Mazmur 80:8-16

80:8 You uprooted a vine ¹  from Egypt;

you drove out nations and transplanted it.

80:9 You cleared the ground for it; ² 

it took root, ³ 

and filled the land.

80:10 The mountains were covered by its shadow,

the highest cedars ⁴  by its branches.

80:11 Its branches reached the Mediterranean Sea, ⁵ 

and its shoots the Euphrates River. ⁶ 

80:12 Why did you break down its walls, ⁷ 

so that all who pass by pluck its fruit? ⁸ 

80:13 The wild boars of the forest ruin it; ⁹ 

the insects ¹⁰  of the field feed on it.

80:14 O God, invincible warrior, ¹¹  come back!

Look down from heaven and take notice!

Take care of this vine,

80:15 the root ¹²  your right hand planted,

the shoot you made to grow! ¹³ 

80:16 It is burned ¹⁴  and cut down.

They die because you are displeased with them. ¹⁵ 

Yesaya 5:1-7

A Love Song Gone Sour

5:1 I ¹⁶  will sing to my love –

a song to my lover about his vineyard. ¹⁷ 

My love had a vineyard

on a fertile hill. ¹⁸ 

5:2 He built a hedge around it, ¹⁹  removed its stones,

and planted a vine.

He built a tower in the middle of it,

and constructed a winepress.

He waited for it to produce edible grapes,

but it produced sour ones instead. ²⁰ 

5:3 So now, residents of Jerusalem, ²¹ 

people ²²  of Judah,

you decide between me and my vineyard!

5:4 What more can I do for my vineyard

beyond what I have already done?

When I waited for it to produce edible grapes,

why did it produce sour ones instead?

5:5 Now I will inform you

what I am about to do to my vineyard:

I will remove its hedge and turn it into pasture, ²³ 

I will break its wall and allow animals to graze there. ²⁴ 

5:6 I will make it a wasteland;

no one will prune its vines or hoe its ground, ²⁵ 

and thorns and briers will grow there.

I will order the clouds

not to drop any rain on it.

5:7 Indeed ²⁶  Israel ²⁷  is the vineyard of the Lord who commands armies,

the people ²⁸  of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight.

He waited for justice, but look what he got – disobedience! ²⁹ 

He waited for fairness, but look what he got – cries for help! ³⁰ 

Lukas 20:9-16

The Parable of the Tenants

20:9 Then ³¹  he began to tell the people this parable: “A man ³²  planted a vineyard, ³³  leased it to tenant farmers, ³⁴  and went on a journey for a long time. 20:10 When harvest time came, he sent a slave ³⁵  to the tenants so that they would give ³⁶  him his portion of the crop. ³⁷  However, the tenants beat his slave ³⁸  and sent him away empty-handed. 20:11 So ³⁹  he sent another slave. They beat this one too, treated him outrageously, and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴⁰  20:12 So ⁴¹  he sent still a third. They even wounded this one, and threw him out. 20:13 Then ⁴²  the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What should I do? I will send my one dear son; ⁴³  perhaps they will respect him.’ 20:14 But when the tenants saw him, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir; let’s kill him so the inheritance will be ours!’ 20:15 So ⁴⁴  they threw him out of the vineyard and killed ⁴⁵  him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 20:16 He will come and destroy ⁴⁶  those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” ⁴⁷  When the people ⁴⁸  heard this, they said, “May this never happen!” ⁴⁹ 

[80:8]  ¹ sn The vine is here a metaphor for Israel (see Ezek 17:6-10; Hos 10:1).

[80:9]  ² tn Heb “you cleared away before it.”

[80:9]  ³ tn Heb “and it took root [with] its roots.”

[80:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “cedars of God.” The divine name אֵל (’al, “God”) is here used in an idiomatic manner to indicate the superlative.

[80:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “to [the] sea.” The “sea” refers here to the Mediterranean Sea.

[80:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “to [the] river.” The “river” is the Euphrates River in Mesopotamia. Israel expanded both to the west and to the east.

[80:12]  ⁷ sn The protective walls of the metaphorical vineyard are in view here (see Isa 5:5).

[80:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “pluck it.”

[80:13]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew verb כִּרְסֵם (kirsem, “to eat away; to ruin”) occurs only here in the OT.

[80:13]  ¹⁰ tn The precise referent of the Hebrew word translated “insects,” which occurs only here and in Ps 50:11, is uncertain. Aramaic, Arabic, and Akkadian cognates refer to insects, such as locusts or crickets.

[80:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “O God, hosts.” One expects the construct form אֱלֹהֵי before צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot, “hosts”; see Ps 89:9), but יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים (yehvah ’elohim) precedes צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot) in Pss 59:5 and 84:8 as well. See also vv. 4, 7 for a similar construction.

[80:15]  ¹² tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here in the OT. HALOT 483 s.v. III כֵּן emends the form to כַּנָּהּ (kannah, “its shoot”).

[80:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “and upon a son you strengthened for yourself.” In this context, where the extended metaphor of the vine dominates, בֵּן (ben, “son”) probably refers to the shoots that grow from the vine. Cf. Gen 49:22.

[80:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “burned with fire.”

[80:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “because of the rebuke of your face they perish.”

[5:1]  ¹⁶ tn It is uncertain who is speaking here. Possibly the prophet, taking the role of best man, composes a love song for his friend on the occasion of his wedding. If so, יָדִיד (yadid) should be translated “my friend.” The present translation assumes that Israel is singing to the Lord. The word דוֹד (dod, “lover”) used in the second line is frequently used by the woman in the Song of Solomon to describe her lover.

[5:1]  ¹⁷ sn Israel, viewing herself as the Lord’s lover, refers to herself as his vineyard. The metaphor has sexual connotations, for it pictures her capacity to satisfy his appetite and to produce children. See Song 8:12.

[5:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “on a horn, a son of oil.” Apparently קֶרֶן (qeren, “horn”) here refers to the horn-shaped peak of a hill (BDB 902 s.v.) or to a mountain spur, i.e., a ridge that extends laterally from a mountain (HALOT 1145 s.v. קֶרֶן; H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:180). The expression “son of oil” pictures this hill as one capable of producing olive trees. Isaiah’s choice of קֶרֶן, a rare word for hill, may have been driven by paronomastic concerns, i.e., because קֶרֶן sounds like כֶּרֶם (kerem, “vineyard”).

[5:2]  ¹⁹ tn Or, “dug it up” (so NIV); KJV “fenced it.’ See HALOT 810 s.v. עזק.

[5:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “wild grapes,” i.e., sour ones (also in v. 4).

[5:2]  sn At this point the love song turns sour as the Lord himself breaks in and completes the story (see vv. 3-6). In the final line of v. 2 the love song presented to the Lord becomes a judgment speech by the Lord.

[5:3]  ²¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[5:3]  ²² tn Heb “men,” but in a generic sense.

[5:5]  ²³ tn Heb “and it will become [a place for] grazing.” בָּעַר (ba’ar, “grazing”) is a homonym of the more often used verb “to burn.”

[5:5]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and it will become a trampled place” (NASB “trampled ground”).

[5:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “it will not be pruned or hoed” (so NASB); ASV and NRSV both similar.

[5:7]  ²⁶ tn Or “For” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[5:7]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the house of Israel” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[5:7]  ²⁸ tn Heb “men,” but in a generic sense.

[5:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “but, look, disobedience.” The precise meaning of מִשְׂפָּח (mishpakh), which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain. Some have suggested a meaning “bloodshed.” The term is obviously chosen for its wordplay value; it sounds very much like מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat, “justice”). The sound play draws attention to the point being made; the people have not met the Lord’s expectations.

[5:7]  ³⁰ tn Heb “but, look, a cry for help.” The verb (“he waited”) does double duty in the parallelism. צְעָקָה (tsa’qah) refers to the cries for help made by the oppressed. It sounds very much like צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “fairness”). The sound play draws attention to the point being made; the people have not met the Lord’s expectations.

[20:9]  ³¹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative. The parable Jesus tells here actually addresses the question put to him by the leaders.

[20:9]  ³² tc ‡ There are several variants here, most of which involve variations in word order that do not affect translation. However, the presence or absence of τις (ti") after ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), which would be translated “a certain man,” does affect translation. The witnesses that have τις include A W Θ Ë¹³ 1241 2542 al sy. Those that lack it include א B C D L Ψ Ë¹ 33 Ï it. Externally, the evidence is significantly stronger for the omission. Internally, however, there is some pause. A feature unique to Luke-Acts in the NT is to use the construction ἄνθρωπος τις (cf. 10:30; 12:16; 14:2, 16; 15:11; 16:1; 19:12; Acts 9:33). However, scribes who were familiar with this idiom may have inserted it here. In light of the overwhelming external support for the omission of τις, the shorter reading is preferred. NA²⁷ places τις in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.

[20:9]  ³³ sn The vineyard is a figure for Israel in the OT (Isa 5:1-7). The nation and its leaders are the tenants, so the vineyard here may well refer to the promise that resides within the nation. The imagery is like that in Rom 11:11-24.

[20:9]  ³⁴ sn The leasing of land to tenant farmers was common in this period.

[20:10]  ³⁵ sn This slave (along with the next two) represent the prophets God sent to the nation, who were mistreated and rejected.

[20:10]  ³⁶ tc Instead of the future indicative δώσουσιν (dwsousin, “they will give”), most witnesses (C D W Θ Ψ Ë¹ Ï) have the aorist subjunctive δῶσιν (dwsin, “they might give”). The aorist subjunctive is expected following ἵνα ({ina, “so that”), so it is almost surely a motivated reading. Further, early and excellent witnesses, as well as a few others (א A B ˹³ 33 579 1241 2542 al), have δώσουσιν. It is thus more likely that the future indicative is authentic. For a discussion of this construction, see BDF §369.2.

[20:10]  ³⁷ tn Grk “from the fruit of the vineyard.”

[20:10]  ³⁸ tn Grk “him”; the referent (the slave sent by the owner) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:10]  sn The image of the tenants beating up the owner’s slave pictures the nation’s rejection of the prophets and their message.

[20:11]  ³⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the tenants’ mistreatment of the first slave.

[20:11]  ⁴⁰ sn The slaves being sent empty-handed suggests that the vineyard was not producing any fruit – and thus neither was the nation of Israel.

[20:12]  ⁴¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the tenants’ mistreatment of the first two slaves.

[20:13]  ⁴² tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[20:13]  ⁴³ tn Grk “my beloved son.” See comment at Luke 3:22.

[20:13]  sn The owner’s decision to send his one dear son represents God sending Jesus.

[20:15]  ⁴⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the tenants’ decision to kill the son.

[20:15]  ⁴⁵ sn Throwing the heir out of the vineyard pictures Jesus’ death outside of Jerusalem.

[20:16]  ⁴⁶ sn The statement that the owner will come and destroy those tenants is a promise of judgment; see Luke 13:34-35; 19:41-44.

[20:16]  ⁴⁷ sn The warning that the owner would give the vineyard to others suggests that the care of the promise and the nation’s hope would be passed to others. This eventually looks to Gentile inclusion; see Eph 2:11-22.

[20:16]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “they”; the referent (the people addressed in v. 9) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:16]  ⁴⁹ sn May this never happen! Jesus’ audience got the point and did not want to consider a story where the nation would suffer judgment.