Isaiah 5:20
Context5:20 Those who call evil good and good evil are as good as dead, 1
who turn darkness into light and light into darkness,
who turn bitter into sweet and sweet into bitter. 2
Isaiah 43:1
Context43:1 Now, this is what the Lord says,
the one who created you, O Jacob,
and formed you, O Israel:
“Don’t be afraid, for I will protect 3 you.
I call you by name, you are mine.
Isaiah 45:4
Context45:4 For the sake of my servant Jacob,
Israel, my chosen one,
I call you by name
and give you a title of respect, even though you do not recognize 4 me.
Isaiah 54:6
Context54:6 “Indeed, the Lord will call you back
like a wife who has been abandoned and suffers from depression, 5
like a young wife when she has been rejected,” says your God.
Isaiah 58:9
Context58:9 Then you will call out, and the Lord will respond;
you will cry out, and he will reply, ‘Here I am.’
You must 6 remove the burdensome yoke from among you
and stop pointing fingers and speaking sinfully.
Isaiah 60:14
Context60:14 The children of your oppressors will come bowing to you;
all who treated you with disrespect will bow down at your feet.
They will call you, ‘The City of the Lord,
Zion of the Holy One of Israel.’ 7
1 tn Heb “Woe [to] those who call.” See the note at v. 8.
2 sn In this verse the prophet denounces the perversion of moral standards. Darkness and bitterness are metaphors for evil; light and sweetness symbolize uprightness.
3 tn Or “redeem.” See the note at 41:14. Cf. NCV “saved you”; CEV “rescued you”; NLT “ransomed you.”
4 tn Or “know” (NCV, NRSV, TEV, NLT); NIV “acknowledge.”
5 tn Heb “like a woman abandoned and grieved in spirit.”
6 tn Heb “if you.” In the Hebrew text vv. 9b-10 are one long conditional sentence. The protasis (“if” clauses appear in vv. 9b-10a), with the apodosis (“then” clause) appearing in v. 10b.
7 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.