It is not clear whether there is a direct connection between the people described here and those mentioned in the previous verse. They may be the same people, which Revised Standard Version indicates by continuing one sentence through verses 22 and 23. However, while anyone could drink to excess (verse 22), only those who were elders of the people could serve as judges. So it is more likely that this verse describes another group of people. The focus is certainly different, since the concern is now with the lack of justice among officials. (Compare 1.23, which has the same theme. That passage uses the nouns bribe and “rebels,” which renders the same Hebrew root as deprive.)
Who acquit the guilty for a bribe is literally “those who make righteous [or, justify] an evil person as a consequence of a present.” In Hebrew the guilty is a singular expression with a collective sense, so it may be made plural if required. For bribe refer to the comments on 1.23. Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation have made the legal implications here clear in English. Translators should look for appropriate ways to do this in the target language. Bible en français courant renders this line as “They acquit the guilty one in exchange for a present.”
And deprive the innocent of his right is literally “the justice of/for the just ones they turn aside from him.” Denying justice to the innocent implies that the innocent are poor and cannot pay a bribe, or that the judges are associated with the guilty and so favor them. His is a general pronoun, referring to all people, so his right may be rendered “their rights” to convey the sense better. Bible en français courant expresses this line as “and they don’t want to have anything to do with the rights of the innocent.”
Translation examples for this verse are:
• Woe to those who accept a bribe to acquit the guilty person,
and deny justice to those who are innocent.
• Alas for those who accept bribes and let the guilty go unpunished,
and prevent innocent people getting just treatment.
Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .