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 

Amos 5:15

5:15 Hate what is wrong, love what is right!

Promote ³  justice at the city gate! ⁴ 

Maybe the Lord, the God who commands armies, will have mercy on ⁵  those who are left from ⁶  Joseph. ⁷ 

Maleakhi 2:17

Resistance to the Lord through Self-deceit

2:17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” Because you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the Lord’s opinion, ⁸  and he delights in them,” or “Where is the God of justice?”

[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.

[5:15]  ³ tn Heb “set up, establish.” In the ancient Near East it was the responsibility especially of the king to establish justice. Here the prophet extends that demand to local leaders and to the nation as a whole (cf. 5:24).

[5:15]  ⁴ sn Legal disputes were resolved in the city gate (see the note in v. 12). This repetition of this phrase serves to highlight a deliberate contrast to the injustices cited in vv. 11-13.

[5:15]  ⁵ tn Or “will show favor to.”

[5:15]  ⁶ tn Or “the remnant of” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “what’s left of your people.”

[5:15]  ⁷ sn Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.

[2:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the eyes of the Lord.”