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Selected Verse: Isaiah 5:20 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Isa 5:20 |
King James |
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
Fourth Woe--against those who confound the distinctions of right and wrong (compare Rom 1:28), "reprobate," Greek, "undiscriminating: the moral perception darkened."
bitter . . . sweet--sin is bitter (Jer 2:19; Jer 4:18; Act 8:23; Heb 12:15); though it seem sweet for a time (Pro 9:17-18). Religion is sweet (Psa 119:103). |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Wo unto them that call evil good ... - This is the fourth class of sins denounced. The sin which is reprobated here is that of "perverting and confounding" things, especially the distinctions of morality and religion. They prefer erroneous and fake doctrines to the true; they prefer an evil to an upright course of conduct. The Chaldee renders this, 'Wo to those who say to the impious, who are prospered in this age, You are good; and who say to the meek, Ye are impious.' Jarchi thinks that the prophet here refers to those who worship idols, but he evidently has a more general reference to those who confound all the distinctions of right and wrong, and who prefer the wrong.
That put darkness for light - "Darkness," in the Scriptures, is the emblem of ignorance, error, false doctrine, crime. Light denotes truth, knowledge, piety. This clause, therefore, expresses in a figurative, but more emphatic manner, what was said in the previous member of the verse.
That put bitter - "Bitter and bitterness" are often used to denote "sin;" see the note at Act 8:23; also Rom 3:14; Eph 4:31; Heb 12:15; Jer 2:19; Jer 4:18. The meaning here does not differ from that expressed in the other parts of the verse, except that there is "implied" the additional idea that sin "is" bitter; and that virtue, or holiness, is sweet: that is, that the one is attended with painful consequences, and the other with pleasure. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
| The fourth woe: "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who give out darkness for light, and light for darkness; who give out bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter." The previous woe had reference to those who made the facts of sacred history the butt of their naturalistic doubt and ridicule, especially so far as they were the subject of prophecy. This fourth woe relates to those who adopted a code of morals that completely overturned the first principles of ethics, and was utterly opposed to the law of God; for evil, darkness, and bitter, with their respective antitheses, represent moral principles that are essentially related (Mat 6:23; Jam 3:11), Evil, as hostile to God, is dark in its nature, and therefore loves darkness, and is exposed to the punitive power of darkness. And although it may be sweet to the material taste, it is nevertheless bitter, inasmuch as it produces abhorrence and disgust in the godlike nature of man, and, after a brief period of self-deception, is turned into the bitter woe of fatal results. Darkness and light, bitter and sweet, therefore, are not tautological metaphors for evil and good; but epithets applied to evil and good according to their essential principles, and their necessary and internal effects. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| To them - That take away the difference between good and evil; that justify wicked men and things, and condemn piety, or righteous persons. |
103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
17 Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.
18 But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.
15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
23 For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.
18 Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart.
19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
18 Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart.
19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.
15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
23 For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.
11 Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!