Isaiah 5:6 · Bible study
Isaiah 5:6 Commentary: The Withholding of Rain in Judgment
Hebrew · 11 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Explore the meaning of God commanding the clouds not to rain on Israel in Isaiah 5:6. What does this symbolize in the vineyard parable of judgment?
Research Summary
- Meaning: God responds to Israel’s unfruitfulness by removing every source of care and blessing, leaving the land a wasteland.
- Key words: bâthâh (waste, destruction); shâmir vâshaith (briers and thorns, a distinctively Isaianic pair); tsa.vah (command, in Piel, divine authority).
- Main debate: Do the “clouds” represent prophets specifically (Targum, Gill) or spiritual nourishment generally (Barnes, Calvin)? And is this judgment fulfilled in Babylon, in AD 70, or more broadly in gospel times?
- Theological theme: God’s sovereignty over every means of grace, protection, cultivation, and even the spiritual rain that makes life possible.
- Best use: A warning to any community that receives God’s care but fails to bear the fruit of justice and righteousness; also a call to repentance while the rain still falls.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and thorns and briers will grow up. I will command the clouds that rain shall not fall on it.”
WEB World English Bible 2000
I will lay it a wasteland. It won’t be pruned or hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.”
KJV King James Version 1769
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.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
and I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor hoed; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
And I make it a waste, It is not pruned, nor arranged, And gone up have brier and thorn, And on the thick clouds I lay a charge, From raining upon it rain.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
and I will make it a waste — it shall not be pruned nor cultivated, but there shall come up briars and thorns; and I will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
And I will make it desolate: it shall not be pruned, and it shall not be digged: but briers and thorns shall come up: and I will command the clouds to rain no rain upon it.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Haré que quede desierta; no será podada ni cavada, y crecerá el cardo y las espinas: y aun á las nubes mandaré que no derramen lluvia sobre ella.
E eu a tornarei uma terra abandonada; não será podada, nem cavada; mas crescerão nela cardos e espinhos; e darei ordens às nuvens, para que não chovam chuva sobre ela.
Je la réduirai en ruine; elle ne sera plus taillée, ni cultivée;
Ich will ihn wüst liegen lassen, daß er nicht beschnitten noch gehackt werde, sondern Disteln und Dornen darauf wachsen, und will den Wolken gebieten, daß sie nicht darauf regnen.
En Ik zal hem tot woestheid maken; hij zal niet besnoeid, noch omgehakt worden, maar distelen en doornen zullen daarin opgaan; en Ik zal den wolken gebieden, dat zij geen regen daarop regenen.
Ne farò un deserto; non sarà più né potata né zappata, vi cresceranno i rovi e le spine; e darò ordine alle nuvole che su lei non lascino cader pioggia.
I uczynię ją pustą; nie będzie obrzezywana, ani okopywana, ale porośnie ostem i cierniem; obłokom też przykażę, aby na nią więcej dżdżu nie spuszczały.
и оставлю его в запустении: не будут ни обрезывать, ни вскапывать его, - и зарастет он тернами и волчцами, и повелю облакам не проливать на него дождя.
我必使 它荒廢，不再 修理，不再 鋤刨，荊棘 蒺藜 倒要生長。我也必命 雲 不降 雨 在其上。
And I will make it waste; its branches will not be touched with the knife, or the earth worked with the spade; but blackberries and thorns will come up in it: and I will give orders to the clouds not to send rain on it.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Isaiah 5:6
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators agree that in Isaiah 5:6 the vineyard metaphor is partly dropped, and God is revealed as more than a mere husbandman: He is Lord of the clouds, who alone can command the rain. Barnes notes that a farmer could not command clouds, this is God speaking as sovereign. The command to withhold rain is universally understood as a figure for removing every source of blessing, especially spiritual nourishment. Calvin speaks of God drying up the roots by withholding rain, and Gill explicitly identifies the clouds with the apostles, whose teaching once fell like rain on Israel. The Targum interprets the clouds as prophets. Beyond the symbolic meaning, the consequences are concrete: the land becomes a wasteland, overrun with briers and thorns, untended and unwatered. The consensus, as Keil & Delitzsch state, is that this puts an end to the unthankful vineyard, it is a hopeless end of divine patience.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Prophetic withholding (Targumic/Gill): The clouds represent the prophets, and the rain is the prophetic word. When Israel rejected the prophets, God commanded them to cease.
- General spiritual drought (Barnes/Calvin): The rain symbolizes all divine blessing and spiritual influence. God leaves the people to their own devices, without help or hope.
- Historical exile/fall (Gill/JFB): Gill sees the fulfillment in Jerusalem’s destruction by Rome; JFB sees it primarily in the rejection of Christ and the gospel era, not the Babylonian exile.
What is clear: God’s judgment for unfruitfulness involves removing every source of protection, cultivation, and life-sustaining blessing, leaving a people or community desolate.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning of the clouds | The clouds represent divine provision, either rain itself or the spiritual blessings God gives. | The Targum and Gill identify them as prophets who bring God’s word; Barnes and Calvin see them more broadly as all divine influences. |
| Historical fulfillment | The prophecy was fulfilled in the judgment on Israel/Judah, leading to exile and desolation. | Gill points to the Roman destruction in AD 70; Jamieson-Fausset-Brown argues it was not fully realized in the Babylonian exile because prophets still spoke then, but rather in gospel times when the nation rejected Christ. |
| Literal vs. symbolic rain | The primary meaning is symbolic of spiritual drought and removal of God’s favor. | Some traditions (e.g., Wesley) also see a literal drought as a covenantal curse; Calvin and most Reformed commentators emphasize the symbolic interpretation, with the land becoming a spiritual wilderness. |
| Role of human instrumentality | God removes the means of grace, pruning, hoeing, rain, as part of judgment. | Matthew Henry focuses on the removal of ministers; Keil & Delitzsch stress the absolute sovereignty of God who acts directly, beyond human metaphors. |
Historical & Cultural Context
This verse sits inside Isaiah’s Vineyard Song (Isaiah 5:1, 7), a poetic courtroom scene. The prophet Isaiah sings on behalf of his “beloved” about a vineyard planted with every advantage, choice vines, a watchtower, a winepress. Yet it yielded wild grapes. The Cambridge Bible notes this as one of the finest rhetorical exhibitions in the book: the crowd is drawn in by a story, then suddenly finds itself condemned. By verse 5, the tone shifts from sorrow to judgment: the hedge and wall are removed, the vineyard is trampled. Verse 6 completes the dismantling. Pruning and hoeing, the daily work of the vinedresser, stop entirely. Briers and thorns, the very opposite of fruitful vines, spring up. Then the decisive blow: God personally commands the clouds to rain no rain.
In the ancient Near East, rainfall was the only source of water for crops. A command to withhold rain meant certain ruin. The prohibition of pruning and hoeing signals total neglect; such abandonment of a vineyard was its final fate. Historically, the passage echoes covenant curses from Deuteronomy 28:23, 24, where the sky becomes bronze and rain becomes dust. It also recalls Elijah’s prophecy of drought (1 Kings 17:1), demonstrating that Israel’s God controls the elements. The judgment here is set against the background of the Assyrian and Babylonian threats, though the prophecy looks beyond them to a spiritual desolation. Wesley’s Notes read the missing rain as deprivation of all divine blessings; Jamieson-Fausset-Brown specifically identifies the rain with the heaven-sent teachings of the prophets, adding that this was not fully accomplished in the Babylonian exile (since prophets still appeared) but in gospel times.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note one textual variant in the phrase “briers and thorns.” Adam Clarke reports that one manuscript reads beshamir (“in a thorn”) but considers the true reading to be bo shamir (“the thorn shall spring up in it”), supported by the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate. The difference does not affect the meaning, and no significant variants are mentioned for the rest of the verse. The grammar of ‘I will command’ (Piel) is stable across witnesses.
Reception History
From the early church, this verse was read as a warning against ingratitude toward God’s gifts. The metaphor of the vineyard was applied both to Israel and to the Christian church. In the Reformation era, Calvin used the passage to challenge his congregation: when the church becomes unfruitful, God withdraws one benefit after another. The Geneva Bible (1599) included marginal notes that emphasized the justice of God’s judgment. Wesley and the Methodist tradition saw in the withheld rain a picture of the removal of the Holy Spirit’s influence and the loss of gospel ordinances. Across traditions, the verse has been sung in hymns of lament and quoted in sermons on national repentance. Its starkness has never been softened: it stands as a sober reminder that God’s patience has limits, and his gifts can be removed.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- From Grace to Waste. God did everything for his vineyard (v. 2); when it failed, he did nothing for it (v. 6). The same gifts that once nurtured can be withdrawn.
- The Layers of Loss. First protection (hedge), then cultivation (pruning and hoeing), then life itself (rain). Judgment is not sudden, it escalates.
- The Divine Command. Only God can command the clouds. The same voice that sent rain can stop it. This is a sobering picture of God’s sovereignty over every source of blessing.
Five-point outline
- The Vineyard’s Privilege. Israel was planted with every advantage, choice vines, protection, a vinedresser’s care.
- The Vineyard’s Failure. It yielded wild grapes, the fruit of injustice and bloodshed that the passage catalogues (vv. 7, 23).
- The Divine Sentence. The hedge is removed, the wall broken, protection gone.
- The Desertion. No pruning, no hoeing, God’s means of grace are taken away.
- The Deathblow. Rain is commanded to stop, no more spiritual nourishment, no more prophetic word.
Illustration hooks
- A gardener who carefully waters and fertilizes a plant, then one day stops, leaves it in the sun, and lets it wither. The plant didn’t change, the care did.
- A person who turns off an automatic sprinkler system because the lawn refused to grow. The water was there, but the ground never absorbed it.
- A parent who, after years of lessons, warnings, and patience, steps back to let a child face the full consequences of rebellion, not out of anger, but out of sorrow.
Questions your congregation is asking
- “Does God ever stop trying to reach someone?” (This verse shows a point where judgment removes the very means of reaching them.)
- “What does it mean for the clouds to be commanded not to rain?” (They want to know if this is literal drought or spiritual dryness.)
- “How do I know if I’m producing wild grapes or good fruit?” (The passage defines good fruit as justice and righteousness, not mere religious activity.)
Leading a Discussion
This passage is a wake-up call for people of God. The vineyard is not just ancient Israel, it is any community that enjoys God’s care but fails to bear the fruit he seeks. As you discuss, notice how judgment escalates from protection removed to life itself withheld. Ask yourselves: what kind of fruit is God looking for from our church, our families, our own lives?
Discussion questions
- Observation: What specific actions does God say he will take against the vineyard in verse 6?
- Interpretation: The Hebrew word bâthâh (waste) means “abscissio” or “deletion.” How does that deepen your understanding of the judgment here?
- Interpretation: Why does the prophet shift from a human vinedresser to God commanding the clouds? What does that show about God’s nature?
- Application: If rain represents divine teaching and blessing, what does it look like when God withholds those from a person or community?
- Connection: Read Deuteronomy 28:23, 24 and 1 Kings 17:1. How do these passages reinforce or expand the meaning of rain withheld?
- Application: Verse 7 defines the fruit God wanted as “justice” and “righteousness.” Where in your own life are you most tempted to substitute religious activity for these fruits?
- Prayer: What does it mean to ask God not to withdraw his care, even when we have failed him?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Leviticus 26:33 | I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you. Your land will be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste. |
| Leviticus 26:35 | As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest, even the rest which it didn’t have in your Sabbaths when you lived on it. |
| Deuteronomy 28:23 | Your sky that is over your head will be bronze, and the earth that is under you will be iron. |
| Deuteronomy 28:24 | Yahweh will make the rain of your land powder and dust. It will come down on you from the sky, until you are destroyed. |
| Deuteronomy 29:23 | that all of its land is sulfur, salt, and burning, that it is not sown, doesn’t produce, nor does any grass grow in it, like the overthrow of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath. |
| I Kings 17:1 | Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” |
| II Chronicles 36:19 | They burned God’s house, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all of its valuable vessels. |
| II Chronicles 36:21 | to fulfill Yahweh’s word by Jeremiah’s mouth, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. As long as it lay desolate, it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
11 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
There shall come up briers and thorns "The thorn shall spring up in it" - One MS. has בשמיר beshamir. The true reading seems to be בו שמור bo shamir, which is confirmed by the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes notes that the vineyard parable breaks down at this point because a farmer cannot command clouds. God steps into the text as the sovereign Lord, directly withdrawing his protection and spiritual influences. The Jews are left without defense, and even the prophets are silenced, a clear sign of total abandonment.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin sees every calamity that threatens the Church — lack of teaching, the spread of wickedness, false teachers slipping in — as God's deliberate punishment for ingratitude. When believers fail to bear fruit and despise His kindness, God withdraws His blessings one by one, and they should recognize His anger in these losses.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
Isaiah presents his parable as a song about a friend's vineyard, drawing in his audience before they realize they are pronouncing judgment on themselves. The force of the application rests on untranslatable Hebrew wordplay: God looked for justice (mishpat) but found bloodshed (mispach), for righteousness (tsedaqah) but heard a cry of the oppressed (tse'aqah).
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva Notes highlight that God’s judgment makes the vineyard utterly unproductive through two means: humans stop tending it, and God Himself commands the clouds to withhold rain. The ruin is total, combining human neglect with direct divine action against the land.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill reads this verse as an allegory of God's judgment on Judea. The briers and thorns represent wicked men and heresies that flourished after the Jews rejected Christ. The clouds that withhold rain symbolize the apostles, who turned from the Jews to the Gentiles when the gospel was blasphemed.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB argues that the "command" for no rain belongs only to God, not an ordinary farmer, and refers to the withdrawal of prophetic teaching. The fulfillment was not in the Babylonian captivity, since major prophets still spoke during and after it, but in the gospel age.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch focuses on the Hebrew word for "put an end," which means a complete deletion of the vineyard. Further pruning would only bring disappointment, so God commands the clouds to stop raining, showing He is Lord of heaven and earth. The parable's gentle covering now falls away, revealing the severe reality.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange emphasizes the ironic structure: the prophet opens with a joyful, lyrical prelude that sounds like a drinking song, but the hearer experiences a series of disappointments. What begins as a song of a vineyard turns into a mournful accusation, with the mask falling only gradually to reveal Israel itself as the bad vineyard.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Matthew Henry highlights that God here uses a poetic song, not just plain reasoning, to awaken sinners. He sees this song as given to honor Christ, God’s beloved Son and the Lord of the vineyard. The prophet sings it for Christ’s honor, as the Old Testament prophets were friends of the bridegroom.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley reads the neglected vineyard as a symbol of God's judgment on His people. The failure to dig around the vines represents the removal of diligent ministers; the overgrowth of thorns signifies being surrendered to one's own lusts; the absence of rain means the withdrawal of all divine blessings.