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!
The NET translates it this way.
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.
The NET translation rightly points out that this is a temporal "woe". Isaiah continues.
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.
When people quote Isaiah in context, people are forecasting a temporal "woe" that involves lots and lots of bodies. However, I realize that most people quote this verse out of context, because it is chilling and trendy.
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;
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| Isaiah promises un-buried corpses. This picture is from the Hatian Earthquake where 230,000 died. [1] |
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.
When people quote Isaiah in context, people are forecasting a temporal "woe" that involves lots and lots of bodies. However, I realize that most people quote this verse out of context, because it is chilling and trendy.
 |
| Modern Israel size comparison.[3] |
Here are a couple of quick notes.
- When this warning was made to Judah, there were less than a 100 million people globally.
- Sennacherib claims to have deported 200,150 people in the 8th century. While this may have been an exaggeration, Judah was left with only an estimated 110,000 people.[2]
- Israel today is bigger than 8th century Judah, but this predicted "woe" was directed at a smaller surface area.
The United States is a nation of about 300 million people. This is more than three times the world population when Isaiah was written. Not only were there less possible people to turn into corpses, there was less surface area.
I am not saying that God could not fill the US streets with corpses like manure, but the disaster would be beyond the scale that Isaiah prophesied to Judah. (More than 230,000 died in the Haitian earthquake of 2010.)
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