Yesaya 5:20

5:20 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 

Yesaya 5:23

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

they ignore the just cause of the innocent. ³ 

[5:20]  ¹ tn Heb “Woe [to] those who call.” See the note at v. 8.

[5:20]  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.

[5:23]  ³ tn Heb “and the just cause of the innocent ones they turn aside from him.”

[5:23]  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).