What sorrow for those who get up early in the morning looking for a drink of alcohol and spend long evenings drinking wine to make themselves flaming drunk.
Parallel translations
- WEB Woe 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!
- KJV Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!
- BSB Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of strong drink, who linger into the evening, to be inflamed by wine.
- NKJV Woe to those who rise early in the morning, That they may follow intoxicating drink; Who continue until night, till wine inflames them!
- NASB Woe to those who rise early in the morning so that they may pursue intoxicating drink, Who stay up late in the evening so that wine may inflame them!
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
A woe falls on those who pursue strong drink from dawn till late into the night. It condemns lives consumed by indulgence rather than devotion to God.
Overview
The relentless drinking pictures a people enslaved to pleasure, with no time or thought for the Lord. Such intemperance is not merely physical excess but a sign of spiritual indifference. The woe sets up the next verse's charge that their revelry blinds them to God's works.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Prov 23:29–30Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
- Rom 13:13Let us walk properly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not in strife and jealousy.
- Prov 20:1Wine is a mocker, and beer is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
- Isa 5:22Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and champions at mixing strong drink;
- Eccl 10:16–17Woe to you, land, when your king is a child, and your princes eat in the morning!
- Isa 28:7–8They 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.
- Hab 2:15“Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies!
- Gal 5:21envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s Kingdom.
- 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.
- 1 Th 5:6–7so then let’s not sleep, as the rest do, but let’s watch and be sober.
- 1 Cor 6:10nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom.
- Isa 28:1Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley of those who are overcome with wine!
- Hos 7:5–6On the day of our king, the princes made themselves sick with the heat of wine. He joined his hand with mockers.
- Prov 23:32In the end, it bites like a snake, and poisons like a viper.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 5:11 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.