Isaías 5

ARC · Chapter 5/66

1Agora cantarei ao meu amado o cantico do meu bem querido da sua vinha. O meu amado tem uma vinha n'um outeiro fertil.

2E a cercou, e a limpou das pedras, e a plantou d'excellentes vides; e edificou no meio d'ella uma torre, e tambem fundou n'ella um lagar; e esperava que desse uvas boas, porém deu uvas bravas.

3Agora pois, ó moradores de Jerusalem, e homens de Judah, julgae, vos peço, entre mim e a minha vinha.

4Que mais se podia fazer á minha vinha, que eu lhe não tenha feito? como, esperando eu que desse uvas boas, veiu a dar uvas bravas?

5Agora pois vos farei saber o que eu hei de fazer á minha vinha: tirarei a sua cerca, para que sirva de pasto; derribarei a sua parede, para que seja pisada;

6E a tornarei em deserto; não será podada nem cavada; porém crescerão n'ella sarças e espinheiros; e ás nuvens darei ordem que não chovam chuva sobre ella.

7Porque a vinha do Senhor dos Exercitos é a casa d'Israel, e os homens de Judah são a planta das suas delicias: e esperou que fizesse juizo, e eis aqui é oppressão; justiça, e eis aqui clamor.

8Ai dos que ajuntam casa a casa, achegam herdade a herdade, até que não haja mais logar, e só vós fiqueis os moradores no meio da terra!

9Nos meus ouvidos estão estas coisas, disse o Senhor dos Exercitos: em verdade que muitas casas se tornarão em deserto, as grandes e excellentes sem moradores.

10E dez geiras de vinha não darão mais do que um batho: e um homer de semente não dará mais do que um efa

11Ai dos que se levantam pela manhã, e seguiram a bebedice; e se deteem ali até á noite, até que o vinho os esquenta!

12E harpas e alaudes, tamboris e gaitas, e vinho ha nos seus banquetes; e não olham para a obra do Senhor, nem consideram as obras das suas mãos.

13Portanto o meu povo será levado captivo, porque não tem entendimento; e os seus nobres terão fome, e a sua multidão se seccará de sêde

14Portanto a sepultura grandemente se alargou, e se abriu a sua bocca desmesuradamente; e a gloria d'elles, e a sua multidão, com o seu arruido, e com os que galhofam a ella desceram.

15Então o plebeu se abaterá, e o nobre se humilhará; e os olhos dos altivos se humilharão.

16Porém o Senhor dos Exercitos será exaltado com juizo; e Deus, o Sancto, será sanctificado com justiça.

17Então os cordeiros pastarão como de costume, e os estranhos comerão dos logares assolados dos gordos.

18Ai dos que puxam pela iniquidade com cordas de vaidade, e pelo peccado como com cordagens de carros!

19E dizem: Avie-se já com isso, e acabe a sua obra, para que já a vejamos; e achegue-se e venha já o conselho do Sancto de Israel, para que o venhamos a saber.

20Ai dos que ao mal chamam bem, e ao bem mal: que fazem das escuridades luz, e da luz escuridades; e fazem do amargoso doce, e do doce amargoso!

21Ai dos que são sabios a seus proprios olhos, e prudentes em si mesmos!

22Ai dos que são poderosos para beber vinho, e varões fortes para misturar bebida forte:

23Dos que justificam ao impio por peitas, e da justiça dos justos se desviam!

24Pelo que como a lingua do fogo consome a estopa, e a palha se desfaz pela chamma, assim será a sua raiz como podridão, e a sua flor se esvaecerá como pó: porquanto rejeitaram a lei do Senhor dos Exercitos, e desprezaram a palavra do Sancto de Israel.

25Pelo que se accendeu a ira do Senhor contra o seu povo, e estendeu a sua mão contra elle, e o feriu, de modo que as montanhas tremeram, e os seus cadaveres foram como immundicia pelo meio das ruas: com tudo isto não tornou atraz a sua ira, antes ainda está alçada a sua mão

26Porque arvorará o estandarte entre as nações de longe, e lhes assobiará a que venham desde a extremidade da terra: e eis que virão apressurada e ligeiramente.

27Não haverá entre elles cançado, nem tropeçante; ninguem tosquenejará nem dormirá: nem se lhe desatará o cinto dos seus lombos, nem se lhe quebrará a correia dos seus sapatos

28As suas frechas serão agudas, e todos os seus arcos entezados: as unhas dos seus cavallos serão tidas na conta de penha, e as rodas dos seus carros como redemoinho de vento.

29O seu bramido será como o do leão: bramarão como filhos de leão, e rugirão, e arrebatarão a preza, e a levarão, e redemptor não haverá.

30E bramarão contra elles n'aquelle dia, como o bramido do mar: então olharão para a terra, e eis aqui trevas e ancia, e a luz se escurecerá em suas assolações.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Isaiah sings the 'song of the vineyard': God cared for Israel the way a farmer cares for his vineyard, but it produced only wild grapes (injustice). A series of six 'woes' (warnings of disaster) follows, aimed at greed, drunkenness, the reversal of moral values, and corruption in the courts.

Explanation

The parable of the vineyard was a farming image very familiar to the people of Judah, whose economy depended on vineyards on the hillsides around Jerusalem. God is the owner who did everything right — fenced it, cleared the stones, built a tower and a winepress — but the vineyard (the people) disappointed him. The six 'woes' that follow spell out specific sins: hoarding land at the expense of the poor, drunkenness, calling evil good, intellectual arrogance, and bribery in the courts. The practical application is remembering that privileges received from God (gifts, opportunities, resources) come with the expectation that we bear good fruit, not just the appearance of religion.

Fun facts

  • 'The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel' (v.7) is one of the most direct explanations of a parable in the whole Old Testament — the text itself hands over the meaning of the image.
  • Jesus will use an almost identical parable about a vineyard centuries later (Matthew 21:33-41), showing how this image became a classic of biblical tradition.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Isaías 5:1The song of the vineyard is a full parable, sung as if it were a love song. The owner plants, fences, builds a tower and a winepress, invests everything, and the vineyard only produces wild grapes—a poetic device to prepare the listener before revealing who this vineyard really is.
  2. Isaías 5:2It details the owner's care for the vineyard: he cleared the stones, planted excellent vines, built a watchtower and a winepress for treading the grapes—a complete investment, which makes the outcome of wild grapes all the more disappointing.
  3. Isaías 5:3The owner turns to his own listeners, the residents of Jerusalem and Judah, and asks them to judge the case between him and his vineyard—a rhetorical device that pulls the audience into the story before revealing who the vineyard is.
  4. Isaías 5:4A rhetorical question: what more could I have done for my vineyard? It reinforces that the failure was not the owner's lack of care, but something wrong with the vineyard itself.
  5. Isaías 5:5The announcement of punishment: the owner will remove the hedge and break down the wall, leaving the vineyard exposed to be trampled and destroyed—the end of the protection it once had.
  6. Isaías 5:6The punishment continues: the vineyard becomes a wasteland, unpruned and untilled, overtaken by briers, and even the clouds are commanded not to rain on it—total abandonment, with even the weather cooperating in the ruin.
  7. Isaías 5:7At the end of the poem the metaphor explains itself: the vineyard is the house of Israel, and the bad fruit is the social injustice that appeared where justice was expected. The text itself provides the key, leaving nothing open to interpretation.
  8. Isaías 5:8First in a series of "woe" oracles: against those who join house to house and field to field until there is no room left for anyone else—a criticism of the greed for land that pushes out small landowners.
  9. Isaías 5:9In response to this greed, the LORD promises that these very large houses will end up empty, without inhabitants—the irony of accumulating properties that end up deserted.
  10. Isaías 5:10An acre was the area a yoke of oxen could plow in a day, and bath, ephah, and homer were measures of volume for wine and grain. The verse describes a huge plot of land producing almost nothing, an ancient way of announcing a catastrophic crop failure.
  11. Isaías 5:11Second "woe": against those who rise early in the morning chasing drink and stay drunk until night—a criticism of addiction that consumes a person's entire day.
  12. Isaías 5:12It continues: harps, tambourines, and wine at their feasts, but no attention at all to the works of the LORD—the problem is not the feast itself, it is the complete distraction from spiritual life.
  13. Isaías 5:13The consequence: the people go into captivity for lack of understanding, and hunger and thirst strike both nobles and common people alike—the price of spiritual and social negligence.
  14. Isaías 5:14An image of the grave opening its mouth wide to swallow Jerusalem's noisy, partying crowd—the revelry described earlier ends up literally in the pit.
  15. Isaías 5:15It repeats the theme of humiliation: common people and nobles brought equally low, the haughty eyes humbled—the same pattern already seen in chapter 2.
  16. Isaías 5:16In contrast to human humiliation, it is the LORD who is exalted through righteous judgment—the same logic as chapter 1, that God's justice is what remains standing in the end.
  17. Isaías 5:17After the devastation, an almost pastoral image: lambs grazing as usual and strangers eating in places once rich and now ruined—the land of the powerful becomes common pasture.
  18. Isaías 5:18Third "woe": against those who "draw iniquity with cords of vanity," like someone dragging their own sin behind them for pleasure, going ever deeper, like a cart driver hauling a heavy load.
  19. Isaías 5:19It continues: these are people who mock God, daring Him to "make speed, and hasten his work" so they can see it for themselves—an ironic challenge to divine patience.
  20. Isaías 5:20Fourth "woe": against those who invert moral values, calling evil good and good evil, trading darkness for light and sweet for bitter—moral corruption scrambles the basic concepts of right and wrong.
  21. Isaías 5:21Fifth "woe": against those who consider themselves wise in their own eyes, trusting their own judgment far too much, with no room for anyone to correct them.
  22. Isaías 5:22Sixth "woe": against those who are "mighty" only at drinking, valiant only at mixing strong drink—irony over pouring all one's strength into something so useless.
  23. Isaías 5:23It explains the more serious problem behind the drunkenness: these are the same people who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deny justice to the truly innocent.
  24. Isaías 5:24The final consequence, pictured as fire: just as the flame consumes dry straw, this people's root will rot and their blossom will go up like dust—the reason is clear, they rejected the law of the LORD.
  25. Isaías 5:25It describes God's anger already in action: mountains tremble, bodies are left lying in the streets like garbage, and even so the anger does not subside—His hand is still stretched out, the punishment is not yet finished.
  26. Isaías 5:26Raising a banner and hissing for a distant nation is an image of summoning an army from far away—in the chapter's context, Assyria. The idea is that this nation comes quickly and without hesitation, almost as if called by a whistle.
  27. Isaías 5:27It describes the army summoned in the previous verse as unstoppable: no one grows weary, no one stumbles, no one sleeps, not a belt comes loose nor a sandal strap breaks—a disciplined, unstoppable force.
  28. Isaías 5:28It continues the description: sharp arrows, bent bows, horses' hooves as hard as flint, and chariot wheels spinning like a whirlwind—pure attacking power, coming fast.
  29. Isaías 5:29This army's roar is compared to a lion seizing its prey and carrying it off with no one able to rescue it—the victim will have no one to help.
  30. Isaías 5:30The chapter ends with a threatening sound like the roaring sea, and a final scene of darkness and distress, where even the light goes out over the devastated land.

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