Text -- Isaiah 5:18-30 (NET)

5:18 Those who pull evil along using cords of emptiness are as good as dead, who pull sin as with cart ropes. 5:19 They say, “Let him hurry, let him act quickly, so we can see; let the plan of the Holy One of Israel take shape and come to pass, then we will know it!” 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. 5:21 Those who think they are wise are as good as dead, those who think they possess understanding. 5:22 Those who are champions at drinking wine are as good as dead, who display great courage when mixing strong drinks. 5:23 They pronounce the guilty innocent for a payoff, they ignore the just cause of the innocent. 5:24 Therefore, as flaming fire devours straw, and dry grass disintegrates in the flames, so their root will rot, and their flower will blow away like dust. For they have rejected the law of the Lord who commands armies, they have spurned the commands of the Holy One of Israel. 5:25 So the Lord is furious with his people; he lifts his hand and strikes them. The mountains shake, and corpses lie like manure in the middle of the streets. Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again. 5:26 He lifts a signal flag for a distant nation, he whistles for it to come from the far regions of the earth. Look, they come quickly and swiftly. 5:27 None tire or stumble, they don’t stop to nap or sleep. They don’t loosen their belts, or unstrap their sandals to rest. 5:28 Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows are prepared. The hooves of their horses are hard as flint, and their chariot wheels are like a windstorm. 5:29 Their roar is like a lion’s; they roar like young lions. They growl and seize their prey; they drag it away and no one can come to the rescue. 5:30 At that time they will growl over their prey, it will sound like sea waves crashing against rocks. One will look out over the land and see the darkness of disaster, clouds will turn the light into darkness.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Isa 5:18

¹ sn See the note at v. 8.

² 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.

NET Notes: Isa 5:19

¹ tn Heb “let his work hurry, let it hasten.” The pronoun “his” refers to God, as the parallel line makes clear. The reference to his “work” alludes back to v. 12, which refers to his ‘work” of judgment. With these words the people challenged the prophet’s warning of approaching judgment. They were in essence saying that they saw no evidence that God was about to work in such a way.

² sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

³ tn Heb “draw near” (so NASB); NRSV “hasten to fulfillment.”

NET Notes: Isa 5:20

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.

NET Notes: Isa 5:21

¹ tn Heb “Woe [to] the wise in their own eyes.” See the note at v. 8.

² tn Heb “[who] before their faces are understanding.”

sn Verses 18-21 contain three “woe-sayings” that are purely accusatory and have no formal announcement of judgment attached (as in the “woe-sayings” recorded in vv. 8-17). While this lack of symmetry is odd, it has a clear rhetorical purpose. Having established a pattern in vv. 8-17, the prophet deviates from it in vv. 18-21 to grab his audience’s attention. By placing the “woes” in rapid succession and heaping up the accusatory elements, he highlights the people’s guilt and introduces an element of tension and anticipation. One is reasonably certain that judgment will come, and when it does, it will be devastating. This anticipated devastation is described in frightening detail after the sixth and final woe (see vv. 22-30).

NET Notes: Isa 5:22

¹ tn The language used here is quite sarcastic and paves the way for the shocking description of the enemy army in vv. 25-30. The rich leaders of Judah are nothing but “party animals” who are totally incapable of withstanding real warriors.

² tn Heb “Woe [to]….” See the note at v. 8.

NET Notes: Isa 5:23

¹ 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).

NET Notes: Isa 5:24

¹ tn Heb “a tongue of fire” (so NASB), referring to a tongue-shaped flame.

² sn They are compared to a flowering plant that withers quickly in a hot, arid climate.

³ tn Heb “the word.”

⁴ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

NET Notes: Isa 5:25

¹ tn Heb “the anger of the Lord rages.”

² tn Or “extends”; KJV, ASV “he hath stretched forth.”

³ tn Or “garbage” (NCV, CEV, NLT); NAB, NASB, NIV “refuse.”

⁴ tn Heb “in all this his anger is not turned, and still his hand is outstretched.”

NET Notes: Isa 5:26

¹ tc The Hebrew text has literally, “for nations from a distance.” The following verses use singular forms to describe this nation, so the final mem (ם) on לְגּוֹיִם (lÿgoyim) may be enclitic or dittographic. In the latter case one could read לְגוֹי מֵרָחוֹק (lÿgoy merakhoq, “for a nation from a distance”; see Deut 28:49; Joel 3:8). Another possibility is to emend the text from לַגּוֹיִם מֵרָחוֹק (laggoyim merakhoq) to לְגוֹי מִמֶּרְחָק (lÿgoy mimmerkhaq, “for a nation from a distant place”) a phrase which occurs in Jer 5:15. In this case an error of misdivision has occurred in MT, the mem of the prefixed preposition being accidentally taken as a plural ending on the preceding word.

² tn Heb “he.” Singular forms are used throughout vv. 26-30 to describe this nation, but for stylistic reasons the translation uses the plural for these collective singulars.

NET Notes: Isa 5:27

¹ tn Heb “and the belt on his waist is not opened, and the thong of his sandals is not torn in two.”

NET Notes: Isa 5:28

¹ tn Heb “bent” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “are strung.”

² tn Heb “regarded like flint.”

³ sn They are like a windstorm in their swift movement and in the way they kick up dust.

NET Notes: Isa 5:30

¹ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

² tn Heb “over it”; the referent (the prey) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Heb “like the growling of the sea.”

⁴ tn Heb “and one will gaze toward the land, and look, darkness of distress, and light will grow dark by its [the land’s?] clouds.”

sn The motif of light turning to darkness is ironic when compared to v. 20. There the sinners turn light (= moral/ethical good) to darkness (= moral/ethical evil). Now ironically the Lord will turn light (= the sinners’ sphere of existence and life) into darkness (= the judgment and death).