; and see howswift, how fleet they come!	26 He will give a signal to a far-off nation, and whistle to them from the ends of the earth; speedily and promptly will they come.
27 None of them tired, none of them stumbling, none of them asleep or drowsy, none of them with beltunfastened, none of them with broken sandal-strap.	27 None of them will stumble with weariness, none will slumber and none will sleep. None will have his waist belt loose, nor the thong of his sandal broken.
28 Their arrows are sharpened, their bows al strung, their horses' hoofs you would think were flint andtheir wheels, a whirlwind!	28 Their arrows are sharp, and all their bows are bent. The hoofs of their horses seem like flint, and their chariot wheels like the hurricane.
29 Their roar is like that of a lioness, like fierce young lions they roar, growling they seize their prey andcarry it off, with no one to prevent it,	29 Their roar is that of the lion, like the lion's whelps they roar; They growl and seize the prey, they carry it off and none will rescue it.
30 growling at it, that day, like the growling of the sea. Only look at the country: darkness and distress, andthe light turned to darkness by the clouds.	30 (They will roar over it, on that day, with a roaring like that of the sea.)