Isaiah 5:7
in Isaiah 5For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of His delight. He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard a cry of distress.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry.
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.
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This verse in Isaiah 5
Commentary
11 notes on this verse(Verse 7.) But the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel: and the men of Judah, his pleasant plant. That is, of God: or as the LXX translated, the beloved new plantation. Israel and Judah differ in this, that the whole people were first called Israel, and afterwards, when David reigned over the tribe of Judah, and Rehoboam the son of Solomon over the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, those who were in Samaria, that is, the ten tribes, were called Israel; and those who reigned from the lineage of David were called Judah.
This site's exposition
Now I will tell you
on Isaiah 5:5-7
The sentence follows the trial: the hedge taken away. Verse 7 gives the song its own interpretation, "the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel." The closing line turns on Hebrew words that nearly rhyme with opposite meanings, a wordplay Delitzsch and Barnes both set out.
This site's exposition
He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed
The verse ends on a play of Hebrew sounds. Justice is mishpat and bloodshed is mispach, and righteousness is tsedakah and a cry is tseakah. Clarke and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown mark the pairs, where a change of sound turns the fruit the owner wanted into the fruit he found.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
169. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts. Here he explains the metaphor: and first, as to the vineyard, second as to the trial of the vineyard, where it says, I looked that he should do judgment. Concerning the first, he explains the vineyard …
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
8 ); but the fact was quite otherwise; instead of judgment there was the cruelty of the oppressors, and instead of righteousness the cry of the oppressed. Every thing was carried by clamour and noise, and not by equity and according to the merits of the cause. It is sad with a people when wickedness has usurped the place of judgment, Eccl. iii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens
For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel,....
Sin weakens the strength, the root, of a people, so that they are easily rooted up; it defaces the beauty, the blossoms, of a people, and takes away the hopes of fruit. The sin of unfruitfulness is punished with the plague of unfruitfulness.
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,
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The play upon words is striking in the Hebrew, He looked for mishpat, but behold mispat ("bloodshed"); for tsedaqua, but behold tseaqua (the cry that attends anarchy, covetousness, and dissipation, Isa 5:8, 11, 12; compare the cry of the rabble by which justice was overborne in the case of Jesus Christ, Mt 27:23, 24).
And he looked for judgment - The paronomasia, or play on the words, in this place, is very remarkable; mishpat, mishpach, tsedakah, tseakah. There are many examples of it in the other prophets, but Isaiah seems peculiarly fond of it. See Isa 13:6, Isa 24:17, Isa 32:7, Isa 28:1, Isa 57:6, Isa 61:3, Isa 65:11, Isa 65:12. Rabbi David Kimchi has noticed the paronomasia here: he expected משפט mishpat, judgment, but behold משפח mishpach, oppression; he expected צדקה tsedakah, righteousness, but behold צעקה tseakah, a cry. The rabbins esteem it a great beauty; their term for it is צחות הלשון tsachoth haltashon, elegance of language. Oppression “tyranny” - משפח mishpach, from שפח shaphach, servum fecit, Arab. Houbigant: שפחה shiphchah is serva, a handmaid or female slave. משפח mispach, eighteen MSS.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
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.
The words behind it
17 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| כֶ֜רֶם | kherem | [the] vineyard of | H3754 → | 92 times |
| יְהוָ֤ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| צְבָאוֹת֙ | tzevaot | of hosts | H6635 → | 485 times |
| בֵּ֣ית | beit | [is] [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| וְאִ֣ישׁ | veish | and everyone of | H376 → | 1663 times |
| יְהוּדָ֔ה | yehudah | Judah | H3063 → | 819 times |
| נְטַ֖ע | neta' | [is] [the] plantation of | H5194 → | 4 times |
| שַׁעֲשׁוּעָ֑יו | shaashuav | delight<s> his | H8191 → | |
| וַיְקַ֤ו | vaykav | and he waited | H6960 → | 49 times |
| לְמִשְׁפָּט֙ | lemishpat | for justice | H4941 → | 422 times |
| וְהִנֵּ֣ה | vehineh | and there! | H2009 → | 843 times |
| מִשְׂפָּ֔ח | mispach | bloodshed | H4939 → | |
| לִצְדָקָ֖ה | litzdakah | for righteousness | H6666 → | 157 times |
| וְהִנֵּ֥ה | vehineh | and there! | H2009 → | 843 times |
| צְעָקָֽה׃ ס | tzeakah | an outcry | H6818 → |
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
כֶ֜רֶם[the] vineyard of
kheremH3754 →92 times
יְהוָ֤הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
צְבָאוֹת֙of hosts
tzevaotH6635 →485 times
בֵּ֣ית[is] [the] house of
beitH1004 →2046 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
וְאִ֣ישׁand everyone of
veishH376 →1663 times
יְהוּדָ֔הJudah
yehudahH3063 →819 times
נְטַ֖ע[is] [the] plantation of
neta'H5194 →4 times
שַׁעֲשׁוּעָ֑יוdelight<s> his
shaashuavH8191 →
וַיְקַ֤וand he waited
vaykavH6960 →49 times
לְמִשְׁפָּט֙for justice
lemishpatH4941 →422 times
וְהִנֵּ֣הand there!
vehinehH2009 →843 times
מִשְׂפָּ֔חbloodshed
mispachH4939 →
לִצְדָקָ֖הfor righteousness
litzdakahH6666 →157 times
וְהִנֵּ֥הand there!
vehinehH2009 →843 times
צְעָקָֽה׃ סan outcry
tzeakahH6818 →
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
James 5:4Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
it leads to
- Leviticus 19:13
You must not defraud your neighbor or rob him. You must not withhold until morning the wages due a hired hand.
- Jeremiah 22:13
“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms without justice, who makes his countrymen serve without pay, and fails to pay their wages,
- Deuteronomy 24:14–15
Do not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.
- Romans 9:29
It is just as Isaiah foretold: “Unless the Lord of Hosts had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.”
- Malachi 3:5
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud…
- Leviticus 19:13
Through
Psalms 80:15the root Your right hand has planted, the son You have raised up for Yourself.
it leads to
- John 15:1
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the keeper of the vineyard.
- Zechariah 3:8
Hear now, O high priest Joshua, you and your companions seated before you, who are indeed a sign. For behold, I am going to bring My servant, the Branch.
- Zechariah 6:12
And you are to tell him that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Here is a man whose name is the Branch, and He will branch out from His place and build…
- John 15:1
Where this verse is studied
About Isaiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.