Font Size
Isaiah 5:21
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Isaiah 5:21
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and shrewd in their own sight!(A)
Isaiah 5:21
New English Translation
Isaiah 5:21
New English Translation
Read full chapter
Footnotes
- Isaiah 5:21 tn Heb “the wise in their own eyes.”
- Isaiah 5:21 tn Heb “[who] before their faces are understanding ones.”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).
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
New English Translation (NET)
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.