Isaiah 5:4 BSB — MannaFest

Isaiah 5:4

What 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

Parallel translations (2) ▾

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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Commentary

3 voices

Jerome

Commentary on Isaiah (420)

(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.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

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.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

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.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

13 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
מַה־	mah-	what?	H4100 →
לַּעֲשׂ֥וֹת	la.'a.Sot	[is] to do	H6213 →
עוֹד֙	'Od	still	H5750 →
לְכַרְמִ֔י	le.khar.Mi	for vineyard my	H3754 →
וְלֹ֥א	ve.Lo'	and not	H3808 →
עָשִׂ֖יתִי	'a.Si.ti	I have done	H6213 →
בּ֑וֹ	bo	for it
מַדּ֧וּעַ	ma.Du.a'	why?	H4069 →
קִוֵּ֛יתִי	ki.Vei.ti	did I wait	H6960 →
לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת	la.'a.Sot	to produce	H6213 →
עֲנָבִ֖ים	'a.na.Vim	grapes	H6025 →
וַיַּ֥עַשׂ	vai.Ya.'as	and did it produce	H6213 →
בְּאֻשִֽׁים׃	be.'u.Shim	wild grapes	H891 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Matthew 23:37
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…
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
Through
Jeremiah 2:5
This 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?
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.

Featured studies on this passage

Walks through Isaiah 5

The Vine & the Vineyard

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Walks through Isaiah 5

Wordplay: the Puns of the Prophets

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About Isaiah

The Prophet Isaiah — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Isaiah: the study guide →Read chapter 5 →The featured study →

Continue: Isaiah 5 →

01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About Isaiah

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Isaiah