Isaiah 5:9 (KJV)

What does Isaiah 5:9 mean?

Isaiah 5:9 announces that many impressive houses will be left empty. The warning follows a complaint about people adding house to house and field to field. The homes that display their owners’ wealth will become places where no one lives.

“In mine ears” presents the warning as something Isaiah has heard from the LORD of hosts. The phrase gives the announcement the weight of a message from God, not merely Isaiah’s prediction. “Great and fair” makes the picture more striking: even large, attractive houses will stand empty.

The Hebrew behind Isaiah 5:9

• “hosts” — צְבָאוֹת (tsevaʾot): This word can mean armies or organized forces. In the title “LORD of hosts,” it presents the LORD as commander over vast forces, giving weight to the warning Isaiah has heard.

• “inhabitant” — יָשַׁב (yashav): This word means to live or dwell in a place. “Without inhabitant” pictures houses with no settled residents, rather than simply houses that are quiet for a time.

Why Isaiah 5:9 matters

• The warning is connected to the way land and houses were being gathered into fewer hands. Verse 8 describes people joining property to property “till there be no place,” making the empty houses in verse 9 a pointed reversal.

• The passage extends the warning beyond buildings. Verse 10 describes land producing very little, so both the houses and the fields that people sought to acquire are caught up in the picture of loss.