The Book of Mormon
~559–545 BC

2 Nephi 15

Isaiah presents a parable about a vineyard producing wild grapes instead of good fruit. The vineyard represents Israel and Judah, who brought oppression instead of justice. Woe upon those accumulating property, pursuing drunkenness, and perverting justice. Foreign armies will swiftly invade.

The Song of the Vineyard

Let me sing you a song about someone I love—a song about his vineyard. My friend owned a vineyard on a rich, fertile hillside. He built a fence around it, cleared out the stones, and planted the finest grapevines. He built a watchtower in the middle and carved out a wine press. He expected a harvest of sweet grapes. Instead, he got sour, wild fruit.

So now, people of Jerusalem—you, the men of Judah—you be the judge. What’s fair here? Who’s right, me or my vineyard? What more could I have done? I gave it everything. So why, when I expected sweet grapes, did it give me sour ones?

Here’s what I’m going to do: I’ll tear down the fence, and wild animals will devour it. I’ll break down the wall, and people will trample it into the dirt. I’ll turn it into wasteland. No one will prune it or work the soil. Thorns and thistles will take over. I’ll even command the clouds to stop raining on it.

You see, the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel. The people of Judah are the planting he cherished. He looked for justice, but found bloodshed. He listened for righteousness, but heard cries of suffering.

A List of Troubles

Trouble is coming for those who buy up house after house and field after field until there’s no space left and they stand alone as masters of the land. The Lord of hosts told me this himself: 'Those grand estates will become ruins. Those beautiful mansions will stand empty, with no one living in them.' Ten acres of vineyard will produce only a few gallons of wine. A whole sack of seed will yield barely a basket of grain.

Trouble is coming for those who get up at dawn hunting for their next drink, who stay up late into the night until they’re drunk with wine. Their parties are filled with harps and lyres, tambourines and flutes, and wine—always wine. But they don’t pay attention to what the Lord is doing. They don’t see what he’s making with his hands.

That’s why my people will be taken captive—because they don’t understand. Their honored leaders will starve. The crowds will die of thirst. The grave has stretched wide its jaws, opened its mouth beyond measure. Down into it will go their nobles and masses, their revelers and partiers. The common person will be humbled. The powerful will be brought low. The eyes of the proud will be forced down.

But the Lord of hosts will be lifted up through his justice. The holy God will show himself holy through his righteousness. Then lambs will graze as if in their own pasture. Strangers will feed among the ruins of the rich.

Trouble is coming for those who drag wickedness along like pulling a cart on ropes, who haul their sin behind them like a heavy load. They sneer and say, 'Let God hurry up and do his work so we can see it. Let the Holy One of Israel’s plan unfold already, so we’ll know what he’s up to.'

Trouble is coming for those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness into light and light into darkness, who make bitter seem sweet and sweet seem bitter. Trouble is coming for those who think they’re so wise, who see themselves as brilliant. Trouble is coming for those who are heroes at drinking wine, champions at mixing strong drinks— who let the guilty go free for a bribe and deny justice to those who’ve done nothing wrong.

So just as fire devours stubble and flames burn up dry grass, their roots will rot and their blossoms will blow away like dust. Why? Because they’ve rejected the law of the Lord of hosts and treated the word of the Holy One of Israel with contempt. That’s why the Lord’s anger burns against his people. He has raised his hand against them and struck them down. The mountains shook. Dead bodies lay like garbage in the streets. And even after all that, his anger hasn’t cooled. His hand is still raised, ready to strike.

The Coming Army

He will raise a signal flag to distant nations. He will whistle for them from the ends of the earth. And look—they’ll come rushing in, quick as lightning. Not one of them will be tired or stumbling.

None will rest or sleep. Their belts won’t come loose, their sandal straps won’t break. Their arrows are razor-sharp. Their bows are strung tight. Their horses' hooves strike like flint. Their chariot wheels spin like whirlwinds. They roar like lions. They roar like young lions—roaring as they pounce on their prey and drag it off where no one can rescue it. On that day, they will roar over their victims like the crashing sea. Anyone who looks across the land will see only darkness and suffering. Even the light in the sky will be swallowed by shadow.

Influences

  • 15:1 — Isaiah 5:1 (KJV)
    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:
  • 15:2 — Isaiah 5:2 (KJV)
    And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
  • 15:3 — Isaiah 5:3 (KJV)
    And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
  • 15:4 — Isaiah 5:4 (KJV)
    What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
  • 15:5 — Isaiah 5:5 (KJV)
    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:
  • 15:6 — Isaiah 5:6 (KJV)
    And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
  • 15:7 — Isaiah 5:7 (KJV)
    For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
  • 15:8 — Isaiah 5:8 (KJV)
    Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!
  • 15:9 — Isaiah 5:9 (KJV)
    In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
  • 15:10 — Isaiah 5:10 (KJV)
    Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.
  • 15:11 — Isaiah 5:11 (KJV)
    Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!
  • 15:12 — Isaiah 5:12 (KJV)
    And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.
  • 15:13 — Isaiah 5:13 (KJV)
    Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.
  • 15:14 — Isaiah 5:14 (KJV)
    Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.
  • 15:15 — Isaiah 5:15 (KJV)
    And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:
  • 15:16 — Isaiah 5:16 (KJV)
    But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.
  • 15:17 — Isaiah 5:17 (KJV)
    Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
  • 15:18 — Isaiah 5:18 (KJV)
    Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
  • 15:19 — Isaiah 5:19 (KJV)
    That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!
  • 15:20 — Isaiah 5:20 (KJV)
    Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
  • 15:21 — Isaiah 5:21 (KJV)
    Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
  • 15:22 — Isaiah 5:22 (KJV)
    Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
  • 15:23 — Isaiah 5:23 (KJV)
    Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
  • 15:24 — Isaiah 5:24 (KJV)
    Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
  • 15:25 — Isaiah 5:25 (KJV)
    Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
  • 15:26 — Isaiah 5:26 (KJV)
    And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:
  • 15:27 — Isaiah 5:27 (KJV)
    None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
  • 15:28 — Isaiah 5:28 (KJV)
    Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:
  • 15:29 — Isaiah 5:29 (KJV)
    Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.
  • 15:30 — Isaiah 5:30 (KJV)
    And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.
2 Nephi 142 Nephi 16