Isaiah 5:7

7 Israel is the vineyard of the Lord Almighty; the people of Judah are the vines he planted. He expected them to do what was good, but instead they committed murder. He expected them to do what was right, but their victims cried out for justice.

Isaiah 5:7 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 5:7

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of
Israel
This is the explication of the parable, or the accommodation and application of it to the people of Israel, by whom are meant the ten tribes; they are signified by the vineyard, which belonged to the Lord of hosts, who had chosen them to be a peculiar people to him, and had separated them from all others: and the men of Judah his pleasant plant;
they were so when first planted by the Lord; they were plants of delight, in whom he took great delight and pleasure, ( Deuteronomy 10:15 ) these design the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, in distinction from Israel: and he looked for judgment;
that the poor, and the fatherless, and the widow, would have their causes judged in a righteous manner, and that justice and judgment would be executed in the land in all respects; for which such provision was made by the good and righteous laws that were given them: but behold oppression;
or a "scab", such as was in the plague of leprosy; corruption, perverting of justice, and oppressing of the poor: Jarchi interprets it a gathering of sin to sin, a heaping up iniquities: for righteousness, but behold a cry;
of the poor and oppressed, for want of justice done, and by reason of their oppressions. Here ends the song; what has been parabolically said is literally expressed in the following part of the chapter.

Isaiah 5:7 In-Context

5 "Here is what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge around it, break down the wall that protects it, and let wild animals eat it and trample it down.

6 I will let it be overgrown with weeds. I will not trim the vines or hoe the ground; instead, I will let briers and thorns cover it. I will even forbid the clouds to let rain fall on it."

7 Israel is the vineyard of the Lord Almighty; the people of Judah are the vines he planted. He expected them to do what was good, but instead they committed murder. He expected them to do what was right, but their victims cried out for justice.

8 You are doomed! You buy more houses and fields to add to those you already have. Soon there will be no place for anyone else to live, and you alone will live in the land.

9 I have heard the Lord Almighty say, "All these big, fine houses will be empty ruins.