Isaiah 5

The Song of the Vineyard

A love song that turns into a verdict, six woes against a self-satisfied people, and a banner raised to the nations.

c. 740–730 BC Also in 2 Ne. 15 Read with footnotes in Gospel Library

Background

Isaiah 5 opens with a performance. Isaiah steps forward like a singer at a harvest festival and announces a love song about his friend’s vineyard.

Isaiah 5 opens with a performance. Isaiah steps forward like a singer at a harvest festival and announces a love song about his friend’s vineyard. Vineyards were familiar and beloved. Every hearer knew the backbreaking work of clearing a hillside, building terraces, and waiting years for the first good crop. They also knew the love-song convention in which a “vineyard” could stand for a beloved bride (Song 8:12).

Then the song goes wrong, the audience is asked to judge, and too late they realize they are the defendants. It is the same trap the prophet Nathan set for King David (2 Sam. 12:1–7).

The chapter then pronounces six “woes” on the sins of prosperous Judah and ends with an ominous army summoned from far away. Nephi included the chapter as 2 Ne. 15, and its central question, “What could have been done more to my vineyard?”, echoes through Zenos’s allegory in Jacob 5.

The thread through the chapter

Isaiah 5 is a parable that becomes a mirror. The song moves in three stages.

The Lord’s care (verses 1–2). Everything a vinedresser could do is done: the best hill, the stones cleared, the choicest vines, a watchtower, a winepress carved in the rock in hopeful expectation of a harvest. Then comes the heartbreaking line: “and it brought forth wild grapes.”

The audience’s verdict (verses 3–6). The singer turns to the crowd: You judge. What more could I have done? No one can name anything. So he announces what he will do: remove the hedge, break the wall, let it go wild, and command the clouds not to rain. That last detail gives the game away. Only God commands the clouds. This vinedresser is the Lord.

The reveal (verse 7). “The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel.” The final line is a pun that is impossible to miss in Hebrew: He looked for mishpat (justice) and found mispach (bloodshed); for tsedaqah (righteousness) and heard tseʿaqah (a cry of distress).

The six woes that follow (verses 8–23) are the “wild grapes” named one by one: greed for land, drunken partying, mocking God’s timing, redefining good and evil, arrogance, and corrupt courts. The chapter ends by answering the song’s threat. The Lord raises an ensign, whistles, and a relentless army arrives (verses 26–30). In Isaiah’s day that army was Assyria. Latter-day Saints also hear in the ensign a promise of gathering.

The chapter’s question is the one that should stop us: What could have been done more? When a life bears wild grapes, the problem is never a lack of care from the Gardener.

Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.

Verses 1–7

A love song about a vineyard

In plain words

Let me sing a song for my dear friend about his vineyard. He had a vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug it up, cleared the stones, planted the best vines, built a watchtower, and carved out a winepress. He expected good grapes, but it produced sour, wild ones. Now, people of Jerusalem and Judah, you be the judge: what more could I have done for my vineyard? So here is what I’ll do: I’ll tear down its hedge and wall, let it be trampled and overgrown, and command the clouds not to rain on it. The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel. He looked for justice and found bloodshed; for righteousness, and heard a cry of distress.

1 Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:

Imagery & Symbol #

A song with a trap in it

“Wellbeloved” and “beloved” are words from love poetry (the Hebrew dod is the lover’s word in the Song of Solomon).

“Wellbeloved” and “beloved” are words from love poetry (the Hebrew dod is the lover’s word in the Song of Solomon). In that poetry a vineyard can stand for the beloved herself (Song 1:6; Song 8:12). So Isaiah’s audience would have expected a tender love song, perhaps even a wedding song.

That’s the trap. By the time the listeners realize the song is about them, they have already judged the case (verse 3). It’s how Nathan confronted David (2 Sam. 12:1–7) and how Jesus confronted the chief priests with His own parable of a vineyard, which deliberately echoes this one (Matt. 21:33–45).

2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

History & Setting #

Everything a vinedresser could do

Each detail in verse 2 represents years of labor. Judean hillsides are strewn with limestone.

Each detail in verse 2 represents years of labor. Judean hillsides are strewn with limestone. Clearing them by hand and using the stones to build terraces and walls was grueling work. The choicest vine (Hebrew soreq) was a prized red grape variety. The tower was a stone watchtower for guarding the harvest (a sign of permanence, unlike the temporary hut of Isa. 1:8). The winepress was carved into the bedrock, with an upper vat for treading and a lower vat to catch the juice. Carving it before the vines had produced anything was an act of hope.

Nothing was skipped. That is the point of verse 4.

Sources: Donald W. Parry, Visualizing Isaiah, Provo, UT: FARMS, 2001.

3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.

4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?

Restoration Insight #

The question of Jacob 5

This question is the emotional heart of the chapter, and it has a remarkable echo in the Book of Mormon.

This question is the emotional heart of the chapter, and it has a remarkable echo in the Book of Mormon. In Zenos’s allegory of the olive tree, the Lord of the vineyard weeps and asks: “What could I have done more for my vineyard?” (Jacob 5:41). He asks it again and again (Jacob 5:47; Jacob 5:49).

Zenos and Isaiah were both prophets on the brass plates, and both saw Israel as a planting the Lord tended with infinite patience. The question is not rhetorical defensiveness on God’s part. It is grief. And unlike Isaiah’s song, Zenos’s allegory goes on: the Lord and His servants labor “with their mights” one last time, and the vineyard bears good fruit again (Jacob 5:61–75). Isaiah will reach that hope too (Isa. 27:2–6).

5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:

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

7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

Word & Language #

A pun that stings

This line is one of the most famous wordplays in the Bible. In Hebrew: - He looked for mishpat (justice), but behold mispach (bloodshed or violence).

This line is one of the most famous wordplays in the Bible. In Hebrew:

He looked for mishpat (justice), but behold mispach (bloodshed or violence).
He looked for tsedaqah (righteousness), but behold tseʿaqah (an outcry, the scream of the oppressed).

The words sound almost the same but mean opposite things, just as wild grapes look almost like good grapes. Judah had the appearance of justice and righteousness, but what the Lord actually heard was the cry of victims. The same “cry” (tseʿaqah) is what rose up from Sodom (Gen. 18:20–21).

Sources: Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, New International Commentary on the Old Testament, 2 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986–1998.

Verses 8–17

Woe to the greedy and the partiers

In plain words

Woe to you who buy up house after house and field after field until you own everything and live alone in the land. Your mansions will stand empty, and your huge vineyards will yield almost nothing. Woe to you who start drinking at dawn and party all night with music and wine but never notice what the Lord is doing. My people will go into exile because they don’t know Me. Death is opening its mouth wide for them. The proud will be humbled, and the holy God will show Himself holy through justice. Lambs will graze in the ruins of the rich.

8 Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!

9 In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.

10 Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.

11 Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!

12 And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.

13 Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.

14 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.

Word & Language #

The open mouth of Sheol

“Hell” here is Sheol, the Hebrew word for the world of the dead. The Bible Dictionary calls it “the abode of departed spirits,” and the KJV translates it variously as “grave,”…

“Hell” here is Sheol, the Hebrew word for the world of the dead. The Bible Dictionary calls it “the abode of departed spirits,” and the KJV translates it variously as “grave,” “pit,” or “hell.” It is not necessarily a place of punishment. Here it is personified as a monster with a gaping, bottomless mouth, a picture also found in Canaanite poetry about Death swallowing its victims.

The irony is sharp. The partiers of verses 11–12 opened their mouths for wine. Now Death opens its mouth for them. Isaiah will later promise that the Lord will “swallow up death in victory” (Isa. 25:8).

Sources: “Sheol”, Bible Dictionary.

15 And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:

16 But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.

17 Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.

Verses 18–25

Woe to those who scoff and twist the truth

In plain words

Woe to you who drag your sins behind you like a cart on a rope and scoff, “Let God hurry up and do something so we can see it!” Woe to you who call evil good and good evil, who swap darkness for light and bitter for sweet. Woe to you who think you are so wise. Woe to you who are champions at drinking and take bribes to let the guilty go free and deny justice to the innocent. You will burn like dry straw, because you rejected the law of the Lord. His anger has struck His people, and still His hand is stretched out.

18 Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:

19 That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!

20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Liken It #

Redefining good and evil

This may be the most quoted verse in the chapter, and it is more relevant than ever.

This may be the most quoted verse in the chapter, and it is more relevant than ever. It describes a society that doesn’t merely do evil but renames it, putting darkness for light and bitter for sweet. Once good and evil trade labels, repentance becomes almost impossible, because no one believes there is anything to repent of.

Mormon taught how to judge rightly: “every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ… but whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil” (Moro. 7:16–17). Nephi also warned of those in the last days who would say “there is no harm in this” (2 Ne. 28:8).

21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:

23 Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

24 Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25 Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

Restoration Insight #

The outstretched hand

This refrain will return four more times (Isa. 9:12; Isa. 9:17; Isa. 9:21; Isa. 10:4).

This refrain will return four more times (Isa. 9:12; Isa. 9:17; Isa. 9:21; Isa. 10:4). In context it is a warning: the Lord’s hand is still raised to strike, and the judgments are not finished.

But the Book of Mormon teaches us to hear the image another way as well. The Lord says through Nephi: “I will be merciful unto them… if they will repent and come unto me; for mine arm is lengthened out all the day long” (2 Ne. 28:32). Jacob says the Lord “stretches forth his hands unto them all the day long” (Jacob 6:4). The same outstretched hand that disciplines is also held out to rescue. Which one we meet depends on whether we turn.

Verses 26–30

An ensign to the nations

In plain words

He will raise a banner for the distant nations and whistle for them from the ends of the earth. Here they come, fast! None of them are tired or stumbling; none sleep; not a belt is loose or a sandal strap broken. Their arrows are sharp, their horses’ hooves like flint, their chariot wheels like a whirlwind. They roar like lions, seize their prey, and carry it off. In that day the land will be dark with distress.

26 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:

Restoration Insight #

An ensign and a whistle

An ensign is a banner or standard raised on a hill as a rallying point.

An ensign is a banner or standard raised on a hill as a rallying point. To hiss is to whistle, the way a beekeeper whistled to call bees (see Isa. 7:18). In Isaiah’s immediate context, the Lord is summoning a foreign army, Assyria, to carry out the judgment of verses 5–6. Verses 27–30 describe that army: tireless, disciplined, and unstoppable.

Latter-day Saints have also read the ensign as a symbol of the restored gospel, lifted up to gather Israel from the ends of the earth. That is how Isaiah himself uses the image elsewhere (Isa. 11:12; Isa. 49:22; Isa. 62:10), and how the Lord uses it in modern revelation (D&C 45:9; D&C 64:42). Both readings teach the same truth: the Lord directs the movements of nations to accomplish His purposes, whether in judgment or in gathering.

Sources: “Ensign”, Guide to the Scriptures.

27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:

Restoration Insight #

Trains and airplanes?

Elder LeGrand Richards famously suggested that verses 26–29 describe the modern gathering of Israel.

Elder LeGrand Richards famously suggested that verses 26–29 describe the modern gathering of Israel. In his reading, the Saints “come with speed swiftly” without weariness, the horses’ “hoofs… like flint” and “wheels like a whirlwind” are trains, and the lions’ “roaring” is the sound of airplanes. How could an ancient prophet describe such things except with the images he had?

It is an imaginative and faith-filled application, and it has been widely repeated. It is also good to recognize that in Isaiah’s original setting these verses describe the Assyrian army as an instrument of judgment. Both can be true. Isaiah’s imagery often had one fulfillment in his day and a likened meaning in ours (1 Ne. 19:23).

Sources: LeGrand Richards, Israel! Do You Know?, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1954.

28 Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall be counted 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 prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.

30 And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.

Seeing Christ in Isaiah 5

The Vinedresser of Isaiah 5 is the Lord Jesus Christ, who planted Israel, tended it, and wept over its wild grapes. Jesus deliberately retold this song in the temple during the last week of His life (Matt. 21:33–45). In His version, the owner sends servants and then his own son, whom the tenants kill. The Vinedresser Himself would come into the vineyard and be rejected by it.

In Zenos’s allegory the Lord of the vineyard labors alongside His servants for the last time (Jacob 5:72). And in the refrain of this chapter, the hand that is “stretched out still” is ultimately a hand that bears the marks of crucifixion (3 Ne. 11:14–15). It is outstretched to warn and to save.

Liken it to yourself

Take the question of verse 4 personally: What could have been done more for me that the Lord has not done? Make a list. It may be longer than you expect.
Wild grapes look like good grapes until you taste them. Where in my life do I have the appearance of righteousness (verse 7) without the fruit of justice and compassion?
Which of the six woes is most tempting in my world: accumulating (verse 8), constant entertainment (verses 11–12), cynicism (verse 19), relabeling sin (verse 20), intellectual pride (verse 21), or looking the other way (verse 23)?
The ensign is still raised. What part am I playing in helping others see it and come?

Worth exploring next

Three vineyards. Read Isaiah 5:1–7, Jacob 5, and Matt. 21:33–45 together. What does each add? How does Zenos’s ending differ from Isaiah’s?
The second vineyard song. Isaiah returns to the vineyard in Isa. 27:2–6 with a very different tone. What has changed?
Six woes. Compare this chapter’s woes with the “woes” Jacob pronounces in 2 Ne. 9:27–38. Jacob was quoting Isaiah just before this; do you see his influence?

This chapter elsewhere in scripture

Nephi’s text of this chapter (2 Ne. 15) reads differently from the King James Version in 23 verses. The BoM markers show the 18 where more than a small word changes.

2 Ne. 15 — Nephi quotes the chapter.
Jacob 5:41–49 — “What could I have done more for my vineyard?”
Matt. 21:33–45 — Jesus retells the vineyard parable to the chief priests.

Sources & further reading

Donald W. Parry, Jay A. Parry, and Tina M. Peterson, Understanding Isaiah, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1998.
John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, New International Commentary on the Old Testament, 2 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986–1998.
Terry B. Ball and Nathan Winn, Making Sense of Isaiah: Insights and Modern Applications, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2009.
LeGrand Richards, Israel! Do You Know?, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1954.
Chapter 13: The Establishment of Zion (Isaiah 1–12), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).

I’ve studied Isaiah 5