18Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of falsehood,
         And sin as if with cart ropes;

19Who say, “Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it;
         And let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near
         And come to pass, that we may know it!”

20Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
         Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;
         Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
         And clever in their own sight!

22Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine
         And valiant men in mixing strong drink,

23Who justify the wicked for a bribe,
         And take away the rights of the ones who are in the right!

24Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble
         And dry grass collapses into the flame,
         So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust;
         For they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts
         And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25On this account the anger of the LORD has burned against His people,
         And He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them down.
         And the mountains quaked, and their corpses lay like refuse in the middle of the streets.
         For all this His anger is not spent,
         But His hand is still stretched out.

26He will also lift up a standard to the distant nation,
         And will whistle for it from the ends of the earth;
         And behold, it will come with speed swiftly.

27No one in it is weary or stumbles,
         None slumbers or sleeps;
         Nor is the belt at its waist undone,
         Nor its sandal strap broken.

28Its arrows are sharp and all its bows are bent;
         The hoofs of its horses seem like flint and its chariot wheels like a whirlwind.

29Its roaring is like a lioness, and it roars like young lions;
         It growls as it seizes the prey
         And carries it off with no one to deliver it.

30And it will growl over it in that day like the roaring of the sea.
         If one looks to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress;
         Even the light is darkened by its clouds.

NASB ©1995

American Standard Version
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and sin as it were with a cart rope;

Douay-Rheims Bible
Woe to you that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as the rope of a cart.

Darby Bible Translation
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as with cart-ropes!

English Revised Version
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:

Webster's Bible Translation
Woe to them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart-rope:

World English Bible
Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope;

Young's Literal Translation
Woe to those drawing out iniquity with cords of vanity, And as with thick ropes of the cart -- sin.A Prophet's Woes
'Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may he placed alone in the midst of the earth! 9. In mine ears said the Lord of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall he desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant. 10. Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah. 11. Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Holy Song from Happy Saints
"Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved."--Isaiah 5:1. IT was a prophet who wrote this, a prophet inspired of God. An ordinary believer might suffice to sing, but he counts it no stoop for a prophet, and no waste of his important time, to occupy himself with song. There is no engagement under heaven that is more exalting than praising God, and however great may be the work which is committed to the charge of any of us, we shall always do well if we pause awhile to spend a time in …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 61: 1915

The Well-Beloved's vineyard.
AN ADDRESS TO A LITTLE COMPANY OF BELIEVERS, IN MR. SPURGEON'S OWN ROOM AT MENTONE."My Well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill."--Isaiah v. 1. THE WELL-BELOVED'S VINEYARD. WE recognize at once that Jesus is here. Who but He can be meant by "My Well-beloved"? Here is a word of possession and a word of affection,--He is mine, and my Well-beloved. He is loveliness itself, the most loving and lovable of beings; and we personally love Him with all our heart, and mind, and soul, and strength: …
Charles Hadden Spurgeon—Till He Come

Of Confession and Self-Examination
Of Confession and Self-examination Self-examination should always precede Confession, and in the nature and manner of it should be conformable to the state of the soul: the business of those that are advanced to the degree of which we now treat, is to lay their whole souls open before God, who will not fail to enlighten them, and enable them to see the peculiar nature of their faults. This examination, however, should be peaceful and tranquil, and we should depend on God for the discovery and knowledge …
Madame Guyon—A Short and Easy Method of Prayer

God's Last Arrow
'Having yet therefore one son, his well-beloved, he sent him also last unto them.'--Mark xii. 6. Reference to Isaiah v. There are differences in detail here which need not trouble us. Isaiah's parable is a review of the theocratic history of Israel, and clearly the messengers are the prophets; here Christ speaks of Himself and His own mission to Israel, and goes on to tell of His death as already accomplished. I. The Son who follows and surpasses the servants. (a) Our Lord here places Himself in …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Dishonest Tenants
'And 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. 2. And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. 3. And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. 4. And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Miracles no Remedy for Unbelief.
"And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke Me? and how long will it be ere they believe Me, for all the signs which I have showed among them?"--Numbers xiv. 11. Nothing, I suppose, is more surprising to us at first reading, than the history of God's chosen people; nay, on second and third reading, and on every reading, till we learn to view it as God views it. It seems strange, indeed, to most persons, that the Israelites should have acted as they did, age after age, in …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

The Knowledge that God Is, Combined with the Knowledge that He is to be Worshipped.
John iv. 24.--"God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." There are two common notions engraven on the hearts of all men by nature,--that God is, and that he must be worshipped, and these two live and die together, they are clear, or blotted together. According as the apprehension of God is clear, and distinct, and more deeply engraven on the soul, so is this notion of man's duty of worshipping God clear and imprinted on the soul, and whenever the actions …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Barren Fig-Tree.
"There were present at that season some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except …
William Arnot—The Parables of Our Lord

A Sermon on a Text not Found in the Bible.
MR. JUSTICE GROVES.--"Men go into the Public-house respectable, and come out felons." My text, as you see, my dear readers, is not taken from the Bible. It does not, however, contradict the Scriptures, but is in harmony with some, such as "WOE UNTO HIM THAT GIVETH HIS NEIGHBOUR DRINK." Habakkuk ii. 15; "WOE UNTO THEM THAT RISE UP EARLY IN THE MORNING, THAT THEY MAY FOLLOW STRONG DRINK."--Isaiah v. 11. "TAKE HEED TO YOURSELVES LEST AT ANY TIME YOUR HEARTS BE OVERCHARGED WITH SURFEITING AND …
Thomas Champness—Broken Bread

Religion Pleasant to the Religious.
"O taste and see how gracious the Lord is; blessed is the man that trusteth in Him."--Psalm xxxiv. 8. You see by these words what love Almighty God has towards us, and what claims He has upon our love. He is the Most High, and All-Holy. He inhabiteth eternity: we are but worms compared with Him. He would not be less happy though He had never created us; He would not be less happy though we were all blotted out again from creation. But He is the God of love; He brought us all into existence, …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

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