aI will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned;
And break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.
It shall not be pruned or1 dug,
But there shall come up briers and bthorns.
I will also command the clouds
That they rain no rain on it.”
And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant.
He looked for justice, but behold, oppression;
For righteousness, but behold,1 a cry for help.
Impending Judgment on Excesses
They add field to field,
Till there is no place
Where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land!
“Truly, many houses shall be desolate,
Great and beautiful ones, without inhabitant.
That they may1 follow intoxicating drink;
Who continue until night, till wine inflames them!
| << Isaiah 5:6 | Isaiah 5:8 >> |
Isaiah 5:7
For the vineyard ... - This is the application of the parable. God had treated the Jews as a farmer does a vineyard. This was "his" vineyard - the object of his faithful, unceasing care. This was his "only" vineyard; on this people alone, of all the nations of the earth, had he bestowed his special attention.
His pleasant plant - The plant in which he delighted. As the farmer had been at the pains to plant the "sorek" Isaiah 5:2, so had God selected the ancient stock of the Jews as his own, and made the race the object of his chief attention.
And he looked for judgment - For justice, or righteousness.
But behold oppression - The word rendered "oppression" means properly "shedding of blood." In the original here, there is a remarkable "paranomasia," or play upon words, which is not uncommon in the Hebrew Scriptures, and which was deemed a great beauty in composition:
He looked for "judgment," mishpa?t? ,
And lo! "shedding of blood," mis'pa?ch ;
For "rightousness," tseda?qa?h ,
But lo! "a clamor," tse?a?qa?h .
It is impossible, of course, to retain this in a translation.
A cry. A clamor - tumult, disorder; the clamor which attends anarchy, and covetousness, and dissipation Isaiah 5:8, Isaiah 5:11-12, rather than the soberness and steadiness of justice.
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Isaiah 5:7:
Psalms 80:8
Isaiah 3:14
Isaiah 40:3
Isaiah 48:18
Jeremiah 5:10
Joel 1:7
Micah 3:8
Micah 7:1
Matthew 20:1
John 1:11
John 15:1
| << Isaiah 5:6 | Isaiah 5:8 >> |
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