Isaiah 56:12

12 ¹“Come, ” they say, “let me get wine; let us fill ourselves with strong drink; ²and tomorrow will be like this day, great beyond measure. ”

Isaiah 56:12 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 56:12

Come ye, say they
Either to their fellow bishops and priests, when got together, jovially carousing; or to the common people, encouraging them in luxury and intemperance: I will fetch wine;
out of his cellar, having good store of it, and that of the best, hence called "priests' wine"; and so, at Paris and Louvain, the Popish priests called their wine "vinum theologicum": and we will fill ourselves with strong drink;
fill their bellies and skins full of it till drunken with it; the drunkenness of priests in Popish counties is notorious, which seems here to be taxed and prophesied of: for tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant;
the morrow shall be as good, and merry, and jovial a day as this, and better; and we shall have as much wine and strong drink to drink, or more; this they say to encourage their companions to drink, and not spare, and to put away the evil day far from them. The Targum is,

``saying, come, let us take wine, and be inebriated with old wine; and our dinner tomorrow shall be better than today, large, very large.''

Isaiah 56:12 In-Context

10 His watchmen are blind; they are all without knowledge; they are all silent dogs; they cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.

11 The dogs have a mighty appetite; they never have enough. But they are shepherds who have no understanding; they have all turned to their own way, each to his own gain, one and all.

12 “Come, ” they say, “let me get wine; let us fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be like this day, great beyond measure. ”

Cross References

• 1. 56:12 [ch. 28:7]
• 2. 56:12 [ch. 22:13; Prov. 23:35; Luke 12:19; 1 Cor. 15:32]