Yeshayah 5

1. Now will I sing of my beloved a shirat dodi touching His kerem (vineyard). My beloved had a kerem (vineyard) in a very fruitful hill;

2. And He dug it up, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a migdal in the midst of it, and also made a yekev (winepress) therein; and He looked that it should bring forth anavim (grapes), and it brought forth b’ushim (wild grapes).

3. And now, O inhabitants of Yerushalayim, and Ish Yehudah, judge, now, between Me and My kerem (vineyard).

4. What could have been done more to My kerem (vineyard), that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked that it should bring forth anavim, brought it forth b’ushim?

5. And now then; I will tell you now what I will do to my kerem (vineyard): I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be grazed upon; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trampled down;

6. And I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned, nor cultivated; but there shall come up briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no matar (rain) upon it.

7. For the Kerem Hashem Tzva’os is Bais Yisroel, and the Ish Yehudah are the planting of His delight; and He looked for mishpat (justice), but, hinei, mishpach (bloodshed, rapaciousness); for tzedakah, but, hinei, tze’akah (cry of distress).

8. Hoy unto them that add bais to bais, that join sadeh to sadeh, till there be no makom (place, home), that ye alone are dwelling in the midst of ha’aretz!

9. Hashem Tzva’os said in my ozen, Batim rabbim shall be in ruins, gedolim and tovim, with no one to live in them.

10. Yea, ten yokes of kerem (vineyard) shall yield 10 gallons, and the homer (six bushels) of zera (seed) shall yield an ephah (three-fifths bushel).

11. Hoy unto them that rise up early in the boker, that they may chase after shekhar (strong drink); that continue until night, till yayin inflame them!

12. And the kinnor, and the nevel, the tambourine, and flute, and yayin, are in their mishtehim; but they regard not the Po’al Hashem (the work of Hashem), neither consider the ma’aseh of His hands.

13. Therefore my people [see Isa. 53:8] are gone into the Golus, because they have no da’as; and their men of rank are starved, and their multitude parched with thirst.

14. Therefore Sheol hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without chok (limit); and their nobility, and their masses, and their throngs, and the reveler, shall descend into it.

15. And adam shall be abased, and the ish shall be brought low, and the eyes of the haughty shall be humbled;

16. But Hashem Tzva’os shall be exalted in mishpat, and HaEl HaKadosh shall show Himself Kadosh in tzedakah.

17. Then shall the kevasim feed as upon their pasture, and the gerim (sojourners) will eat in the ruins of the rich.

18. Hoy unto them that draw avon (guilt) with cords of deceit, and tug at chatta’ah (sin) as with a cart rope;

19. That say, Let Him make speed, and hasten His Ma’aseh, that we may see it; and let the Atzat Kadosh Yisroel (purpose of the Holy One of Israel) draw near and come, that we may know it!

20. Hoy unto them that call rah tov, and tov rah; that put choshech for ohr, and ohr for choshech; that put mar for matok, and matok for mar!

21. Hoy unto them that are chachamim in their own eyes, and clever in their own sight!

22. Hoy unto them that are Gibborim to drink yayin, and anshei chayil to mix shekhar;

23. Which justify the rasha for shochad (bribe), and take away the tzidkat tzaddikim from him!

24. Therefore as the eish licketh up the stubble, and the flame consumeth the dry grass, so their shoresh shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have cast away the Torat Hashem Tzva’os, and spurned the word of the Kadosh Yisroel.

25. Therefore is the Af Hashem kindled against His people, and He hath stretched forth His yad against them, and hath struck them down; and the mountains did tremble, and their nevilah were like refuse in the streets. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His yad is stretched out still.

26. And He will lift up a banner to the distant Goyim, and will whistle for him at the ketzeh ha’aretz; hinei, they shall come with speed swiftly;

27. None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the ezor of their loins be loosed, nor the thong of their sandals be broken;

28. Whose khitzim (arrows) are sharp, and all their bows bent, the hoofs of their susim shall seem like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:

29. Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions; yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the teref, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.

30. And in Yom Hahu they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea; and if one look unto ha’aretz, hinei, choshech and tzar (distress), and the ohr groweth dark with clouds.