John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 5:10

"For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield [but] an ephah." — Isaiah 5:10 (ASV)

Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath. He foretells that the same thing will happen to their fields and vineyards; that covetous men will not obtain the desired returns because their greed is insatiable; and that, like certain animals that by their breath scorch the branches and wither the grain, these men destroy the fruits of the earth by their extortion. The fields will be so barren as to scarcely yield a tenth part of the seed; the vineyards will yield very little wine.

A bath, as Josephus tells us, is a measure of liquids and contains seventy-two sextaries—a very small measure, certainly, for ten acres, especially on fertile soil. The cor (κόρος) or homer is a measure of dry substances and, according to the same author, contains thirty-one medimni. An ephah is the tenth part of it and therefore evidently contains a little more than three medimni.

Now, when the soil is productive, it yields not only tenfold but thirtyfold, and in all cases goes beyond the quantity of seed, giving back far more abundantly than it received. When the case is otherwise, it undoubtedly proceeds from the curse of God punishing human extortion. And yet people blame the meagerness of the soil, as if the fault lay there, but all in vain; for we would not lack abundant increase if God did not curse the soil on account of human covetousness.

When they are so eagerly employed in gathering and heaping up, what else are they doing but swallowing up the goodness of God by their greed? If this is not seen in all, because they lack the power, still they do not lack the disposition. Never has the world been so inflamed by this covetousness, and we need not wonder if God visits it with punishment.