Isaiah 24:11
in Isaiah 24In the streets they cry out for wine. All joy turns to gloom; rejoicing is exiled from the land.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
There is a crying in the streets because of the wine; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.
KJV
There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.
⋯
This verse in Isaiah 24
Commentary
9 notes on this verseThere shall be a crying, of those lamenting over the lack of wine, against fertility: in all vineyards there shall be wailing (Amos 5:17). 572. Third, he concludes the exchange: all mirth is forsaken, exchanged for sadness: woe to you that laugh: for you shall …
This site's exposition
The city of chaos is shattered
on Isaiah 24:10-13
The text never names the city it describes: "The city of chaos is shattered; every house is closed to entry". Its gate is "reduced to rubble", and "rejoicing is exiled from the land". Verse 13 leaves a remnant, "like a harvested olive tree, like a gleaning after a grape harvest".
This site's exposition
In the streets they cry out for wine
The cry is for wine alone. Wesley sets it beside Hosea 7:14, where Israel wails on their beds for grain and new wine and never cries out to God. Barnes compares the lost vintage of Moab in 16:8 to 10.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 7 and following) The grape harvest has failed, the vine is weakened, all those who rejoiced in their hearts have sighed. The joy of the tambourines has ceased, the sound of the rejoicers has quieted, the sweetness of the lyre has been silenced, as those who do not drink wine with singing, bitter will be the drink for those who drink it. The city of vanity is worn away, every house is closed with no one entering.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
A crying - Such was their gross sensuality and sottishness, that instead of crying for their sins, they did only howl for their corn, and wine, and oil, Hosea vii, 14.
); and, if it was that mirth which Solomon calls madness, there is no great loss of it. The cities will in a particular manner feel from these desolations of the country (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
There is a crying for wine in the streets,.... Not to them that have it, to come and sell it, as Kimchi; but for want of it: there shall be a howling and lamentation in the streets of Rome, during the siege of it, when there will be a famine of bread and of wine, as in Rev 18:8 by those who used to drink wine, and make glad their hearts; but now shall be without it.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
There is a crying for wine in the streets - The inhabitants of the city, turned from their dwellings, would cry for wine to alleviate their distress, and to sustain them in their calamity (compare Isa 16:8-10). All joy is darkened - Is gone, or has departed, like the joyful light at the setting of the sun.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
All joy is darkened “All gladness is passed away” - For ערבה arebah, darkened, read עברה aberah, passed away, transposing a letter. Houbigant, Secker. Five of Dr. Kennicott’s and five of De Rossi’s MSS., several ancients add כל col, all, after משוש mesos: the Septuagint adds the same word before it.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
The wasted city is broken When it is broken, it will be called the wasted city.
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Through desolation, the gate is battered Through the desolation of loneliness, that the houses are desolate, without an occupant, the gates shall become battered by demons and destructive creatures.
Their city is broken down, and laid desolate: all their houses are shut up, so that no one can enter.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 1 further source is cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| צְוָחָ֥ה | tzevachah | an outcry | H6682 → | |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הַיַּ֖יִן | haiyayin | <the> wine | H3196 → | 141 times |
| בַּֽחוּצ֑וֹת | bachutzot | [will be] in the streets | H2351 → | 164 times |
| עָֽרְבָה֙ | ʾarevah | it has become evening | H6150 → | |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| שִׂמְחָ֔ה | simchah | gladness | H8057 → | 94 times |
| גָּלָ֖ה | galah | it has departed | H1540 → | 186 times |
| מְשׂ֥וֹשׂ | mesos | [the] gaiety of | H4885 → | 17 times |
| הָאָֽרֶץ׃ | haaretz | the earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
צְוָחָ֥הan outcry
tzevachahH6682 →
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
הַיַּ֖יִן<the> wine
haiyayinH3196 →141 times
בַּֽחוּצ֑וֹת[will be] in the streets
bachutzotH2351 →164 times
עָֽרְבָה֙it has become evening
ʾarevahH6150 →
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
שִׂמְחָ֔הgladness
simchahH8057 →94 times
גָּלָ֖הit has departed
galahH1540 →186 times
מְשׂ֥וֹשׂ[the] gaiety of
mesosH4885 →17 times
הָאָֽרֶץ׃the earth
haaretzH776 →2504 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Luke 16:25But Abraham answered, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things. But now he is comforted here, while you are in agony.
it leads to
- Luke 6:24
But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.
- 1 John 2:15
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
- Psalms 17:14
from such men, O LORD, by Your hand— from men of the world whose portion is in this life. May You fill the bellies of Your treasured ones and satisfy their sons, so they…
- Mark 9:45
If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.
- Romans 8:7
because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
- Luke 6:24
Through
Hosea 7:14They do not cry out to Me from their hearts when they wail upon their beds. They slash themselves for grain and new wine, but turn away from Me.
it leads to
- James 4:3
And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.
- Job 35:9–10
Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty.
- Jeremiah 3:10
Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.
- James 4:3
About Isaiah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.