Isaiah 5:22

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹⁸Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes, ¹⁹to those who say, "Let Him hurry and hasten His work so that we may see it! Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come so that we may know it!" ²⁰Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness to light and light to darkness, who replace bitter with sweet and sweet with bitter. ²¹Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. ²²Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine, and champions in mixing beer,²³who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of justice. ²⁴Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw and dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. ²⁵Therefore the LORD's anger burns against His people; He has raised His hand against them and struck them; the mountains quaked, and their corpses lay like refuse in the streets. Yet through all this, His anger is not spent, and His hand is still upraised. ²⁶He lifts a banner for the distant nations and whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Behold-how speedily and swiftly they come! ²⁷None of them grows weary or stumbles; no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose and no sandal strap is broken.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

mighty: Isaiah 5:11, Isaiah 28:1-3, Isaiah 28:7, Proverbs 23:19, Proverbs 23:20, Habakkuk 2:15

Reciprocal: Psalms 75:8 - it is full Proverbs 23:29 - Who hath woe Isaiah 56:12 - I will Hosea 7:5 - made Amos 2:6 - because Habakkuk 2:5 - he transgresseth Ephesians 5:18 - be not

Cross-References

Genesis 5:5
So Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.

Genesis 5:6
When Seth was 105 years old, he became the father of Enosh.

Genesis 5:24
Enoch walked with God, and then he was no more, because God had taken him away.

Genesis 6:9
This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.

Genesis 17:1
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.

Genesis 24:40
And he told me, 'The LORD, before whom I have walked, will send His angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you may take a wife for my son from my kindred and from my father's house.

Genesis 48:15
Then he blessed Joseph and said: "May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,

Exodus 16:4
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test whether or not they will follow My instructions.

Leviticus 26:12
I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be My people.

Deuteronomy 5:33
You must walk in all the ways that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land you will possess.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Woe unto [them that are] mighty to drink wine,.... That can bear a great deal, and not be overcome and intoxicated with it; that try their strength this way with others, and get the mastery and glory in it: not mighty to fight their enemies, as Kimchi observes, and defend their country, but to drink wine; by which their strength was weakened: wherefore some think soldiers are particularly designed, given to drinking, who are derided and mocked, as being valiant in the warfare of Bacchus, and not of Mars:

and men of strength, to mingle strong drink; in the cup, and then drink it: or "men of war"; the same with "mighty" before. The Targum interprets it, "men of riches": who can afford to drink wine and strong drink; which carries the sense not to the strength of their bodies, but of their purses: the former sense seems best. The Scribes and Pharisees loved the cup and the platter, and to be at feasts, and to have the uppermost seats there, Matthew 23:6 and that those that sat in Moses's chair are intended appears from the following words.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Wo unto them that are mighty ... - This is the sixth specification of crime. He had already denounced the intemperate in Isaiah 5:11. But probably this was a prevailing sin. Perhaps there was no evidence of reform; and it was needful to “repeat” the admonition, in order that people might be brought to regard it. The prophet repeats a similar denunciation in Isaiah 56:12.

Mighty - Perhaps those who prided themselves on their ability to drink “much” without becoming intoxicated; who had been so accustomed to it, that they defied its effects, and boasted of their power to resist its usual influence. A similar idea is expressed in Isaiah 56:12.

Men of strength - The Chaldee understands this of “rich” men; but, probably, the reference is to those who boasted that they were able to bear “much” strong drink.

To mingle - To mix wine with spices, dates, drugs, etc., to make it more intoxicating; Proverbs 9:2, Proverbs 9:5. They boasted that they were able to drink, without injury, liquor of extraordinary intoxicating qualities.

Strong drink - Note, Isaiah 5:11. On the subject of the strong drink used in the East, “see Harmer’s Observations,” vol. ii. pp. 140-148. Ed. Lond. 1808.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 5:22. Mighty to drink wine — "They show not," says Kimchi, "their strength in combating their enemies, but in drunkenness and debauchery."