Isaiah 5 (HCSB)
Song of the Vineyard
1 I will sing about the one I love, a song about my loved one’s vineyard: The one I love had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
2 He broke up the soil, cleared it of stones, and planted it with the finest vines. He built a tower in the middle of it and even dug out a winepress there. He expected it to yield good grapes, but it yielded worthless grapes.
3 So now, residents of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between Me and My vineyard.
4 What more could I have done for My vineyard than I did? Why, when I expected a yield of good grapes, did it yield worthless grapes?
5 Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled.
6 I will make it a wasteland. It will not be pruned or weeded; thorns and briers will grow up. I will also give orders to the clouds that rain should not fall on it.
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah, the plant He delighted in. He looked for justice but saw injustice, for righteousness, but heard cries of wretchedness.
Judah’s Sins Denounced
8 Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field until there is no more room and you alone are left in the land.
9 I heard the Lord of Hosts say:
Indeed, many houses will become desolate, grand and lovely ones without inhabitants. 10 For a ten-acre vineyard will yield only six gallons, and 10 bushels of seed will yield only one bushel.
11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of beer, who linger into the evening, inflamed by wine.
12 At their feasts they have lyre, harp, tambourine, flute, and wine. They do not perceive the Lord’s actions, and they do not see the work of His hands.
13 Therefore My people will go into exile because they lack knowledge; her dignitaries are starving, and her masses are parched with thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat and opens wide its enormous jaws, and down go Zion’s dignitaries, her masses, her crowds, and those who carouse in her!
15 Humanity is brought low, man is humbled, and haughty eyes are humbled.
16 But the Lord of Hosts is exalted by His justice, and the holy God is distinguished by righteousness.
17 Lambs will graze as if in their own pastures, and strangers will eat among the ruins of the rich.
18 Woe to those who drag wickedness with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes, 19 to those who say: “Let Him hurry up and do His work quickly so that we can see it! Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel take place so that we can know 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 opinion and clever in their own sight.
22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, who are fearless at mixing beer, 23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice.
24 Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will become like something rotten and their blossoms will blow away like dust, for they have rejected the instruction of the Lord of Hosts, and they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore the Lord’s anger burns against His people. He raised His hand against them and struck them; the mountains quaked, and their corpses were like garbage in the streets. In all this, His anger is not removed, and His hand is still raised to strike.
26 He raises a signal flag for the distant nations and whistles for them from the ends of the earth. Look—how quickly and swiftly they come!
27 None of them grows weary or stumbles; no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose and no sandal strap broken.
28 Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows strung. Their horses’ hooves are like flint; their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.
29 Their roaring is like a lion’s; they roar like young lions; they growl and seize their prey and carry it off, and no one can rescue it.
30 On that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. When one looks at the land, there will be darkness and distress; light will be obscured by clouds.
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verse 21): Father, please forgive me for being so head-strong and adamant in my own opinion more often than not. Help me to embrace Godly wisdom and truth more than my own, especially in times of tension and conflict.
PROMISE (verse 25): Lord, You promise us that Your anger burns against Your people who do not act according to Your will and Your truth. Help me to not provoke Your anger, Father.
ATTITUDE (verse 20): God, You are saddened when Your followers walk in evil and darkness. Help me to always have an attitude aligned with Your good and Your light so that my attitude glorifies You always.
COMMAND (verses 20-21): You command us to always remain in Your truth, Your goodness, and Your light so that we may not be swallowed up by the world's lies, darkness, and evil.
EXAMPLE (verse 26): Help me to follow the example You give in this verse. Help me to always move quickly and swiftly towards You when You call out to me, Father.
*DAILY NOTE: This was a lot of reading for such a slow reader like myself. Initially I was thinking I should only do half of it at a time, but the Spirit led me to press through it and read the whole thing. Thankful I did because there are so many lessons to learn in this Scripture. Thank You, Father, for blessing us with Your word and Your truth so that we can learn lessons like these. The lessons You provide, Father, are for our good and Your glory!
*GENERAL NOTE: I always "sandwich" my quiet time with God in prayer and do it in a location that I will not have any distractions so that I can be focused on my quiet time with God. Do not worry about how short or long your journal entries are for that day's quiet time. Just focus on the actual quiet time and relational conversation with God through the Holy Spirit and His Word. The journaling is an enhancement to your quiet time conversation with God, but also to allow you to reflect on things later as you can look back on your journal entries later when you do the chapters again in the future to see how you have grown. See the FAQ for more detail on how I do my quiet time.
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