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Isaiah 5: The Song of the Vineyard

God sings a love song over his vineyard that yielded only wild grapes, then pronounces a series of woes on a people who have rejected his word.

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Isaiah 5 (WEB)

1 Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.

2 He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in its midst, and also cut out a wine press therein. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.

3 “Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard.

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?

5 Now 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 of it, and it will be trampled down.

6 I will lay it a wasteland. It won’t be pruned nor hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.”

7 For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.

8 Woe 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 midst of the land!

9 In my ears, Yahweh of Armies says: “Surely many houses will be desolate, even great and beautiful, unoccupied.

10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield an ephah.”

11 Woe 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!

12 The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts; but they don’t respect the work of Yahweh, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.

13 Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge. Their honorable men are famished, and their multitudes are parched with thirst.

14 Therefore 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.

15 So man is brought low, mankind is humbled, and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled;

16 but Yahweh of Armies is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.

17 Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich.

18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope;

19 Who say, “Let him make speed, 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!”

20 Woe 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!

21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

22 Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and champions at mixing strong drink;

23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice for the innocent!

24 Therefore 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.

25 Therefore Yahweh’s anger burns 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 midst of the streets. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is still stretched out.

26 He will lift up a banner to the nations from far, and he will whistle for them from the end of the earth. Behold, they will come speedily and swiftly.

27 No one shall be weary nor stumble among them; no one shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the belt of their waist be untied, nor the strap of their sandals be broken:

28 whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent. Their horses’ hoofs will be like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.

29 Their roaring will be like a lioness. They will roar like young lions. Yes, they shall roar, and seize their prey and carry it off, and there will be no one to deliver.

30 They 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.

Summary

Isaiah sings a tender love song on God's behalf about his vineyard, planted on a fruitful hill, cleared of stones, set with the choicest vine, and given a watchtower and a winepress. The owner looked for good grapes, but it yielded only wild ones. God then asks the inhabitants of Jerusalem to judge between him and his vineyard: what more could he have done? Since it produced bad fruit, he will remove its hedge, break down its wall, and let it become a wasteland. The interpretation is unmistakable: the vineyard is the house of Israel, and God looked for justice but found bloodshed, for righteousness but heard a cry of distress. From there Isaiah pronounces a series of woes against the greedy who join house to house, the drunkards who feast without regard for God's work, those who drag sin behind them and mock God's judgment, those who call evil good and good evil, the self-wise, and the corrupt judges who acquit the guilty for a bribe. Because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies, his anger burns, and he will whistle for a distant nation to come swiftly with sharp arrows and roaring strength, leaving the land in darkness and distress.

Key Figures

  • The beloved vineyard owner — God himself, who lovingly planted and tended Israel as a vineyard and looked for the fruit of justice and righteousness.
  • The vineyard (the house of Israel) — God's people, given every advantage yet yielding the wild grapes of oppression and injustice instead of good fruit.
  • The objects of the woes — The greedy landgrabbers, drunkards, mockers, moral inverters, the self-wise, and corrupt judges who have rejected God's word.

Key Verse

Isaiah 5:7 (WEB)

For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.

Lessons Learned

  • God lavishes care on his people and rightly looks for the fruit of justice and righteousness (Isaiah 5:1-7).
  • Greed, indulgence, and self-interest choke out the fruit God seeks (Isaiah 5:8-12).
  • Calling evil good and good evil is a grave inversion that invites woe (Isaiah 5:20).
  • Rejecting God's word brings the loss of his protection and the coming of judgment (Isaiah 5:24-30).
  • God expects fruit from the care he gives. “What could have been done more to my vineyard?” (Isaiah 5:4, WEB). Where God has lavished grace, he rightly looks for a life that bears justice.
  • God measures us by justice, not appearance. He “looked for justice, but, behold, oppression” (Isaiah 5:7, WEB). The fruit God seeks is righteousness toward him and mercy toward others.
  • Moral confusion is a deadly sin. “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20, WEB). Redefining sin as good does not change God's verdict; it deepens our peril.
  • Rejecting God's word removes his protection. “They have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies” (Isaiah 5:24, WEB), so the hedge comes down. To despise his word is to forfeit his shelter.
  1. How does the love song in verses 1-4 portray God's care, and why is the wild fruit so disappointing?
  2. What is the meaning of the vineyard, and what fruit was God looking for (5:7)?
  3. Walk through the woes in verses 8-23. What heart attitudes lie behind these sins?
  4. Why is calling evil good and good evil singled out as so serious (5:20)?
  5. In what ways have you experienced God's loving care, and what fruit is he looking for in your life?
  1. The song shows an owner doing everything possible—choice ground, the best vines, a tower, a winepress—so that the failure lies entirely with the vineyard, not the gardener (5:1-4). The wild fruit is bitter precisely because it betrays such lavish care; God's people had every reason to flourish.
  2. The vineyard is the house of Israel and the men of Judah (5:7), and God looked for justice and righteousness but found oppression and a cry of distress. The wordplay in Hebrew sharpens the disappointment: he expected one thing and received its opposite. God's care is meant to produce a just and righteous people.
  3. The woes expose greed (joining house to house), self-indulgent feasting, brazen sin that mocks God, moral inversion, arrogant self-wisdom, and bribery (5:8-23). Beneath them all is a heart that has displaced God, trusting in possessions, pleasure, and self instead of him. Help the group trace the sins back to misplaced trust.
  4. To call evil good and good evil is to attack the very foundation of moral reality, putting darkness for light (5:20). It hardens people in sin by removing the categories that would call them to repent. Encourage the group to see how a culture and a heart can drift into this inversion.
  5. This is a personal-application question. Invite members to recall specific ways God has cared for them and to consider, gently, whether their lives are yielding the fruit of justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Frame it as a loving Gardener's reasonable expectation, not condemnation.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB), the King James Version (KJV), and the American Standard Version (ASV), all of which are in the public domain.