Isaiah 5:20-30 ▼

20 Woe [to] those saying to evil “good,” and to good “evil,” || Putting darkness for light, and light for darkness, || Putting bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.

21 Woe [to] the wise in their own eyes, || And—before their own faces—intelligent!

22 Woe [to] the mighty to drink wine, || And men of strength to mingle strong drink.

23 Declaring righteous the wicked for a bribe, || And the righteousness of the righteous || They turn aside from him.

24 Therefore, as a tongue of fire devours stubble, || And flaming hay falls, || Their root is as muck, || And their flower goes up as dust. Because they have rejected the Law of YHWH of Hosts, || And despised the saying of the Holy One of Israel.

25 Therefore the anger of YHWH has burned among His people, || And He stretches out His hand against it, || And strikes it, and the mountains tremble, || And their carcass is as filth in the midst of the out-places. With all this His anger did not turn back, || And still His hand is stretched out!

26 And He lifted up an ensign to the far-off nations, || And hissed to it from the end of the earth, || And behold, with haste, it comes swiftly.

27 There is none weary, nor stumbling in it, || It does not slumber, nor sleep, || Nor has the girdle of its loins been opened, || Nor the strap of its sandals drawn away.

28 Whose arrows [are] sharp, and all its bows bent, || Hooves of its horses have been reckoned as flint, || And its wheels as a windstorm!

29 Its roaring [is] like a lioness, || It roars like young lions, || And it howls, and seizes prey, || And carries away safely, and there is none delivering.

30 And it howls against it in that day as the howling of a sea, || And it has looked attentively to the land, || And behold, darkness—distress, || And light has been darkened by its abundance!