and wealth indeed betrays him. He is an arrogant man never at rest. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, and like Death, he is never satisfied. He gathers all the nations to himself and collects all the peoples as his own.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yes, moreover, wine is treacherous. A haughty man who doesn’t stay at home, who enlarges his desire as Sheol, and he is like death, and can’t be satisfied, but gathers to himself all nations, and heaps to himself all peoples.
- KJV Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:
- NKJV “Indeed, because he transgresses by wine, He is a proud man, And he does not stay at home. Because he enlarges his desire as hell, And he is like death, and cannot be satisfied, He gathers to himself all nations And heaps up for himself all peoples.
- NASB “Furthermore, wine betrays an arrogant man, So that he does not achieve his objective. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, And he is like death, never satisfied. He also gathers to himself all the nations And collects to himself all the peoples.
- NLT Wealth is treacherous, and the arrogant are never at rest. They open their mouths as wide as the grave, and like death, they are never satisfied. In their greed they have gathered up many nations and swallowed many peoples.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The proud, treacherous oppressor is as insatiable as death and the grave, never satisfied as he gathers all nations to himself. It exposes the boundless, self-destructive greed of the arrogant.
Overview
Wine and arrogance are linked to a restless ambition that, like Sheol, can never be filled. The picture is of Babylon's unquenchable appetite to conquer and accumulate peoples without limit. Such limitless greed is morally ruinous and sets up the series of woes that follow, where God pronounces judgment on every form of grasping pride and violence.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 28
- Isa 5:11–12Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of strong drink, who linger into the evening, to be inflamed by wine.
- Prov 27:20Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
- Prov 20:1Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
- Prov 31:4–5It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to crave strong drink,
- Ps 138:6Though the LORD is on high, He attends to the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar.
- 2 Kgs 14:10You have indeed defeated Edom, and your heart has become proud. Glory in that and stay at home. Why should you stir up trouble so that you fall—you and Judah with you?”
- Isa 21:5They prepare a table, they lay out a carpet, they eat, they drink! Rise up, O princes, oil the shields!
- Isa 5:22–23Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and champions in mixing strong drink,
- Isa 10:7–13But this is not his intention; this is not his plan. For it is in his heart to destroy and cut off many nations.
- Isa 2:11–12The proud look of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
- Isa 16:6We have heard of Moab’s pomposity, his exceeding pride and conceit, his overflowing arrogance. But his boasting is empty.
- Isa 14:16–17Those who see you will stare; they will ponder your fate: “Is this the man who shook the earth and made the kingdoms tremble,
- Isa 2:17So the pride of man will be brought low, and the loftiness of men will be humbled; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day,
- Isa 5:8Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field until no place is left and you live alone in the land.
- Eccl 5:10He who loves money is never satisfied by money, and he who loves wealth is never satisfied by income. This too is futile.
- Dan 5:1–4Later, King Belshazzar held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he drank wine with them.
- Prov 23:29–33Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?
- Prov 30:13–16There is a generation—how haughty are their eyes and pretentious are their glances—
- Jer 51:39While they are flushed with heat, I will serve them a feast, and I will make them drunk so that they may revel; then they will fall asleep forever and never wake up, declares the LORD.
- Hab 2:8–10Because you have plundered many nations, the remnant of the people will plunder you—because of your bloodshed against man and your violence against the land, the city, and all their dwellers.
- Jer 50:29Summon the archers against Babylon, all who string the bow. Encamp all around her; let no one escape. Repay her according to her deeds; do to her as she has done. For she has defied the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.
- Hab 2:4Look at the proud one; his soul is not upright—but the righteous will live by faith—
- 1 Th 4:11and to aspire to live quietly, to attend to your own matters, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you.
- Jas 4:6But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- Jer 25:9behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.
- Jer 25:17–29So I took the cup from the LORD’s hand and made all the nations drink from it, each one to whom the LORD had sent me,
- Dan 5:20–23But when his heart became arrogant and his spirit was hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne, and his glory was taken from him.
- Nah 1:9–10Whatever you plot against the LORD, He will bring to an end. Affliction will not rise up a second time.
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Original language
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