Isaiah 28:8

8 The tables where they sit are all covered with vomit, and not a clean spot is left.

Isaiah 28:8 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 28:8

For all tables are full of vomit [and] filthiness
The one signifies what is spued out of a man's mouth, his stomach being overcharged, and the other his excrements; and both give a just, though nauseous, idea of a drunken man. This vice was very common; men of all ranks and degrees were infected with it, rulers and people; and no wonder that the common people ran into it, when such examples were set them; the tables of the priests, who ate of the holy things in the holy place, and the tables of the prophets, who pretended to see visions, and to prophesy of things to come, were all defiled through this prevailing sin; [so that there is] no place [clean]
or free from vomit and filthiness, no table, or part of one, of prince, prophet, priest, and people; the Targum adds,

``pure from rapine or violence.''
R. Simeon, as De Dieu observes, makes "beli Makom" to signify "without God", seeing God is sometimes with the Jews called Makom, "place", because he fills all places; and as if the sense was, their tables were without God, no mention being made of him at their table, or in their table talk, or while eating and drinking; but this does not seem to be the sense of the passage. Vitringa interprets this of schools and public auditoriums, where false doctrines were taught, comparable to vomit for filthiness; hence it follows:

Isaiah 28:8 In-Context

6 He will give a sense of justice to those who serve as judges, and courage to those who defend the city gates from attack.
7 Even the prophets and the priests are so drunk that they stagger. They have drunk so much wine and liquor that they stumble in confusion. The prophets are too drunk to understand the visions that God sends, and the priests are too drunk to decide the cases that are brought to them.
8 The tables where they sit are all covered with vomit, and not a clean spot is left.
9 They complain about me. They say, "Who does that man think he's teaching? Who needs his message? It's only good for babies that have just stopped nursing!
10 He is trying to teach us letter by letter, line by line, lesson by lesson."
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.