Isaiah 5:1-7

The vineyard

A Song about the LORD’s Vineyard

1 Now I will sing for the one I love

a song about his vineyard:

My beloved had a vineyard

on a rich and fertile hill.

2 He plowed the land, cleared its stones,

and planted it with the best vines.

In the middle he built a watchtower

and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks.

Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes,

but the grapes that grew were bitter.

3 Now, you people of Jerusalem and Judah,

you judge between me and my vineyard.

4 What more could I have done for my vineyard

that I have not already done?

When I expected sweet grapes,

why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes?

5 Now let me tell you

what I will do to my vineyard:

I will tear down its hedges

and let it be destroyed.

I will break down its walls

and let the animals trample it.

6 I will make it a wild place

where the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed,

a place overgrown with briers and thorns.

I will command the clouds

to drop no rain on it.

7 The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

The people of Judah are his pleasant garden.

He expected a crop of justice,

but instead he found oppression.

He expected to find righteousness,

but instead he heard cries of violence

Tyndale House Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Is 5:1–7). Tyndale

The ESV Study Bible Chapter 5

5:1–30 Judah’s Sins Condemned. Isaiah’s introductory diagnosis of Judah’s spiritual decline (chs. 1–5) now concludes with an unsparing assertion of his generation’s apostasy and its consequences. The chapter is divided into the song of the vineyard (5:1–7) and the “wild grapes” that the vineyard produced (vv. 8–30).

5:1 Let me sing for my beloved my love song. To Isaiah, God is both the Holy One and his beloved. Vineyard is explained in v. 7 as a reference to Israel and Judah (cf.

House Publishers.

New Living Translation Chapter 12

Jesus Causes Division

49 “I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! 50 I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished. 51 Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! 52 From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or two in favor and three against.

53 ‘Father will be divided against son

and son against father;

mother against daughter

and daughter against mother;

and mother-in-law against daughter-in-law

and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’”

54 Then Jesus turned to the crowd and said, “When you see clouds beginning to form in the west, you say, ‘Here comes a shower.’ And you are right. 55 When the south wind blows, you say, ‘Today will be a scorcher.’ And it is. 56 You fools! You know how to interpret the weather signs of the earth and sky, but you don’t know how to interpret the present times.

12:49–53 Jesus came not only to bring salvation but also to become the “Great Divider” of humanity, as people decide whether or not to follow him. Cast fire on the earth probably refers not to final judgment but to the refining fire of division between believers and unbelievers (see vv. 51–53). I have a baptism. Whereas the “fire” affects the world, this “baptism” is Christ’s own suffering and death, which would pour over him like a flood (cf. Ps. 88:7; Jonah 2:3; and notes on Mark 10:38 and 1 Pet. 3:21). great is my distress until. Even though it would mean suffering and death (cf. Luke 13:32–33), Jesus earnestly sought to fulfill the divine plan. Though in many ways Jesus did bring peace to the world (see note on John 14:27), it could also be said that he brought not peace … but rather division, involving even father against son (see note on Matt. 10:34–37) as one chose to follow Jesus and the other chose to reject him.

12:54–56 A cloud rising in the west over the Mediterranean would have brought moist air that condensed (a shower) as it climbed the cooler hills of Palestine (cf. 1 Kings 18:44). The south wind blowing involved a sirocco (hot, dry wind) blowing in from the desert, bringing scorching heat. The crowd could interpret these signs, but the spiritual emptiness of their hypocrisy blinded them from understanding the signs announcing the arrival of the kingdom of God in Jesus’ teaching and ministry (cf. Luke 11:20).

Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (pp. 1983–1984). Crossway Bibles.