Study Desk

I will sing about the one I love, a song about my loved one's vineyard:^(a) The one I love had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

He broke up the soil, cleared it of stones, and planted it with the finest vines.^(b) He built a tower in the middle of it and even dug out a winepress there. He expected^(c) it to yield good grapes, but it yielded worthless grapes.^(d)

So now, residents of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between Me and My vineyard.

What more could I have done for My vineyard than I did?^(e) Why, when I expected a yield of good grapes, did it yield worthless grapes?

Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge,^(f) and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall,^(g) and it will be trampled.

I will make it a wasteland.^(h) It will not be pruned or weeded; thorns and briers will grow up.⁽ⁱ⁾ I will also give orders to the clouds that rain should not fall on it.

For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel,^(j) and the men^[a] of Judah, the plant He delighted in. He looked for justice but saw injustice, for righteousness, but heard cries of wretchedness.

Woe to those who add house to house^(k) and join field to field until there is no more room and you alone are left in the land.

I heard the Lord of Hosts say: Indeed, many houses^(l) will become desolate, grand and lovely ones without inhabitants.

For a ten-acre^[b] vineyard will yield only six gallons,^[c] and 10 bushels^[d] of seed will yield only one bushel.^[e]

Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of beer,^(m) who linger into the evening, inflamed by wine.

At their feasts they have lyre, harp, tambourine, flute, and wine. They do not perceive the Lord 's actions,⁽ⁿ⁾ and they do not see the work of His hands.^(o)

Therefore My people will go into exile because they lack knowledge;^(p) her^[f] dignitaries are starving, and her^[g] masses are parched with thirst.

Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat and opens wide its enormous jaws,^(q) and down go Zion's dignitaries, her masses, her crowds, and those who carouse in her!

Humanity is brought low, man is humbled, and haughty eyes are humbled.^(r)

But the Lord of Hosts is exalted by His justice,^(s) and the holy God^(t) is distinguished by righteousness.^(u)

Lambs will graze as if in^[h] their own pastures,^(v) and strangers^[i] will eat among the ruins of the rich.

Woe to those who drag wickedness with cords of deceit^(w) and pull sin along with cart ropes,

to those who say: "Let Him hurry up and do His work quickly so that we can see it! Let the plan^(x) of the Holy One of Israel^(y) take place so that we can know it!"

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,^(z) who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

Woe to those who are wise in their own opinion and clever in their own sight.^[j](aa)

Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, who are fearless at mixing beer,^(ab)

who acquit the guilty for a bribe^(ac) and deprive the innocent of justice.

Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will become like something rotten and their blossoms will blow away like dust, for they have rejected^(ad) the instruction of the Lord of Hosts, and they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.^(ae)

Therefore the Lord 's anger burns^(af) against His people. He raised His hand against them and struck them; the mountains quaked,^(ag) and their corpses were like garbage in the streets. In all this, His anger is not removed, and His hand is still raised to strike.^(ah)

He raises a signal flag for the distant nations^(ai) and whistles^(aj) for them from the ends of the earth. Look—how quickly and swiftly they come!

None of them grows weary or stumbles;^(ak) no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose and no sandal strap broken.

Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows strung. Their horses' hooves are like flint; their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.

Their roaring is like a lion's;^(al) they roar like young lions;^(am) they growl and seize their prey and carry it off, and no one can rescue it.

On that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. When one looks at the land, there will be darkness and distress; light will be obscured by clouds.^[k]

In the year that King Uzziah^(a) died, I saw the Lord^(b) seated on a high and lofty^(c) throne,^(d) and His robe^[a] filled the temple.

Seraphim^[b] were standing above Him; each one had six wings:^(e) with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.^(f)

And one called to another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; His glory^(g) fills the whole earth.^(h)

The foundations of the doorways shook⁽ⁱ⁾ at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke.

Then I said: Woe is me^(j) for I am ruined^[c] because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips,^(k) and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar^(l) with tongs.

He touched my mouth^(m) with it and said: Now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed and your sin is atoned for.⁽ⁿ⁾

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Who should I send? Who will go for Us? I said: Here I am. Send me.

And He replied: Go! Say to these people: Keep listening, but do not understand;^(o) keep looking, but do not perceive.

Dull the minds^[d] of these people; deafen their ears and blind their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their minds, turn back, and be healed.^(p)

Then I said, "Until when, Lord?"^(q) And He replied: Until cities lie in ruins without inhabitants,^(r) houses are without people, the land is ruined and desolate,

and the Lord drives the people far away, leaving great emptiness in the land.

Though a tenth will remain in the land, it will be burned again. Like the terebinth or the oak that leaves a stump when felled, the holy seed^(s) is the stump.^(t)

This took place during the reign of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah king of Judah:^(a) Rezin king of Aram, along with Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, waged war against Jerusalem,^(b) but he could not succeed.

When it became known to the house of David^(c) that Aram had occupied Ephraim,^(d) the heart of Ahaz^[a] and the hearts of his people trembled like trees of a forest shaking in the wind.

Then the Lord said to Isaiah, "Go out with your son Shear-jashub^(e) to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool,^(f) by the road to the Fuller's Field.

Say to him: Calm down and be quiet. Don't be afraid or cowardly^(g) because of these two smoldering stubs of firebrands, the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram, and the son of Remaliah.

For Aram, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has plotted harm against you. They say,

‘Let us go up against Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it for ourselves. Then we can install Tabeel's son as king in it.'"

This is what the Lord God says: It will not happen; it will not occur.^(h)

The^[b] head of Aram is Damascus, the head of Damascus is Rezin (within 65 years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people),

the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you do not stand firm in your faith, then you will not stand at all.

Then the Lord spoke again to Ahaz:

"Ask for a sign⁽ⁱ⁾ from the Lord your God—from the depths of Sheol to the heights of heaven."

But Ahaz replied, "I will not ask. I will not test the Lord ."

Isaiah^(j) said, "Listen, house of David! Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men? Will you also try the patience of my God?^(k)

Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you^[c] a sign: The virgin will conceive,^[d] have a son, and name him Immanuel.^[e](l)

By the time he learns to reject what is bad and choose what is good,^(m) he will be eating butter^[f] and honey.⁽ⁿ⁾

For before the boy knows to reject what is bad and choose what is good, the land of the two kings you dread will be abandoned.

The Lord will bring on you, your people, and the house of your father, such a time as has never been since Ephraim separated from Judah^(o)—the king of Assyria^(p) is coming."

On that day^(q) the Lord will whistle^(r) to the fly that is at the farthest streams of the Nile and to the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

All of them will come and settle in the steep ravines, in the clefts of the rocks,^(s) in all the thornbushes, and in all the water holes.

On that day the Lord will use a razor^(t) hired from beyond the Euphrates River—the king of Assyria^(u)—to shave the head, the hair on the legs, and to remove the beard as well.

On that day a man will raise a young cow and two sheep,

and from the abundant milk they give he will eat butter, for every survivor in the land will eat butter and honey.^(v)

And on that day every place where there were 1,000 vines, worth 1,000 pieces of silver, will become thorns and briers.^(w)

A man will go there with bow and arrows because the whole land will be thorns and briers.

You will not go to all the hills that were once tilled with a hoe, for fear of the thorns and briers. Those hills will be places for oxen to graze and for sheep to trample.

Then the Lord said to me, "Take a large piece of parchment^[a] and write on it with an ordinary pen:^[b](a) Maher-shalal-hash-baz.^[c]

I have appointed^[d] trustworthy witnesses—Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah."^(b)

I was then intimate with the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. The Lord said to me, "Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz,

for before the boy knows how to call out father or mother,^(c) the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried off to the king of Assyria."^(d)

The Lord spoke to me again:

Because these people rejected the slowly flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoiced with^[e] Rezin and the son of Remaliah,^(e)

the Lord will certainly bring against them the mighty rushing waters of the Euphrates River— the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will overflow its channels and spill over all its banks.

It will pour into Judah, flood over it, and sweep through, reaching up to the neck;^(f) and its spreading streams^[f] will fill your entire land, Immanuel!^(g)

Band together, peoples, and be broken; pay attention, all you distant lands; prepare for war, and be broken; prepare for war, and be broken.

Devise a plan; it will fail.^(h) Make a prediction; it will not happen. For God is with us.^[g](i)

For this is what the Lord said to me with great power, to keep^[h] me from going the way of this people:^(j)

Do not call everything an alliance these people say is an alliance.^(k) Do not fear what they fear;^(l) do not be terrified.

You are to regard only the Lord of Hosts as holy.^(m) Only He should be feared;⁽ⁿ⁾ only He should be held in awe.

He will be a sanctuary;^(o) but for the two houses of Israel, He will be a stone^(p) to stumble over and a rock to trip over,^(q) and a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Many will stumble over these;^(r) they will fall and be broken; they will be snared and captured.

Bind up the testimony.^(s) Seal up the instruction^(t) among my disciples.

I will wait for the Lord ,^(u) who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob.^(v) I will wait for Him.

Here I am with the children the Lord has given me^(w) to be signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of Hosts who dwells on Mount Zion.

When they say to you, "Consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who chirp and mutter,"^(x) shouldn't a people consult their God?^[i] Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?^(y)

To the law and to the testimony!^(z) If they do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them.

They will wander through the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged, and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God.

They will look toward the earth^(aa) and see only distress, darkness, and the gloom of affliction, and they will be driven into thick darkness.