Isaiah 5:4
in Isaiah 5What 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?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
KJV
What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
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This verse in Isaiah 5
Commentary
11 notes on this verse(Verse 3, 4.) Now therefore, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? I have done everything I could for it; I planted it in the best soil, built a protective wall around it, carefully selected stones, and raised its branches with sturdy poles and supports. The vine itself was not just any vine, but a chosen and fruitful one.
This site's exposition
And now, O dwellers of Jerusalem
on Isaiah 5:3-4
The song turns from story to trial, as the LORD asks Jerusalem and Judah to "judge between Me and My vineyard" in their own case. The question "What more could I have done for My vineyard" is the argument. The parable Jesus told at Matthew 21:33 takes up this setup.
This site's exposition
What more could I have done for My vineyard
The owner asks the judges what he left undone. Barnes lists what God had given Judah: His choice of them, His law, His prophets and teachers, and His defense. Aquinas sets the question beside Micah 6:3, where the LORD asks His people what He has done to them.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
See then how very bad sinning is, that they may be delivered to Satan, who holds captive the souls of those forsaken by God—though God does not forsake without cause or judgment those whom he has abandoned. For when he sends the rain for the vineyard and the vineyard bears thorns instead of grapes, what else will God do except order the clouds not to sprinkle rain on the vineyard?
The Medieval Church1 voice
160. Second, he seeks judgment; and he asks two things. First, whether he had sinned from negligence; hence he says: what is there that I ought to do more, beyond what has been said? O my people, what have I done to you, or in …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
), and for which God threatens to bring ruin upon them. They are sins which we have all need to stand upon our guard against and dread the consequences of. Here is a woe to those who set their hearts upon the wealth of the world, and place their happiness in that, and increase it to themselves by indirect and unlawful means (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?....
They had the scriptures, the lively oracles, a standing ministry in the priests and Levites, besides what was extraordinary in the prophets. No nation had statutes and judgments so righteous.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
By an enumeration of the sins that did abound among them, with a threatening of punishments that should answer to the sins. Covetousness, and greediness of worldly wealth, which shall be punished with famine,
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
What could I... - As a man who had done what is described in Isa 5:2, would have done all that “could” be done for a vineyard, so God says that he has done all that he could, in the circumstances of the Jews, to make them holy and happy. He had chosen them; had given them his law; had sent them prophets and teachers; had defended them; had come forth in judgment and mercy, and he now appeals “to them” to say what “could” have been done more.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
God has done all that could be done for the salvation of sinners, consistently with His justice and goodness. The God of nature is, as it were, amazed at the unnatural fruit of so well-cared a vineyard.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מַה־ | mah- | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| לַּעֲשׂ֥וֹת | laasot | [is] to do | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| עוֹד֙ | ʾod | still | H5750 → | 490 times |
| לְכַרְמִ֔י | lekharmi | for vineyard my | H3754 → | 92 times |
| וְלֹ֥א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| עָשִׂ֖יתִי | ʾasiti | I have done | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| בּ֑וֹ | bo | for it | ||
| מַדּ֧וּעַ | madua' | why? | H4069 → | 72 times |
| קִוֵּ֛יתִי | kiveiti | did I wait | H6960 → | 49 times |
| לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת | laasot | to produce | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| עֲנָבִ֖ים | ʾanavim | grapes | H6025 → | |
| וַיַּ֥עַשׂ | vaiyaas | and did it produce | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| בְּאֻשִֽׁים׃ | beushim | wild grapes | H891 → |
מַה־what?
mah-H4100 →752 times
לַּעֲשׂ֥וֹת[is] to do
laasotH6213 →2628 times
עוֹד֙still
ʾodH5750 →490 times
לְכַרְמִ֔יfor vineyard my
lekharmiH3754 →92 times
וְלֹ֥אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
עָשִׂ֖יתִיI have done
ʾasitiH6213 →2628 times
בּ֑וֹfor it
bo
מַדּ֧וּעַwhy?
madua'H4069 →72 times
קִוֵּ֛יתִיdid I wait
kiveitiH6960 →49 times
לַעֲשׂ֥וֹתto produce
laasotH6213 →2628 times
עֲנָבִ֖יםgrapes
ʾanavimH6025 →
וַיַּ֥עַשׂand did it produce
vaiyaasH6213 →2628 times
בְּאֻשִֽׁים׃wild grapes
beushimH891 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 23:37O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you…
it leads to
- Luke 13:34–35
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you…
- Psalms 91:4
He will cover you with His feathers; under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and rampart.
- Ruth 2:12
May the LORD repay your work, and may you receive a rich reward from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have taken refuge.”
- Deuteronomy 32:11–12
As an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, He spread His wings to catch them and carried them on His pinions.
- Psalms 17:8
Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings
- Luke 13:34–35
Through
Jeremiah 2:5This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers find in Me that they strayed so far from Me, and followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves?
it leads to
- 2 Kings 17:15
They rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers, as well as the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and themselves became worthless, going after the surrounding…
- Romans 1:21
For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.
- Psalms 115:8
Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.
- 2 Kings 17:15
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
On this verse
About Isaiah

This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 1:4 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.
