Isaiah 5:20

5:20 Those who call evil good and good evil are as good as dead,

who turn darkness into light and light into darkness,

who turn bitter into sweet and sweet into bitter.

Isaiah 5:23

5:23 They pronounce the guilty innocent for a payoff,

they ignore the just cause of the innocent.


tn Heb “Woe [to] those who call.” See the note at v. 8.

sn In this verse the prophet denounces the perversion of moral standards. Darkness and bitterness are metaphors for evil; light and sweetness symbolize uprightness.

tn Heb “and the just cause of the innocent ones they turn aside from him.”

sn In vv. 22-23 the prophet returns to themes with which he opened his speech. The accusatory elements of vv. 8, 11-12, 18-23 are arranged in a chiastic manner: (A) social injustice (8), (B) carousing (11-12a), (C) spiritual insensitivity (12b) // (C') spiritual insensitivity (18-21), (B') carousing (22), (A') social injustice (23).