Isaiah 5:7 kjv
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
Isaiah 5:7 nkjv
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.
Isaiah 5:7 niv
The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.
Isaiah 5:7 esv
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!
Isaiah 5:7 nlt
The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the LORD of Heaven's Armies.
The people of Judah are his pleasant garden.
He expected a crop of justice,
but instead he found oppression.
He expected to find righteousness,
but instead he heard cries of violence.
Isaiah 5 7 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Ps 80:8-16 | You brought a vine out of Egypt... planted it. You cleared the ground before it... it sent out its branches... | God's loving care in planting Israel as a vine. |
| Jer 2:21 | Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality. How then have you turned into the degenerate plant of an alien vine to Me? | Israel's spiritual decline despite God's noble planting. |
| Hos 10:1 | Israel is an empty vine; He brings forth fruit for himself. According to the multitude of his fruit He has increased the altars... | Fruit for self, not for God; spiritual barrenness. |
| Matt 21:33-41 | Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard... | Parable of wicked vinedressers; Israel's rejection of Christ. |
| Jn 15:1-8 | I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser... | Christ as the fulfillment of Israel's purpose. |
| Deut 10:12 | ...to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart... | God's expectation for His people's conduct. |
| Amos 5:24 | But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. | Prophetic call for authentic justice and righteousness. |
| Mic 6:8 | He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? | Summary of divine expectations for ethical living. |
| Prov 21:3 | To do righteousness and justice Is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. | Ethical action prioritized over ritual without substance. |
| Jer 22:3 | Thus says the LORD: ‘Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor... | Specific instructions for justice in governance. |
| Gen 4:10 | And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. | The cry of innocent blood testifying to injustice. |
| Exod 3:7 | And the LORD said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt; and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters... | God hears the cry of the oppressed. |
| Job 24:12 | Men groan from the city, and the souls of the wounded cry out; Yet God does not charge them with anything wrong. | Evidence of widespread human suffering and injustice. |
| Jas 5:4 | Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord... | Injustice related to withholding wages, resulting in a cry. |
| Matt 5:6 | Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. | New Covenant emphasis on seeking righteousness. |
| Rom 3:21-22 | But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed... | The divine provision of righteousness through Christ. |
| Rom 9:30-32 | ...Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness... while Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law... | Israel's failure to attain righteousness by legalistic means. |
| Luke 13:6-9 | He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.” | Parable of the barren fig tree, similar to vineyard parable. |
| Zeph 2:3 | Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, Who have practiced His justice; Seek righteousness, seek humility. | Exhortation to seek God's justice and righteousness. |
| Isa 1:17 | Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow. | Call to social justice in line with God's character. |
Isaiah 5 verses
Isaiah 5 7 Meaning
Isaiah 5:7 declares that the "vineyard of the LORD of hosts" is the chosen nation of Israel, specifically the "house of Israel" and the "men of Judah," whom God cultivated as His "pleasant plant." The verse reveals God's profound disappointment: He diligently looked and waited for them to produce justice and righteousness, but instead found brutal bloodshed and the anguished cry of the oppressed, demonstrating their profound moral failure and perversion of divine standards.
Isaiah 5 7 Context
Isaiah 5:7 concludes the powerful "Song of the Vineyard" (Isaiah 5:1-7), an allegorical lament delivered by the prophet Isaiah to the Kingdom of Judah in the 8th century BCE. The preceding verses (5:1-6) depict God (the beloved) meticulously preparing and cultivating a rich vineyard, expecting luscious grapes. However, the vineyard yielded only wild, sour grapes. This song, initially presented as a plea for the audience's judgment on a third party, suddenly shifts in verse 7 to a direct and shocking indictment: they are the vineyard. Historically, Judah at this time, particularly its leaders and wealthy elite, was marked by severe social injustice, land accumulation, oppression of the poor, moral corruption, and a breakdown of true worship, despite outward religious observance. The immediate context leads into the "Woes" (5:8-25), which describe the specific sins that manifest this failure of justice and righteousness.
Isaiah 5 7 Word analysis
For the vineyard (karem): The term signifies a place of special care, investment, and expectation, contrasting with an uncultivated field. It immediately sets up the metaphor of God's intimate relationship and diligent cultivation of His people.
of the LORD of hosts (YHWH tzeva'ot): Emphasizes the sovereign and mighty nature of God who owns and cultivates this vineyard. This title conveys divine power and authority, underlining the gravity of their failure given who their Master is.
is the house of Israel: This explicitly identifies the "vineyard" as the northern kingdom, representing the broader covenant people of God, implying that the judgment is directed at all who claim this identity.
and the men of Judah: Specifies the direct audience of Isaiah's prophecy, the southern kingdom, clarifying that they are the primary focus of this particular indictment. They are the present manifestation of the "vineyard."
His pleasant plant (nata' sha'asha'): Reinforces the idea of God's delight, love, and careful selection. This "plant" was meant to be a source of joy and fruitfulness for God, highlighting His deep emotional investment.
He looked for (yiqqaveh): Implies active anticipation, patient expectation, and yearning. God wasn't passively observing but actively awaiting the rightful fruit of His investment.
justice (mishpat): Refers to the fair administration of law, right judgment, social equity, and the defense of the oppressed. It encompasses both legal justice and righteous social order.
but behold, bloodshed (hinneh mishpakh dam): The abrupt "behold" creates a stark contrast, signifying shock and immediate revelation. Mishpakh is related to "spilling" and specifically "shedding" of blood, denoting violence, murder, or legal execution without due process. It is a striking phonetic wordplay (paronomasia) with mishpat, emphasizing the perversion: what should have been justice became its bloody opposite.
for righteousness (liTzedaqah): Implies right conduct, ethical integrity, and alignment with God's moral standards. It concerns moral purity, social probity, and faithfulness to covenant.
but behold, a cry! (hinneh tza'aqah): Again, the immediate "behold" signals revelation of the shocking outcome. Tza'aqah is an outcry, typically of distress, anguish, or oppression, often calling for divine intervention (as in Exod 3:7-9). This is another poignant wordplay with tzedaqah: where righteous actions were expected, only the bitter sound of victimized people crying out in pain and despair was found.
"He looked for justice... for righteousness": This phrase emphasizes God's consistent moral expectation from His covenant people. These were not arbitrary demands but intrinsic to the relationship He established with them, based on His own character.
"but behold, bloodshed... but behold, a cry!": The parallel structure and the "behold" ('hinneh') create a dramatic revelation of the bitter fruit. The paronomasia (mishpat and mishpakh dam; tzedaqah and tza'aqah) is not just a poetic device but deeply impactful, indicating that their expected fruit (justice, righteousness) was twisted into its very opposite (violence, cries of oppression). This underscores the total corruption and perversion of God's design.
Isaiah 5 7 Bonus section
The profound wordplay in Isaiah 5:7—mishpat (justice) yielding mishpakh dam (bloodshed) and tzedaqah (righteousness) yielding tza'aqah (a cry)—is a highly sophisticated rhetorical device used by Isaiah. This paronomasia serves to amplify the shocking perversion of God's expectations. It's not just a lack of justice and righteousness, but their active antitheses emerging from the very ground God had prepared for their fruit. This demonstrates a deep-seated spiritual sickness within Judah. The "Song of the Vineyard" can also be seen as a form of divine lawsuit, where God presents His case against His covenant people. The people, initially invited to judge an unknown "vineyard," unknowingly condemn themselves, intensifying the message of guilt and accountability.
Isaiah 5 7 Commentary
Isaiah 5:7 is the interpretive key to the allegorical "Song of the Vineyard," revealing the profound heartbreak of God. Having poured immense love, care, and resource into Israel and Judah as His chosen "vineyard" or "pleasant plant," He reasonably anticipated a yield of ethical living marked by social justice and righteousness. Instead, what manifested was the horrific opposite: the literal spilling of innocent blood (bloodshed) and the anguish of the oppressed echoing across the land (a cry). This verse unveils God's disappointment not as human caprice, but as the inevitable response to His people's stark moral failure and covenant breaking. Their internal corruption and societal injustice contradicted their external identity and privilege. This ethical decay rendered them not merely unproductive but actively perverse, leading directly to the impending divine judgment outlined in the "Woes" that follow.