Isaiah 5:2
1 I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
He dug it up and cleared the stones and planted the finest vines. He built a watchtower in the middle and dug out a winepress as well. He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes, but the fruit it produced was sour!
3 “And now, O dwellers of Jerusalem and men of Judah, I exhort you to judge between Me and My vineyard.
4 What more could I have done for My vineyard than I already did for it? Why, when I expected sweet grapes, did it bring forth sour fruit?
This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- He dug it up and cleared the stones and planted the finest vines. He built a watchtower in the middle and dug out a winepress as well. He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes, but the fruit it produced was sour!
- KJV
- 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.
- WEB
- He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in the middle of it, and also cut out a wine press in it. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.
- ASV
- and he digged 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 hewed out a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
- DARBY
- And he dug it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine; and he built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a winepress therein; and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes.
- BLB
- And he dug it and cleared it of stones, and he planted it with the choicest vine; and he built a tower in its midst, and also a winepress he hewed out in it. And he waited for [it] to make grapes, and it made wild grapes.
- ÅB
- Og han gravde den om og renset den for stein og plantet edle vintrær i den og bygget et tårn i dens midte og hugg også ut en perse i den; og han ventet at den skulle bære gode druer, men den bar ville.
- OTB
- Han gravde den opp, renset den for steiner, og plantet den med de beste vinstokker. Han bygde et vakttårn midt i den og hogg ut en vinpresse også. Så ventet han på en avling av gode druer, men den produserte bare verdiløs frukt.
- B1930
- Og han gravde den om og renset den for sten og plantet edle vintrær i den og bygget et tårn i dens midte og hugg også ut en perse i den; og han ventet at den skulde bære gode druer, men den bar ville.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Jeremiah 2:21
I had planted you like a choice vine from the very best seed. How could you turn yourself before Me into a rotten, wild vine?
Read in contextDeuteronomy 32:32–33
But their vine is from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous; their clusters are bitter.
Read in contextIsaiah 1:2–4
Listen, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD has spoken: “I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against Me.
Read in context1 Corinthians 9:7
Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Who tends a flock and does not drink of its milk?
Read in contextMark 11:13
Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if there was any fruit on it. But when He reached it, He found nothing on it except leaves, since it was not the season for figs.
Read in contextRevelation 14:18–20
Still another angel, with authority over the fire, came from the altar and called out in a loud voice to the angel with the sharp sickle, “Swing your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the vine of the earth, because its grapes are ripe.”
Read in contextLuke 13:6–7
Then Jesus told this parable: “A man had a fig tree that was planted in his vineyard. He went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any.
Read in contextLuke 20:10–18
At harvest time, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat the servant and sent him away empty-handed.
Read in context