Isaiah 5:23

23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of their rights!

Isaiah 5:23 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 5:23

Which justify the wicked for reward
This is either spoken of judges, and civil magistrates, who gave the cause in favour of the wicked, that bribed them, contrary to law, ( Deuteronomy 16:19 ) or rather of the Scribes and Pharisees, who pronounced the wicked righteous men, provided they kept the traditions of the elders, and paid tithes of all they possessed, and gave them money for their long prayers, ( Matthew 23:14 Matthew 23:23 ) : and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him;
by condemning them as unrighteous persons: so the Jews did Christ and his apostles; they pronounced them wicked, and condemned them to death; and as much as in them lay took away their righteousness from them, by taking away their character from them as righteous persons among men; though their righteousness itself could not be taken away, it being an everlasting one.

Isaiah 5:23 In-Context

21 Ah, you who are wise in your own eyes, and shrewd in your own sight!

22 Ah, you who are heroes in drinking wine and valiant at mixing drink,

23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of their rights!

24 Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will become rotten, and their blossom go up like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the Lord of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them; the mountains quaked, and their corpses were like refuse in the streets. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.