Woe to the Wicked

Isaiah 5

8 Woe to those who e join house to house,
who add field to field,
until there is no more room,
and you are made to dwell alone
in the midst of the land.
 9 The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:
f "Surely many houses shall be desolate,
large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
 10 g For ten acres 1 of vineyard shall yield but one bath,
and a h homer of seed shall yield but an ephah." 2

11 Woe to those who i rise early in the morning,
that they may run after strong drink,
who tarry late into the evening
as wine inflames them!
 12 j They have lyre and harp,
tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts,
k but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord,
or see the work of his hands.

13 Therefore my people go into exile
l for lack of knowledge; 3
their m honored men go hungry, 4
and their multitude is parched with thirst.
 14 Therefore Sheol has n enlarged its appetite
and opened o its mouth beyond measure,
and the nobility of Jerusalem 5 and her multitude will go down,
her revelers and he who p exults in her.
 15 q Man is humbled, and each one is brought low,
and the eyes of the haughty 6 are brought low.
 16 r But the Lord of hosts is exalted 7 in justice,
and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.
 17 Then shall the lambs graze s as in their pasture,
and t nomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.

18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with u cords of falsehood,
who draw sin as with cart ropes,
 19 who say: v "Let him be quick,
let him speed his work
that we may see it;
let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near,
and let it come, that we may know it!"
 20 Woe to w those who call evil good
and good evil,
x who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!
 21 Woe to those who are y wise in their own eyes,
and shrewd in their own sight!
 22 Woe to those who are z heroes at drinking wine,
and valiant men in mixing strong drink,
 23 who a acquit the guilty for a bribe,
and deprive the innocent of his right!

24 Therefore, b as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,
so c their root will be d as rottenness,
and their blossom go up like dust;
for they have e rejected the law of the Lord of hosts,
and have f despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
 25 Therefore g the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,
and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them,
and h the mountains quaked;
and their corpses were i as refuse
in the midst of the streets.
j For all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.

26 He will k raise a signal for nations far away,
and l whistle for them m from the ends of the earth;
and behold, quickly, speedily they come!
 27 n None is weary, none stumbles,
none slumbers or sleeps,
not a waistband is loose,
not a sandal strap broken;
 28 o their arrows are sharp,
all their bows bent,
their horses' hoofs seem like flint,
and their wheels p like the whirlwind.
 29 Their roaring is like a lion,
like young lions they roar;
they growl and q seize their prey;
they carry it off, and none can rescue.
 30 They will growl over it on that day,
like the growling of the sea.
And if one looks to the land,
behold, r darkness and distress;
and the light is darkened by its clouds.

  1. Cross References
    Micah 2:2
    They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.
  2. Cross References
    Isaiah 6:12
    And the Lord removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
  3. Cross References
    Leviticus 26:26
    When I break your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in a single oven and shall dole out your bread again by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.
    Haggai 1:6
    You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.
    Haggai 2:16
    How did you fare? When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty.
  4. Cross References
    Ezekiel 45:11
    The ephah and the bath shall be of the same measure, the bath containing one tenth of a homer, and the ephah one tenth of a homer; the homer shall be the standard measure.
  5. Cross References
    Isaiah 5:22
    Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink.
    Proverbs 23:29 - 30
    Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
    Ecclesiastes 10:16 - 17
    Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and your princes feast in the morning!
  6. Cross References
    Amos 6:5 - 6
    Who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David invent for themselves instruments of music.
  7. Cross References
    Isaiah 26:11
    O Lord, your hand is lifted up, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed. Let the fire for your adversaries consume them.
  8. Cross References
    Isaiah 1:3
    The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.
    Hosea 4:6
    My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
  9. Cross References
    Lamentations 4:2
    The precious sons of Zion, worth their weight in fine gold, how they are regarded as earthen pots, the work of a potter's hands!
    Lamentations 4:7 - 8
    Her princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than coral, the beauty of their form was like sapphire.
  10. Cross References
    Habakkuk 2:5
    "Moreover, wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at rest. His greed is as wide as Sheol; like death he has never enough. He gathers for himself all nations and collects as his own all peoples."
  11. Cross References
    Psalms 141:7
    As when one plows and breaks up the earth, so shall our bones be scattered at the mouth of Sheol.
  12. Cross References
    Isaiah 5:12
    They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord, or see the work of his hands.
    Job 1:18 - 19
    While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, "Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house.
  13. Cross References
    Isaiah 2:9
    So man is humbled, and each one is brought low - do not forgive them!
  14. Cross References
    Isaiah 2:11
    The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
    Isaiah 2:17
    And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
  15. Cross References
    Micah 2:12
    I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob; I will gather the remnant of Israel; I will set them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in its pasture, a noisy multitude of men.
  16. Cross References
    Judges 6:3
    For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them.
  17. Cross References
    Proverbs 5:22
    The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.
  18. Cross References
    Ezekiel 12:22
    Son of man, what is this proverb that you have about the land of Israel, saying, 'The days grow long, and every vision comes to nothing'?
    2 Peter 3:4
    They will say, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.
  19. Cross References
    Amos 5:7
    O you who turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth!
  20. Cross References
    Job 17:12
    They make night into day: 'The light,' they say, 'is near to the darkness.
    Matthew 6:22 - 23
    The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
    Luke 11:34 - 35
    Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness.
  21. Cross References
    Proverbs 3:7
    Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
    Romans 12:16
    Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
  22. Cross References
    Isaiah 5:11
    Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink, who tarry late into the evening as wine inflames them!
  23. Cross References
    Exodus 23:8
    And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.
    Proverbs 17:15
    He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord.
  24. Cross References
    Isaiah 47:14
    Behold, they are like stubble; the fire consumes them; they cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. No coal for warming oneself is this, no fire to sit before!
    Joel 2:5
    As with the rumbling of chariots, they leap on the tops of the mountains, like the crackling of a flame of fire devouring the stubble, like a powerful army drawn up for battle.
    Exodus 15:7
    In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.
  25. Cross References
    Job 18:16
    His roots dry up beneath, and his branches wither above.
  26. Cross References
    Hosea 5:12
    But I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like dry rot to the house of Judah.
  27. Cross References
    Isaiah 30:9
    For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the Lord.
  28. Cross References
    Isaiah 1:4
    Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged.
  29. Cross References
    2 Kings 22:13
    "Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us."
    2 Kings 22:17
    Because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched.
  30. Cross References
    Jeremiah 4:24
    I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro.
    Psalms 97:5
    The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth.
    Habakkuk 3:6
    He stood and measured the earth; he looked and shook the nations; then the eternal mountains were scattered; the everlasting hills sank low. His were the everlasting ways.
  31. Cross References
    2 Kings 9:37
    And the corpse of Jezebel shall be as dung on the face of the field in the territory of Jezreel, so that no one can say, This is Jezebel.'
    Jeremiah 36:30
    Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night.
  32. Cross References
    Isaiah 9:12
    The Syrians on the east and the Philistines on the west devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.
    Isaiah 9:17
    Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men, and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows; for everyone is godless and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.
    Isaiah 9:21
    Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh; together they are against Judah. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.
    Isaiah 10:4
    Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.
  33. Cross References
    Isaiah 11:12
    He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
    Isaiah 13:2
    On a bare hill raise a signal; cry aloud to them; wave the hand for them to enter the gates of the nobles.
    Isaiah 18:3
    All you inhabitants of the world, you who dwell on the earth, when a signal is raised on the mountains, look! When a trumpet is blown, hear!
  34. Cross References
    Isaiah 7:18
    In that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
    Zechariah 10:8
    I will whistle for them and gather them in, for I have redeemed them, and they shall be as many as they were before.
  35. Cross References
    Isaiah 10:3
    What will you do on the day of punishment, in the ruin that will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth?
    Deuteronomy 28:49
    The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand.
  36. Cross References
    Isaiah 10:28 - 31
    He has come to Aiath; he has passed through Migron; at Michmash he stores his baggage.
  37. Cross References
    Psalms 7:12 - 13
    If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow.
  38. Cross References
    Isaiah 21:1
    The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on, it comes from the wilderness, from a terrible land.
  39. Cross References
    2 Kings 18:13 - 16
    In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.
  40. Cross References
    Isaiah 8:22
    And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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