Isaiah 24:9

Isa 24:9 They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.

Ver. 9. They shall not drink wine with a song.] Revel it as they had wont to do: non convivabuntur pergraecando. We use to call such merry griggs - that is, Greeks.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

with a song--the usual accompaniment of feasts.

strong drink--(See on Isa 5:11). "Date wine" [HORSLEY].

bitter--in consequence of the national calamities.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 9. Strong drink - "Palm wine"] This is the proper meaning of the word shechar, σικερα. See Clarke on Isa 5:11. All enjoyment shall cease: the sweetest wine shall become bitter to their taste.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(9) They shall not drink wine with a song . . .—Literally, in their song they drink no wine; i.e., the music of the feasts (Amo_6:5) should cease, and if they sang at all it should be a chant of lamentation (Amo_8:10). The very appetite for “strong drink” (probably the palm-wine of the East) should pass away, and it would be bitter as the wine of gall (Deu_32:33).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They shall not drink wine with a song,.... They that have wine to drink shall not drink it with that pleasure they have heretofore done; nor shall their drinking be attended with merry songs, such as are sung by drunkards, who, while they are quaffing, are chanting to the sound of the viol, or other musical instruments; see Amo 6:5,

strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it; they shall have no gust for it, or relish of it, as they formerly had; either through bodily diseases upon themselves, or because of the calamities upon the nations and states in which they dwell: this will be the case of her that says, "I sit a queen, and shall see no sorrow", Rev 18:7.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

drink wine with a song - That is, accompanied with a song, as the usual mode was in their feasts.

Strong drink - On the word שׁכר shêkār see the note at Isa 5:11.

Shall be bitter ... - They shall cease to find pleasure in it in consequence of the general calamitics that have come upon the nation.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The drink. Hebrew shecar, "palm wine."

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Because of the fears and miseries wherewith it is mixed.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

They shall not drink wine with a song. Men will still drink; they will seek to drown their care in wine; but they will not have the heart to attempt a song as they drink. Even in their cups they will be silent.

Strong drink shall be bitter. By "strong drink" (shekar) seems to be meant any intoxicating liquor whatever, including wine. Many such liquors were drunk in Palestine (see "Dict. of the Bible," vol. 1. pp. 458, 459). All were more or less pleasant to the taste; but they would taste bitter to those who were warped and soured by the calamities of the time, which would prevent all enjoyment.

The distress of pampered appetites.

"They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it." There is, at first, a carnal pleasure in self-indulgence, in lust of eating and drinking, and in sensuality. But, sooner or later, God takes the song out of it. This must ever be the distress of mere appetite it can excite, it can make ever-increasing demands, but it cannot satisfy. To indulge mere appetite and passion is to spend money for that which is not bread, and... labor for that which satisfieth not." The young do not believe this; the old man knows it, and he says, Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment!" and that judgment comes either in early death, or in bitterness and woe if life, is long spared. Sir W. Raleigh on this ground solemnly warns his son: Take special care that thou delight not in wine; for there never was any man that came to honor and preferment that loved it; for it transformeth a man into a beast, decayeth health, poisoneth the breath, destroyeth natural heat, brings a man"s stomach to an artificial heat, deformeth the face, rotteth the teeth, and, to conclude, maketh a man contemptible, soon old, and despised of all wise and worthy men." And Matthew Henry says, "God has many ways to embitter wine and strong drink to those that love them and have the highest gust of them distemper of body, anguish of mind; the ruin of the estate or country will make the strong drink bitter, and all the delights of sense tasteless and insipid." The distress of the men of pampered appetites comes in one or the other of the two following forms.

I ABUNDANCE IS PRESENTED, BUT THE POWER TO ENJOY IS GONE. For appetite and passion wear out, after they have fixed in the soul a dull and dreadful craving that gives a man no rest. Late in life circumstances often give the money, the time, the positions which are essential to self-indulgence, and the man is in the midst of this unspeakable misery that he is physically unable to enjoy. This is God"s bitter punishment of sensuality in this life.

II, APPETITE BECOMES RAVENOUS, AND THERE IS NOTHING TO FEED IT ON. Or it slips away, always just out of reach, as the water to Tantalus. Every act of self-indulgence has a tendency to repeat itself. You cannot stop with once. But as the act is repeated it becomes more intense, it wants more force. The desire grows until it gets beyond a man, and nothing on earth can satisfy. Then Providence places a man in some captivity, like these pampered Jews, where there is the unspeakable misery of immense passion for sensual enjoyment and nothing to enjoy. These are the two features of God"s hell upon earth. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Bitter - Because of the fears and miseries wherewith it is mixed.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

“With the song they shall not drink wine; bitter shall strong drink be to them that drink it.” The last clause means of course that they should lose the appetite for such enjoyments.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They shall not drink wine with a song, for the strong drink shall be bitter. יֵמַר is according to my opinion a verb ע״ע—comp. וָאֵקַל And I was despised (Gen. 16:5)—Niphal of מרר

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.