Isaiah 24:20

20 Stagger greatly doth the land as a drunkard, And it hath been moved as a lodge, And heavy on it hath been its transgression, And it hath fallen, and addeth not to rise.

Isaiah 24:20 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 24:20

The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard
When it shall be moved and agitated to and fro, and dissolved; or this may be meant of the inhabitants, who shall be at their wits' end, and in the utmost confusion, not knowing what to do, nor where to go, having no more thought, nor sense, nor command of themselves, than a drunken man; and this is in just retaliation, that as they have been drunk with sin, having drank up iniquity like water, they shall now be drunk with punishment, which being heavy upon them, will make them stagger like a drunken man: and shall be removed like a cottage;
or, "a tent" ^F24; either of soldiers or shepherds, which are easily taken down and moved; or like "a lodge" ^F25, as the word is rendered ( Isaiah 1:8 ) . The Septuagint render it a "fruit watch"; and, according to the Jewish writers, it signifies a booth or tent, in which the keepers of gardens or vineyards watched in the night; which Jarchi says was built on the top of a tree, and Kimchi on a hill; and, being made of light wood, was easily moved to and fro with the wind. The Targum is,

``and it goes and comes as a bed;''

that is, rocks as a cradle: and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it;
that is, the punishment of transgression, which, like a talent of lead, in ( Zechariah 5:8 ) shall crush it, and the inhabitants of it, to pieces: and it shall fall, and not rise again;
in the form it now is; for there will be new heavens and a new earth, in which the righteous, who will share the first resurrection, will dwell; for as for the first earth, or present one, it shall pass away, and no place be found for it, ( Revelation 20:11 ) ( 21:2 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 (hnwlmk) "quasi tabernaculum", V. L.
F25 "Ut diversoriolum", Piscator.

Isaiah 24:20 In-Context

18 And it hath come to pass, He who is fleeing from the noise of the fear Doth fall into the snare, And he who is coming up from the midst of the snare, Is captured by the gin, For windows on high have been opened, And shaken are foundations of the land.

19 Utterly broken down hath been the land, Utterly broken hath been the land, Utterly moved hath been the land.

20 Stagger greatly doth the land as a drunkard, And it hath been moved as a lodge, And heavy on it hath been its transgression, And it hath fallen, and addeth not to rise.

21 And it hath come to pass, in that day, Jehovah layeth a charge on the host of the high place in the high place, And on the kings of the land on the land.

22 And they have been gathered -- A gathering of bound ones in a pit, And shut up they have been in a prison, And after a multitude of days are inspected.