Therefore now hear this, you afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
Parallel Translations
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Therefore now hear this, you afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
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Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
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Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine;
Cross-references (3)
Passages linked to Isaiah 51:21 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 29:9 Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
- Isaiah 51:17 Awake, awake! Stand up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk from Yahweh’s hand the cup of his wrath. You have drunken the bowl of the cup of staggering, and drained it.
- Isaiah 54:11 “You afflicted, tossed with storms, and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in beautiful colors, and lay your foundations with sapphires.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain But with trouble and fear.
But with trouble and fear.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 51:21 Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and…
Isa 51:21 Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
Ver. 21. Thou afflicted and drunken.] With a dry drunkenness, which thou canst not so easily sleep out. {Isa 51:17}
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.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain But with the cup of God’s fury, mentioned Isa…
But with the cup of God’s fury, mentioned Isa 51:17
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted,.... By Babylon, by…
Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted,.... By Babylon, by antichrist and his followers; hear, for thy comfort, the following prophecy:
and drunken, but not with wine; not with wine in a literal sense; nor with the wine of the fornication of the whore of Rome; nor with idolatry, as the kings of the earth are said to be, Rev 17:2 but, as the Targum expresses it, with tribulation; with afflictions at the hand of God, and persecutions from men.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Not with wine - But with the cup of…
Not with wine - But with the cup of God's fury.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 21. Drunken, but not with wine] AEschylus has…
Verse 21. Drunken, but not with wine] AEschylus has the same expression: -
Αοινοις εμμανεις θυμωμασι· Eumen. 863.
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Intoxicated with passion, not with wine.
Schultens thinks that this circumlocution, as he calls it, gradum adfert incomparabiliter majorem; and that it means, not simply without wine, but much more than with wine. Gram. Heb. p. 182.
The bold image of the cup of God's wrath, often employed by the sacred writers, (See Clarke on Isa 1:22,) is nowhere handled with greater force and sublimity than in this passage of Isaiah, Isa 51:17-23. Jerusalem is represented in person as staggering under the effects of it, destitute of that assistance which she might expect from her children; not one of them being able to support or to lead her. They, abject and amazed, lie at the head of every street, overwhelmed with the greatness of their distress; like the oryx entangled in a net, in vain struggling to rend it, and extricate himself. This is poetry of the first order, sublimity of the highest character.
Plato had an idea something like this: "Suppose," says he, "God had given to men a medicating potion inducing fear, so that the more any one should drink of it, so much the more miserable he should find himself at every draught, and become fearful of every thing both present and future; and at last, though the most courageous of men, should be totally possessed by fear: and afterwards, having slept off the effects of it, should become himself again." De Leg. i., near the end. He pursues at large this hypothesis, applying it to his own purpose, which has no relation to the present subject. Homer places two vessels at the disposal of Jupiter, one of good, the other of evil. He gives to some a potion mixed of both; to others from the evil vessel only: these are completely miserable. Iliad xxiv. 527-533.
Δοιοι γαρ τε πιθοι κατακειαται εν Διος ουδει
Δωρων, οἱα διδωσι, κακων, ἑτερος δε εαων,
Ὡ μεν καμμιξας δῳη Ζευς τερπικεραυνος,
Αλλοτε μεν τε κακῳ ὁγε κυρεται, αλλοτε δ' εσθλῳ·
Ὡ δε κε των λυγρων δῳη, λωβητον εθηκε.
Και ἑ κακη βουβρωστις επι χθονα διαν ελαυνει·
Φοιτᾳ δ' ουτε θεοισι τετιμενος, ουτι βροτοισιν.
"Two urns by Jove's high throne have ever stood,
The source of evil one, and one of good;
From thence the cup of mortal man he fills,
Blessings to these, to those distributes ills;
To most he mingles both: the wretch decreed
To taste the bad unmixed, is cursed indeed:
Pursued by wrongs, by meagre famine driven,
He wanders outcast both of earth and heaven."
POPE.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Isa 51:21-23. Hear, thou drunken, but not with wine…
Isa 51:21-23. Hear, thou drunken, but not with wine — But with the cup of God’s fury, mentioned Isa 51:17. Thus saith the Lord — That is, Jehovah; he that is able to help thee, and hath wherewithal to relieve thee; thy Lord — That hath an incontestable right to thee, and will not alienate it; thy God — In covenant with thee, and that hath undertaken to make thee happy; that pleadeth the cause of his people — As their patron and protector, who, though he hath been angry with, and hath chastised thee, is now reconciled to thee, and will maintain thy cause against all thine enemies. I have taken out of thy hand the cup of trembling — The bitter, intoxicating cup of my wrath; thou shalt no more drink it again — No more lie under such judgments after thy prosperity in the latter days, Isa 52:1. But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee — Compare Isa 49:26; Jer 25:29; Rev 18:6. Which have said to thy soul, Bow down, &c. — Lie down upon the ground, that we may trample upon thee. “A very strong and most expressive description of the insolent pride of eastern conquerors, which, though it may seem greatly exaggerated, yet hardly exceeds the strict truth. See Jos 10:24; Jdg 1:7. The Emperor Valerianus, being, through treachery, taken prisoner by Sapor, king of Persia, was treated by him as the basest and most abject slave: for the Persian monarch commanded the unhappy Roman to bow himself down, and offer his back, on which he set his foot, in order to mount his chariot or horse, whenever he had occasion.” — Bishop Lowth.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain And drunken, but not with wine - Overcome and…
And drunken, but not with wine - Overcome and prostrate, but not under the influence of intoxicating drink. They were prostrate by the wrath of God.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain drunken . . . not with wine-- (Isa 29:9;…
drunken . . . not with wine-- (Isa 29:9; compare Isa 51:17, Isa 51:20, here; Lam 3:15).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 21-23. Hear now this — It is the same…
21-23. Hear now this — It is the same speaker still, but the address turns from the picture of suffering to that of hope and promise.
Drunken, but not with wine — Because she has drunken of the full cup of wrath she is now to hear what Jehovah in mercy purposes to do. God takes from her hand the goblet of reeling, the cup of suffering with which she has been drunken, and of this she is to drink no more. The oppressors of Jerusalem are now to have their turn at the cup. Jerusalem has had her deserts. Her subjects have long been captives under tyranny, both at home as vassals, and abroad in bitter exile. The time now is come for a change; she is to be delivered, and her tormentors to be punished.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 21. hear now this] see ch. Isa_47:8.
21. hear now this] see ch. Isa_47:8.
drunken, but not with wine] Cf. ch. Isa_29:9.
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21–23. The message of comfort.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (21) Drunken, but not with wine . . .—Same…
(21) Drunken, but not with wine . . .—Same phrase as in Isa_29:9.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Drunken, but not with wine. (comp. Isa_29:9; and see…
Drunken, but not with wine. (comp. Isa_29:9; and see above, ver. 17, which shows that the appearance of drunkenness had been produced by Jerusalem drinking the cup of God"s wrath)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Isaiah continues speaking to the people of Israel.
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you oppressed one and drunken one
Yahweh uses the word "one" here to refer to all of the oppressed people. AT: "you oppressed people and drunken people" (See: Synecdoche)
drunken one, but not drunk with wine
This speaks of the people acting drunk because they are suffering as if they have become drunk from being forced to drink the bowl of Yahweh's anger. AT: "you who are drunk from drinking the wine of the bowl of Yahweh's anger" or "you who act drunk, because you have suffered greatly" (See: Metaphor and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
See, I have taken the cup of staggering from your hand—the bowl, which is the cup of my anger—so that
This speaks of Yahweh no longer being angry with his people as if his anger were the contents of a cup that he was taking away from them. AT: "I will no longer be angry with you. See, it is like I have taken away from you the cup that made you stagger, that is, the cup that was full of my anger, so that" (See: Metaphor)
See
This is used to draw the listeners' attention to what is said next. AT: "Listen"
the cup of staggering
The word "cup" refers to what is in the cup. See how you translated a similar phrase in Isaiah 51:17. AT: "the cup of the wine that makes people stagger" (See: Metonymy)
the bowl, which is the cup of my anger
Yahweh speaks of having punished people as if he had forced them to drink from a bowl that was filled with his anger. See how you translated a similar phrase in Isaiah 51:17. AT: "the bowl which is filled with my anger" or "the cup which is filled with my anger" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
oppress
drunk
wine
Lord Yahweh
people of God
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.