Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 5:5

And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; [and] break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:

5. I will take away and break down ] better simply, Remove Break down absolute infs. in apposition to “what.” The vineyard is provided both with a hedge (of thorns) and a wall (of stone).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5, 6. The hearers are silent, and the prophet proceeds to pass sentence on the vineyard.

And now, let me tell you, I pray,

What I am about to do to my vineyard.

The construction in the second line is the fut. instans; the owner’s mind is finally made up.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Go to – The Hebrew word here is one that is commonly rendered, I pray you, and is used to call the attention to what is said. It is the word from which we have derived the adverb now, na’.

I will take away the hedge – A hedge is a fence of thorns, made by suffering thorn-bushes to grow so thick that nothing can pass through them. Here it means that God would withdraw his protection from the Jews, and leave them exposed to be overrun and trodden down by their enemies, as a vineyard would be by wild beasts if it were not protected.

The wall … – Vineyards, it seems, had a double enclosure. – Gesenius. Such a double protection might be necessary, as some animals might scale a wall that would yet find it impossible to pass through a thorn-hedge. The sense here is, that though the Jews had been protected in every way possible, yet that protection would be withdrawn, and they would be left defenseless.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard; he graciously warns them beforehand, that they may have space and invitation to repent, and so to prevent the threatened miseries.

I will take away the hedge thereof, & c.; I will withdraw my presence and protection from them, and give them up into the hands of their enemies.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

5. go tothat is, attend tome.

hedge . . . wallIt hadboth; a proof of the care of the owner. But now it shall be troddendown by wild beasts (enemies) (Psa 80:12;Psa 80:13).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And now, go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard,…. Not by bestowing fresh favours upon them, but by inflicting punishment on them, for abusing what they had received; and this he told by John Baptist, Christ, and his apostles, what he determined to do; and what he was about to do to the Jewish nation, in the utter ruin of it, Mt 3:12.

I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; that is, the vineyard shall be eaten by the wild beasts that will enter into it, when the hedge is taken away; or “it shall be burnt”; that is, the hedge, being a hedge of thorns, as Jarchi and Kimchi observe; such there were about vineyards, besides the stone wall after mentioned:

[and] break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down; the vineyard, or the vines in it, see Ps 80:12 this is to be understood of the Lord’s removing his presence, power, and protection from the Jewish nation, and leaving them naked, destitute, and helpless, and exposed to their enemies. The Targum is,

“and now I will declare to you what I will do to my people; I will cause my Shechinah, or Majesty, to remove from them, and they shall be for a spoil; and I will break down the house of their sanctuary, and they shall be for treading.”

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

“Now then, I will tell you what I will do at once to my vineyard: take away its hedge, and it shall be for grazing; pull down its wall, and it shall be for treading down.” Before “now then” ( vattah ) we must imagine a pause, as in Isa 3:14. The Lord of the vineyard breaks the silence of the umpires, which indicates their consciousness of guilt. They shall hear from Him what He will do at once to His vineyard ( Lamed in l’carmi , as, for example, in Deu 11:6). “I will do:” ani ‘oeh , fut. instans, equivalent to facturus sum (Ges. 134, 2, b). In the inf. abs. which follow He opens up what He will do. On this explanatory use of the inf. abs., see Isa 20:2; Isa 58:6-7. In such cases as these it takes the place of the object, as in other cases of the subject, but always in an abrupt manner (Ges. 131, 1). He would take away the m esucah , i.e., the green thorny hedge (Pro 15:19; Hos 2:8) with which the vineyard was enclosed, and would pull down the gared , i.e., the low stone wall (Num 22:24; Pro 24:31), which had been surrounded by the hedge of thorn-bushes to make a better defence, as well as for the protection of the wall itself, more especially against being undermined; so that the vineyard would be given up to grazing and treading down (lxx ‘ ), i.e., would become an open way and gathering-place for man and beast.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

5. And now come, I will show you what I will do to my vineyard. Having held the Jews to be condemned, as it were, by their own mouth, he next adds that he will take vengeance for their contempt of his grace, so that they will not escape from being punished. The reproof would not have been sufficiently powerful to affect their minds, if he had not also threatened punishment; and therefore he now declares that the heinous offense, of having wickedly imposed on him, will not escape vengeance. Now the punishment to be inflicted on them amounts to this, that they will be deprived of the gifts which they had abused, when God shall not only withdraw his care of them, but shall give them up to be plundered by their enemies. At the same time he shows how wretched their condition will be, when God shall have ceased to bestow on them his multiplied favors.

Hence it follows that it must have been owing entirely to the extraordinary goodness of God, that the vineyard remained safe and uninjured till that time. He goes so far as to point out the various supports by which it was upheld, and the vast resources which God possesses for destroying it both within and without; for when his protection has been removed, they must become a prey to all that pass by, whether men or beasts. “When the fence has been removed,” says he, “the cattle will tread on it and lay it bare, robbers will ransack and plunder it, and thus it will become a wilderness.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(5) I will take away the hedge . . .This involved the throwing open of the vineyard to be as grazing land which all the wild bulls of Bashani.e., all the enemies of Zionmight trample on (Eze. 34:18). The interpretation of the parable implies that there was to be the obliteration, at least for some time and in some measure, of the distinctness and independence of the nations life. (Comp. Hos. 3:4, for a like sentence in another form.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

Was not this awful judgment actually inflicted, when Israel became unchurched at the siege of Jerusalem? That it is more than a parable, this passage fully explains. And, therefore, there is no period in the history of Israel like that, which took place, agreeably to our Lord’s own prediction, by the army of Titus Vespasian, Luk 21:5-11 . How pathetically did the prophet mourn over the event of the Babylonish captivity, under the same similitude, Psa 80:8-16 . And, Reader, mark the concluding verses of the same Psalm and take notice how the church calls upon the Lord, to look to Jesus for the recovery of his church and people. Surely there is much gospel in that Psalm.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Isa 5:5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; [and] break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:

Ver. 5. And now go to, I will tell you, &c. ] God loveth to foresignify, to warn ere he woundeth, and to foretell a judgment ere he inflicteth it. This he doth that he may be prevented. Amo 4:12 Prolata est sententia ut non fiat. Well might the Lord say, “Fury is not in me.” Isa 27:3

I will take away the hedge thereof. ] Hedge and wall shall be taken away at once from an ungrateful people, and all laid open to the wrath of God and rage of enemies; it shall be next indeed. Psa 80:12-13 And what may be reasonably pleaded against God at such a time, when he may say to men, as Reuben did to his brethren, “Did not I warn you, saying, Sin not?”

It shall be eaten up, it shall be trodden down. ] All shall run to ruin, as it did at Jerusalem by the Babylonians, but especially by the Romans; and as it did in Christendom about six hundred years after Christ’s incarnation, when religion was become a matter of form, yea, of scorn; then the Saracens in the east, and the barbarous nations in the west, broke in and bore down all before them.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

go to: Gen 11:4, Gen 11:7

I will take: Isa 27:10, Isa 27:11, Lev 26:31-35, Deu 28:49-52, 2Ch 36:4-10, Neh 2:3, Psa 74:1-10, Psa 80:12-16, Lam 1:2-9, Lam 4:12

trodden down: Heb. for a treading, Isa 10:6, Isa 25:10, Isa 28:3, Isa 28:18, Lam 1:15, Dan 8:13, Luk 21:24, Rev 11:2

Reciprocal: Gen 11:3 – they said one to another Exo 37:22 – beaten work 2Ki 5:5 – go Ezr 9:9 – a wall Neh 1:3 – the wall Neh 9:30 – therefore Job 1:10 – an hedge Job 42:6 – I Psa 89:40 – broken Ecc 2:1 – Go to Ecc 3:3 – a time to break Isa 1:7 – country Isa 22:5 – treading Jer 2:19 – Thine Jer 18:11 – go to Jer 21:4 – and I Jer 29:4 – whom Lam 2:6 – he hath violently Lam 2:8 – purposed Eze 19:12 – she was Hos 2:12 – I will Amo 9:11 – close Mat 7:19 – bringeth Mat 21:19 – and found Mat 21:41 – He will Mar 11:14 – No Mar 12:9 – he will Luk 13:35 – your Jam 4:13 – Go to

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Isa 5:5-6. And now I will tell you, &c. He graciously warns them beforehand, that they may have space and encouragement to repent, and so to prevent the threatened miseries. I will take away the hedge thereof, &c. I will withdraw my presence and protection from you, and give you up into the hands of your enemies. I will lay it waste It shall be overrun by heathen and infidels, and shall no longer bear the form of a vineyard. It shall not be pruned nor digged Vine-dressers used to dig up and open the earth about the roots of the vines. The meaning is, I will remove my ministers, who have used great care and diligence to make you fruitful: but there shall come up briers and thorns I will give you up to your own wicked lusts. I will also command the clouds I will deprive you of all my blessings.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

5:5 And now come; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I {g} will take away its hedge, and it shall be eaten up; [and] break down the wall of it, and it shall be trodden down:

(g) I will take no more care for it: meaning, that he would take from them his word and ministers and all other comforts, and feed them contrary plagues.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The well-beloved explained what he would do to his disappointing vineyard. He would stop protecting it and abandon it to the elements and to its enemies. He would invest no more labor on it and would even stop providing it with the nourishment it needed to flourish. Furthermore, he would assist in its destruction. This sounded like another Hosea and Gomer story (Hosea 1-3).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)