rd

Isaiah 5

1 Under the similitude of the vine he describeth the state of the people, 8 Of their avarice. 11 Their drunkenness 13 Of their captivitie.
1.Now will aI sing to my abeloved a song of my beloved to his vineyard, *My beloved had a cvineyard in a very fruitful hill,
2.And he hedged it, and gathered out the stones of it, and he planted it with the best plants, dand he built a tower in the middes thereof, and made a wine press therein then he looked that it should bring forth grapes: but it brought eforth wild grapes.
3.Now therefore, ô inhabitants of Jerusalém and men of Judáh, judge, I pray you, fbetween me, and my vineyard.
4.What could I have done any more to my vineyard that I have not done unto it? why have I looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it bringeth forth wild grapes?
5.And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard, I gwill take away the hedge thereof, and it shalbe eaten up: I will break the wall thereof, and it shalbe trodden down:
6.And I will lay it waste it shall not be cut, nor digged, but briers, and thrones shall grow up. I will also command the clouds that they rain no more upon it.
7.¶ Surely the vineyard of the Lord of hostes is the house of Israél, and the men of Judáh are his pleasant plant, and he looked for hjudgement: but behold oppression: for righteousness, but behold ia crying.
8.Wo unto them that join house to house, and lay field to field, till there be no kplace, that ye may be placed by your selves in the middes of the earth.
9.This is in mine lears, saith the Lord of hostes. Surely many houses shalbe desolate, even great, and fair without inhabitant.
10.For ten acres of vines shall yield one mbath, and the seed of an nhomer shall yield an oephah.
11.¶ Wo unto them, that prise up early to follow drunkeness, and to them that continue until qnight, till the wine do inflame them.
12.And the harp and viol, timbrel, and pipe, and wine are in their feasts: but they regard not the rwork of the Lord, neither consider the work of his hands.
13.Therefore my people sis gone into captivity, because they had tno knowledge, and the glory thereof are men famished, and the multitude thereof is dryed up with thirst.
14.Therefore uhell hath enlarged it self, & hath opened his mouth, without measure, and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoyceth among them, shall descend into it.
15.And man shalbe brought down, and man shalbe humbled, even the eyes of the proud shalbe humbled.
16.And the Lord of hostes shalbe exalted in judgement, and the holie God shalbe sanctified in justice.
17.Then shall xthe lambs feed after their manner, & the strangers shall eat the desolate places of the fat.
18.¶ Wo unto them, that draw iniquity with ycords of vanity, and sin, as with cart ropes:
19.Which say, zLet him make speed let him hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the holie one of Israél draw near and come, that we may know it.
20.Wo unto them that speak good of evil, aand evil of good, which put darkness for light, and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for sour.
21.Wo unto them that are bwise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight.
22.Wo unto them that are cmighty to drink wine, and to them that are strong to power in strong drink.
23.Which justify the wicked for a reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him.
24.Therefore as the flame of fire devoureth the stubble, and as the chaff is consumed of the flame: so their droot shalbe as rottenness, and their bud shall rise up like dust, because they have cast off the Law of the Lord of hostes, and contemned the word of the holie one of Israél.
25.Therefore is the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath stretched out his ehand upon them, and hath smitten them that the mountains did tremble: and their karcases were torn in the middes of the streets, and for all this his wrath was not turned away, but his hand was stretched out still.
26.And he will lift up a sign funto the nations a far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and behold, they shall come hastily with speed.
27.None shall gfaint nor fall among them: none shall slumber nor sleep, neither shall the girdle of his loins be loosed, nor hthe latchet of his shoes be broken:
28.Whose arrows shalbe sharp, & all his bowes bent: his horse hoofs shalbe thought like flint, and his wheels like a whirl wind.
29.His roaring shalbe like a lyon, and he shall roar like lyon’s whelps: they shall iroar, and lay hold of the pray: they shall take it away, and none shall deliver it.
30.And in that daie they shall roar upon them, as the roaring of the sea: and if kthey look unto the earth, behold darkness, and sorrow, and the light shalbe darkened in their lsky.

Notes

1-*.
Jer. 2.21, Mt. 21.33.
1-a.
The Prophet by this song does set before the people’s eyes their ingratitude, and God’s mercy.
1-b.
That is, to God.
1-c.
Meaning, that he had planted his Church in a place most plentiful and abundant.
2-d.
He spared no diligence nor cost.
2-e.
In the seventh verse he declared what they were.
3-f.
He makes them judges in their own cause, forasmuch as it was evident that they were the cause of their own ruin.
5-g.
I will take no more care for it meaning that he would take from them his word and ministers, and all other comforts, & send them contrary plagues.
7-h.
Judgement and righteousness are true fruits of the fear of God, and therefore in the cruel oppressors, there is no religion.
7-i.
Of them that are oppressed.
8-k.
To wit, for the poor to dwell in.
9-l.
I have heard the complaint, and cry of the poor.
10-m.
Which contains about ten pottels [twenty quarts] so that every acre should but yield one pottel.
10-n.
Which contains an hundred pottels.
10-o.
An Ephah contains ten pottels, and is in dry things as much as bath is in liquors.
11-p.
That spare no pain nor diligence to follow their lusts.
11-q.
Which are never weary of their rioting and excessive pleasures but use all means to provoke to the same.
12-r.
They regard not the provident care of God over them, nor for what end he has created them.
13-s.
That is, shall certainly go: for so the Prophet use to speak, as though the thing which shall come to pass, were done already.
13-t.
Because they would not obey the word of God.
14-u.
Meaning, the grave shall swallow up them that shall die for hunger and thirst, and yet for all this great destruction it shall never be saciate.
17-x.
God comforts the poor lambs of his Church, which had been strangers in other countries, promising that they should dwell in those places again, whereof they had been deprived by the fat, and cruel tyrants.
18-y.
Which use all allurements, occasions, and excuses to harden their conscience in sin.
19-z.
He shows what are the words of the wicked, when they are menaced with God’s judgements, 2 Pet. 3.4.
20-a.
Which are not ashamed of sin, nor care for honesty, but are grown to a desperate impiety.
21-b.
Which are contemners of all doctrine and admonition.
22-c.
Which are never weary, but show their strength, and brag in gluttony and drunkenness.
24-d.
Both they and their posterity, so that nothing shall be left.
25-e.
He shows that God had so sore punished this people, that the dumb creatures, if they had been so plagued, would have been more sensible, and therefore his plagues must continue, till they begin to feel them.
26-f.
He will make the Babylonians to come against them at his becke, and to fight under his standard.
27-g.
They shall be prompt, and lusty to execute God’s vengence.
27-h.
The enemy shall have none impediment.
29-i.
Whereby is declared the cruelty of the enemy.
30-k.
The Jews shall find no succour.
30-l.
In the land of Judah.