CHAPTER 5 May 15 
The Song of the Vineyard 
Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about His vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. 2He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in its midst, and also cut out a wine press therein. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. 3Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between Me and My vineyard. 4What could have been done more to My vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes? 5Now I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up. I will break down its wall of it, and it will be trampled down. 6I will lay it a wasteland. It won’t be pruned nor hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it. 7For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant plant: and He looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.

The Evil That Men Do
8Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field until there is no room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land! 9In my ears Yahweh of Armies says: Surely many houses will be desolate, even great and beautiful ones, unoccupied. 10For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield an ephah. 11Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them! 12The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts; but they don’t respect the work of Yahweh, neither have they considered the operation of His hands. 13Therefore My people go into captivity for lack of knowledge. Their honourable men are famished, and their multitudes are parched with thirst. 14Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire, and opened its mouth without measure; and their glory, their multitude, their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend into it. 15So man is brought low, mankind is humbled, and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled; 16but Yahweh of Armies is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness. 17Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich. 18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope; 19who say, Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it! 20Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet. 21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! 22Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and champions at mixing strong drink; 23who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice for the innocent! 24Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. 25Therefore Yahweh’s anger burns against His people, and He has stretched out His hand against them, and has struck them. The mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this, His anger is not turned away, but His hand is still stretched out. 26He will lift up a banner for the nations from far, and He will whistle for them from the end of the land. Behold, they will come speedily and swiftly. 27None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the belt of their waist be untied, nor the latches of their shoes be broken: 28whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent. Their horses’ hoofs will be like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind. 29Their roaring will be like a lioness, they will roar like young lions. Yes, they shall roar and seize their prey and carry it off, and there will be no one to deliver. 30They will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land behold, darkness and distress. The light is darkened in its clouds.

Commentary

5:3 Please judge between Me and My vineyard- At times, God invites us to judge Him (see Rom. 3:4). We may find this idea of putting God in the dock to be inappropriate and something we shy away from; but every time we doubt that in fact God has created an ideal environment for our bearing of spiritual fruit, this is in fact what we are doing. 
5:4 God has done absolutely everything possible so that we His vineyard brings forth fruit. We need to remember this when we complain that if only this or that situation would be different in my life, then I could bring forth far more fruit to God. Jesus based His parable of the vineyard on this song (Mt. 21:33-41). But He concludes it rather differently. Instead of the vineyard being destroyed, the workers (the Jews) are destroyed in judgment and the vineyard is given to other workers (the body of Christ). But the same fruit is required of us as it was from them- justice and righteousness towards others (:7). In these very two things, we exalt God if we exalt the lowly by giving them justice (:16). 
5:5,6 This describes how Judah was trampled by invaders and left waste for 70 years whilst Judah were in captivity in Babylon. God’s hope was that the vineyard would again be fruitful at their return, but it wasn’t.
5:9 In my ears- Isaiah spoke publically what God had spoken in his ears. The spirit of the prophets should be our spirit in our testimony for Jesus (Rev. 19:10). Jesus confirms this by telling us that what we (like Isaiah) hear in the ear, we are to openly proclaim (Mt. 10:27). It must’ve been hard and counter-instinctive for Isaiah to proclaim his message to a people who generally didn’t want to hear nor have their comfort zones invaded- just as it is for us.
5:13 For lack of knowledge- This “lack” was a moral issue, not an intellectual one. To ‘know’ God doesn’t mean to amass theory, but to not follow the selfish materialism criticized in the previous verses.
5:15,16 Humility exalts God; this paradox is found throughout the Bible, supremely in the exaltation of the supremely humble Jesus to the greatest height.
5:26 The Gentile nations situated at the end or borders of Judah came and attacked her from their own motives, but ultimately God was using them and had called them to come and do His work of judgment. Total unbelievers are in God’s hand and are moved around the board of life by God in relation to His intentions for His people.