Bible Strands
Isaiah 5:2
He dug it up and cleared the stones and planted the finest vines. He built a watchtower in the middle and dug out a winepress as well. He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes, but the fruit it produced was sour!
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The speaker, identified as the beloved owner of a vineyard on a fertile hill, addresses the dwellers of Jerusalem and men of Judah to render judgment between himself and the vineyard.
The words — The Hebrew וַֽ/יְעַזְּקֵ֣/הוּ (va/y.'a.ze.Ke./hu) translates literally to "and he dug it," while וַֽ/יְסַקְּלֵ֗/הוּ (va/y.sa.ke.Le./hu) means "and he cleared of stones it."
The thread — This agricultural metaphor reappears in Jeremiah 2:21, where God recalls planting a choice vine that turned rotten, and in Deuteronomy 32:32, which warns their vines originate from Sodom and Gomorrah and produce poisonous clusters.
Why it lands — The text states the owner performed every necessary preparation yet received sour grapes instead of the expected yield. This requires a reader to acknowledge the direct correlation between deliberate cultivation and its actual output without deflecting responsibility for the failure.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 2:21 I had planted you like a choice vine from the very best seed. How could you turn yourself before Me into a rotten, wild vine?
- Deuteronomy 32:32 But their vine is from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous; their clusters are bitter.
- Isaiah 1:2 Listen, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD has spoken: “I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against Me.
- Mark 11:13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if there was any fruit on it. But when He reached it, He found nothing on it except leaves, since it was not the season for figs.
- Luke 13:6 Then Jesus told this parable: “A man had a fig tree that was planted in his vineyard. He went to look for fruit on it but did not find any.
- 1 Corinthians 9:7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Who tends a flock and does not drink of its milk?
- Revelation 14:18 Still another angel, with authority over the fire, came from the altar and called out in a loud voice to the angel with the sharp sickle, “Swing your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the vine of the earth, because its grapes are ripe.”
- Luke 20:10 At harvest time, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat the servant and sent him away empty-handed.
- Hosea 10:1 Israel was a luxuriant vine, yielding fruit for himself. The more his fruit increased, the more he increased the altars. The better his land produced, the better he made the sacred pillars.
- Romans 9:4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory and the covenants; theirs the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises.