Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
Parallel translations
- WEB Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.
- BSB I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
- NKJV Now let me sing to my Well-beloved A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard On a very fruitful hill.
- NASB Let me sing now for my beloved A song of my beloved about His vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill.
- NLT Now I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a rich and fertile hill.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Isaiah begins a love song about his beloved's vineyard planted on a fertile hill. It opens a parable that will expose Judah's failure to bear the fruit God sought.
Overview
The song's tender opening invites the hearers in, much as Nathan's parable disarmed David (2 Samuel 12). The vineyard is a familiar biblical image for Israel, and the careful preparation signals God's lavish investment in His people. The gentle beginning sets up a sharp reversal when the vineyard proves barren, revealing the parable's purpose of indictment.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Mark 12:1And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.
- Luke 20:9Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time.
- John 15:1I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
- Jer 2:21Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?
- Ps 80:8Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.
- Matt 21:33Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:
- Deut 31:19–22Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.
- Isa 27:2–3In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine.
- Song 2:16My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.
- Song 8:11–12Solomon had a vineyard at Baalhamon; he let out the vineyard unto keepers; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.
- Song 5:2I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.
- Song 5:16His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.
- Song 6:3I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies.
- Ps 45:1My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
- Ps 101:1I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O LORD, will I sing.
- Judg 5:1–31Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying,
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 5:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.