Limitless Word
They also reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink. The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink. They are swallowed up by wine. They stagger with strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment.
Isaiah 28:7 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
  • BSB These also stagger from wine and stumble from strong drink: Priests and prophets reel from strong drink and are befuddled by wine. They stumble because of strong drink, muddled in their visions and stumbling in their judgments.
  • NKJV But they also have erred through wine, And through intoxicating drink are out of the way; The priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink, They are swallowed up by wine, They are out of the way through intoxicating drink; They err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
  • NASB And these also reel with wine and stagger from intoxicating drink: The priest and the prophet reel with intoxicating drink, They are confused by wine, they stagger from intoxicating drink; They reel while having visions, They stagger when rendering a verdict.
  • NLT Now, however, Israel is led by drunks who reel with wine and stagger with alcohol. The priests and prophets stagger with alcohol and lose themselves in wine. They reel when they see visions and stagger as they render decisions.

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

Even priests and prophets reel with drink, erring in vision and stumbling in judgment.

Overview

Isaiah indicts the religious leaders for drunkenness that corrupts their teaching and discernment. Those entrusted to guide the people have become spiritually blind and unreliable. Their failure underscores the need for the true Prophet and Priest, Christ, who never errs and faithfully reveals God's truth.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 25

  • Luke 21:34“So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you suddenly.
  • Isa 56:10–12His watchmen are blind. They are all without knowledge. They are all mute dogs. They can’t bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.
  • Matt 24:29But immediately after the oppression of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken;
  • Isa 19:14Yahweh has mixed a spirit of perverseness in the middle of her; and they have caused Egypt to go astray in all of its works, like a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
  • Eccl 10:17Happy are you, land, when your king is the son of nobles, and your princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!
  • Prov 20:1Wine is a mocker, and beer is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
  • Jer 14:14Then Yahweh said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I didn’t send them, neither have I commanded them, neither did I speak to them. They prophesy to you a lying vision, divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their own heart.
  • Mic 2:11If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood lies: “I will prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink”; he would be the prophet of this people.
  • Jer 23:13“I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria. They prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.
  • Jer 23:16Yahweh of Armies says, “Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They teach you vanity. They speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of Yahweh.
  • Isa 3:12As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. My people, those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths.
  • Ps 107:27They reel back and forth, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
  • Eph 5:28Even so husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself.
  • Isa 5:22Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and champions at mixing strong drink;
  • Prov 31:4–5It is not for kings, Lemuel; it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes to say, ‘Where is strong drink?’
  • Lam 2:4He has bent his bow like an enemy, he has stood with his right hand as an adversary, Has killed all that were pleasant to the eye: In the tent of the daughter of Zion he has poured out his wrath like fire.
  • Isa 24:2It will be as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the creditor, so with the debtor; as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest.
  • Isa 9:15–16The elder and the honorable man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail.
  • Lev 10:9–10“You and your sons are not to drink wine or strong drink whenever you go into the Tent of Meeting, or you will die. This shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.
  • Isa 5:11Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them!
  • Isa 22:13and behold, joy and gladness, killing cattle and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.”
  • Hos 4:11–12Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away understanding.
  • Ezek 13:7Haven’t you seen a false vision, and haven’t you spoken a lying divination, in that you say, ‘Yahweh says;’ but I have not spoken?”
  • Isa 29:11All vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is educated, saying, “Read this, please”; and he says, “I can’t, for it is sealed:”
  • Ezek 44:21Neither shall any of the priests drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Isaiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Isaiah 28:7YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on IsaiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).

How Isaiah 28:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.