Read & explore together
The Song of the Vineyard
Isaiah 5:1–7 is a song about a vineyard that becomes an explanation of God’s complaint against his people. The poem moves from careful planting, to disappointment, to judgement, and finally to a plain statement of what the vineyard means.
Understanding the passage
Read these words in context
In this passage, the speaker sings about a beloved person and his vineyard, then calls the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah to judge the case. At the end, the poem explains that the vineyard stands for the house of Israel and the men of Judah.
Isaiah 5:1–7Main takeaway
This song teaches that Yahweh expected justice and righteousness from his people, but the fruit he found was oppression and distress.
Explore the poem and its images
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01A song begins with a cared-for vineyardThe passage opens as a song for a beloved about his vineyard. The vineyard is placed on a very fruitful hill, which shows a setting prepared for growth.
Explanation
The passage opens as a song for a beloved about his vineyard. The vineyard is placed on a very fruitful hill, which shows a setting prepared for growth. This is poetry, so the vineyard is part of the song’s picture before its meaning is explained later in the passage.
02Everything needed was providedThe owner works carefully: he clears stones, plants the choicest vine, builds a tower, and cuts out a wine press.
Explanation
The owner works carefully: he clears stones, plants the choicest vine, builds a tower, and cuts out a wine press. These details show deliberate care and expectation. The surprise is that, after all this preparation, the vineyard yields wild grapes instead of the hoped-for grapes.
03The hearers are asked to judgeThe speaker turns to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah and asks them to judge between him and the vineyard.
Explanation
The speaker turns to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah and asks them to judge between him and the vineyard. Then the questions sharpen the point: what more could have been done, and why did the vineyard produce wild grapes? The poem invites the hearers to recognise the vineyard’s failure.
04The meaning is made clearThe owner announces that the hedge and wall will be removed, the vineyard will become wasteland, and even rain will be withheld.
Explanation
The owner announces that the hedge and wall will be removed, the vineyard will become wasteland, and even rain will be withheld. Then the picture is explained: the vineyard is the house of Israel and the men of Judah. Yahweh looked for justice and righteousness, but found oppression and a cry of distress instead.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01Which details in the song show how much care the vineyard owner gave before expecting fruit?
Look closely at the actions listed in the vineyard: clearing, planting, building, and preparing for a harvest.
02Why does the poem ask Jerusalem and Judah to judge between the owner and the vineyard?
Notice how the questions in the middle of the passage lead listeners to consider whether the vineyard had any excuse.
03What do ‘justice’ and ‘righteousness’ get contrasted with at the end of the song?
Read the final explanation carefully and compare what Yahweh looked for with what he actually saw.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Isaiah 5:1–7
1Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.
2He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in the middle of it, and also cut out a wine press in it. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.
3“Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard.
4What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes?
5Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up. I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled down.
6I will lay it a wasteland. It won’t be pruned or hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.”
7For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression, for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.