Yesaya 5:11

5:11 Those who get up early to drink beer are as good as dead, ¹ 

those who keep drinking long after dark

until they are intoxicated with wine. ² 

Yesaya 5:18

5:18 Those who pull evil along using cords of emptiness are as good as dead, ³ 

who pull sin as with cart ropes. ⁴ 

Yesaya 5:20

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

who turn darkness into light and light into darkness,

who turn bitter into sweet and sweet into bitter. ⁶ 

[5:11]  ¹ tn Heb “Woe [to] those who arise early in the morning, [who] chase beer.”

[5:11]  ² tn Heb “[who] delay until dark, [until] wine enflames them.”

[5:11]  sn This verse does not condemn drinking per se, but refers to the carousing lifestyle of the rich bureaucrats, made possible by wealth taken from the poor. Their carousing is not the fundamental problem, but a disgusting symptom of the real disease – their social injustice.

[5:18]  ³ sn See the note at v. 8.

[5:18]  ⁴ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “Woe to those who pull evil with the ropes of emptiness, and, as [with] ropes of a cart, sin.” Though several textual details are unclear, the basic idea is apparent. The sinners are so attached to their sinful ways (compared here to a heavy load) that they strain to drag them along behind them. If שָׁוְא (shavÿ’, “emptiness”) is retained, it makes a further comment on their lifestyle, denouncing it as one that is devoid of what is right and destined to lead to nothing but destruction. Because “emptiness” does not form a very tight parallel with “cart” in the next line, some emend שָׁוְא to שֶׂה (she, “sheep”) and עֲגָלָה (’agalah, “cart”) to עֵגֶל (’egel, “calf”): “Those who pull evil along with a sheep halter are as good as dead who pull sin with a calf rope” (following the lead of the LXX and improving the internal parallelism of the verse). In this case, the verse pictures the sinners pulling sin along behind them as one pulls an animal with a halter. For a discussion of this view, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:163, n. 1. Nevertheless, this emendation is unnecessary. The above translation emphasizes the folly of the Israelites who hold on to their sin (and its punishment) even while they hope for divine intervention.

[5:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “Woe [to] those who call.” See the note at v. 8.

[5:20]  ⁶ sn In this verse the prophet denounces the perversion of moral standards. Darkness and bitterness are metaphors for evil; light and sweetness symbolize uprightness.