Isaiah 5

Verse 1. My cousin. So the prophet calls Christ, as being of his family and kindred, by descending from the house of David. Challoner. Menochius.—Hebrew and Septuagint “beloved.” Dod may also mean a near relation. Calmet.—Isaias being of the same tribe, sets before us the lamentations of Christ over Jerusalem. Lu. 19:41. Worthington.—The Hebrews had canticles of sorrow, as well as of joy. The prophet thus endeavours to impress more deeply on the minds of the people what he had been saying. The master of the vineyard is God himself. verse 7. Calmet.—Hill. Lit. in the horn, the son of oil. Challoner.—The best vines grew among olive and fig trees. Doubdan 21.—Septuagint “in a horn, (mountain) in a fat soil.” Bible.

Verse 2. Stones. They burn and starve in different seasons. Colossians 2:3.—Choicest. Hebrew sorek. Bible.—There was a famous valley of this name. Judges 16:4. The angels guarded the vineyard, in which Abraham, Moses, and so forth were found.—Tower. To keep the wine, and so forth Matthew 21:33. It denotes the temple, ( Calmet.) Scriptures, and so forth Menochius.—Wild. Sour. Deuteronomy 32:32.

Verse 3. Judge. God condescends to have his conduct scrutinized. Calmet. 41:1.

Verse 4. Was it. “Why has it produced wild grapes, while I looked?” and so forth

Verse 5. Down. By the Chaldees, and after the death of Christ. Calmet.—when God withdraws his aid, man is unable to stand. Yet he falls by his own fault, which God only permits. Worthington.

Verse 6. It. During the whole of the captivity, the land might keep its sabbaths. Leviticus 26:34. Calmet.—The people shall be deprived of saving doctrine. Menochius.

Verse 7. Israel. This comparison is very common. Psalms 79:9. Matthew 20:1. Calmet.—The preceding parable is explained. Menochius.—Cry. For vengeance. Jeremiah 12:8. Genesis 4:10 and 18:20. Calmet.

Verse 8. Even. Septuagint “to take from your neighbour: shall,” and so forth Bible.

Verse 9. Things. Unjust practices.—Inhabitant. What will your avarice avail, ( Bible.) since you must abandon all? Calmet.

Verse 10. Measure. Hebrew “both.”—Thirty. Hebrew “a chomer shall yield an epha.”

literally, ten yokes, or the amount of land that ten yokes of oxen can plow in one day, which is about 10 acres or 4 hectares.

1 bath is about 22 liters or 5.8 U. S. gallons

1 homer is about 220 liters or 6 bushels

1 ephah is about 22 liters or 0.6 bushels or about 2 pecks—only one tenth of what was sown.

Verse 11. To follow. Hebrew “for shecar,” ( Calmet.) palm wine, (Theod.) or any inebriating liquor. Saint Jerome in Calmet. xxviii. Our version is conformable to Aquila and Sym. Bible.—Numbers 6:3. Eccle. 10:16.

Verse 12. Work. Chastisement. verse 19 and chapter 28:21. Calmet.—They are admonished to observe the festivals of the Lord, and not to indulge in riotousness. Worthington.

Verse 14. Hell. Or the grave, which never says enough. Proverbs 30:15. Isaias alludes to what should happen under Nabuchodonosor, as if it were past. G.

Sheol is the place of the dead.

Verse 16. Justice. All will be taught to adore him. Bible.

Verse 17. Strangers. Ammonites, and so forth ( Calmet.) shall occupy part of the land. Bible.

Verse 18. Cart. Fatiguing themselves with iniquity, (Wisd. 5:7. Calmet.) and delaying your conversion. Saint Isidore Menochius.

Verse 19. It. The Jews were often guilty of the like insolence. Jeremiah 17:15.

Verse 21. Conceits. Blind guides. Matthew 15:14.

Verse 22. Drink. Hebrew “mix shecar.” People generally mixed wine and water. They also strove who could drink most, and the Greeks had a feast for this purpose, ( Calmet.) which they styled Choas, for the measure which was to be swallowed down. Aristoph. Acharn. act. iv. 4. and 5. ult.—Cyrus the younger boasted to the Greek ambassadors, that “he could drink and bear more wine than his brother.” Plut. in Artax.

Verse 23. Justice. Declaring the righteous guilty. verse 20. Bible.

Verse 25. Still. After the ruin of Jerusalem, the people were led away. Calmet.—Grievous sins must be severely punished, as was that of the murderers of Christ. Worthington.

Verse 26. Off. Like a king, leading all his subjects to battle. Calmet.—Whistle. He alludes to the custom of leading forth bees by music. Calmet. 7:18. Saint Cyril—Earth. The Chaldees, (chapter 41:9. Jeremiah 6:22) and not the Romans, as some would suppose.—Swiftly. Like an eagle. Daniel 7:4. Jeremiah 48:40.

Verse 27. Broken. They shall march incessantly. Ezekiel 26:7 and 30:11.

Verse 28. Hoofs. They were hardened, but not shod. Xenoph. Amos 6:13.

Verse 29. Lion. Nabuchodonosor is compared to one. verse 26. Jeremiah 4:7.

Verse 30. Mist. Denoting calamity. Hebrew “ruin.” Septuagint “indigence.” Calmet.