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Isaiah 56:12

in Isaiah 56

“Come, let me get the wine, let us imbibe the strong drink, and tomorrow will be like today, only far better!”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to-morrow shall be as this day, a day great beyond measure.

KJV

Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.

This verse in Isaiah 56

Commentary

11 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Isaiah · Written before 420.

Come, let us take wine, and be filled with drunkenness, and it shall be as today, so tomorrow, and much more. LXX: Come, let us take wine, and let us become drunk, and let tomorrow be such a great day, even more so. And what follows: Everyone to his own greed, from the greatest to the least: come, let us take wine, and let us fill ourselves with drunkenness, and it will be as today, so also tomorrow, and much more, is not found in the Seventy Interpreters, but is added from the Hebrew, indicated by the shining stars.

This site's exposition

Come, all you beasts of the field

on Isaiah 56:9-12

The tone breaks at once with a call to plunder: “Come, all you beasts of the field; eat greedily”. The reason is the failure of those set to guard: “Israel’s watchmen are blind”, “mute dogs, they cannot bark”. The chapter turns from foreigners welcomed to leaders who fail their post.

This site's exposition

let us imbibe the strong drink

Jerome notes this line came into the Greek from the Hebrew. Barnes hears the watchmen at a drinking bout, and sets the scene beside 22:13. Wesley gives imbibe as drink taken to drunkenness, and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read tomorrow like today as a habit they mean to keep.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on Isaiah · Written before 1274.

proposed

Third, as to pleasure, which pertains to concupiscence of the flesh: come, let us take wine, and it shall be, that is, if today we rejoice in such things, to morrow, much more, above: behold joy and gladness, killing calves, and slaying rams, eating flesh, …

The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

), which seems to be the beginning of a new sermon, by way of reproof and threatening, which is continued in the following chapters. And the word of God was intended for conviction, as well as for comfort and instruction in righteousness. 1 Thus saith the L ORD , Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

Say they - Unto their brethren, fellow-priests, or other jolly companions. Fill ourselves - We will drink not only to delight, but even to drunkenness, as the word signifies, which shews their dreadful security and contempt of God, and their abandoning of all care of their own or peoples souls.
Come ye, say they,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

They had no dread of the judgments of God, though they were daily provoking him and making themselves liable to his wrath and curse. They never considered the uncertainty of all the delights and enjoyments of sense, how they perish in the using and pass away with the lusts of them.
3 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

I will fetch wine “Let us provide wine” - For אקחה ekchah, first person singular, an ancient MS. has נקחה nikchah, first person plural; and another ancient MS. has אק ak upon a rasure. So the Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate render it. The spirit of this Epicurean sentiment is this: Let us indulge ourselves in the present time to the utmost, and instead of any gloomy forebodings of the future, let us expect nothing but increasing hilarity for every day we shall live. Thus they, “Counting on long years of pleasure here, Are quite unfurnished for the world to come.”

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

fetch wine--language of the national teachers challenging one another to drink. BARNES translates, "I will take another cup" (Isa 5:11). to-morrow, &c.--Their self-indulgence was habitual and intentional: not merely they drink, but they mean to continue so.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

Come ye, say they - (compare the notes at Isa 22:13). That is, one says to another, ‘I will fetch wine;’ or as we would say, ‘I will take another glass.’ The object is to describe a drinking-bout, or carousal, when the glass is shoved around, and there is drinking to excess. The language denotes the state of exhilaration and excitement when sitting at the table, and already under the influence of wine. This is not designed to be descriptive of the people at large, but of the ‘watchmen,’ or public teachers of the nation, and it certainly shows a state of most lamentable degeneracy and corruption. Unhappily, however, it has not been confined to the times of Manasseh. There have been periods in the history of the Christian church, and there are still portions of that church, where the language used here with so much severity would be an appropriate description even of the Christian ministry; scenes where the professed heralds of salvation sit long at the wine, and join with the frivolous, the worldly, and the profane, in ‘shoving round’ the sparkling cup. No severer language is used in the prophets to describe and denounce any class of sinners than is appropriated to such people; at no time has the church more occasion to sit in the dust and to weep, than when her ministers ‘rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; and continue until night, until wine inflame them Isa 5:11. We will fill ourselves with strong drink - (See the notes at Isa 5:11). And tomorrow ... - That is, indulgence of this kind was habitual. There was an intention to continue it. It was not that they had been once overtaken and had erred; but it was that they loved it, and meant to drink deeper and deeper. So now the guilt of ministers is greatly aggravated in the same way. […]

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

And the dogs are of greedy disposition wanting to fill their stomachs [engrote talent in O.F.], sick with hunger.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Isaiah 56:11:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

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. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

12 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • אֵתָ֥יוּcome

    ʾetayuH857 →21 times

  • אֶקְחָה־let me take

    ʾekchah-H3947 →966 times

  • יַ֖יִןwine

    yayinH3196 →141 times

  • וְנִסְבְּאָ֣הand let us drink

    venisbeahH5433 →

  • שֵׁכָ֑רstrong drink

    shekharH7941 →23 times

  • וְהָיָ֤הand it will be

    vehayahH1961 →3559 times

  • כָזֶה֙like this

    khazehH2088 →1180 times

  • י֣וֹםday

    yomH3117 →2304 times

  • מָחָ֔רtomorrow

    macharH4279 →

  • גָּד֖וֹלgreat

    gadolH1419 →526 times

  • יֶ֥תֶרabundance

    yeterH3499 →102 times

  • מְאֹֽד׃exceedingly

    meodH3966 →300 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Proverbs 27:1

    Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.

    it leads to

    • James 4:13–16

      Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.”

    • Luke 12:19–20

      Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

    • 2 Corinthians 6:2

      For He says: “In the time of favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the time of favor; now is the day of salvation!

  • Through

    1 Corinthians 15:32

    If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for human motives, what did I gain? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 22:13

      But look, there is joy and gladness, butchering of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

    • Luke 12:19

      Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

  • Through

    Isaiah 5:22

    Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and champions in mixing strong drink,

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 5:11

      Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of strong drink, who linger into the evening, to be inflamed by wine.

    • Habakkuk 2:15

      Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin until they are drunk, in order to gaze at their nakedness!

    • Isaiah 28:7

      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…

Where this verse is studied

About Isaiah

The Prophet Isaiah, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Prophet Isaiah, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
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); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.