Isaiah 24:7 · Bible study
Isaiah 24:7 Commentary: Wine and Vine in Mourning
Hebrew · 9 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Explore how Isaiah 24:7 uses personification to show God's judgment removing joy, and what it means for human sin and divine justice.
Research Summary
- Meaning: The personified wine and vine mourn because divine judgment has ended the joy of harvest and feast.
- Key words: אָבַל (mourned/dried up), תִּירוֹשׁ (new wine), אָמַל (languish), שִׂמְחֵי־לֵב (joyful of heart).
- Main debate: Whether the focus is universal judgment or specifically on Israel; also whether the “everlasting covenant” broken is Noahic or Mosaic.
- Theological theme: Sin brings a comprehensive curse that removes God’s good gifts, including joy.
- Best use: A sobering reminder of the cost of sin and a call to return to covenant faithfulness.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
The new wine dries up, the vine withers. All the merrymakers now groan.
WEB World English Bible 2000
The new wine mourns. The vine languishes. All the merry-hearted sigh.
KJV King James Version 1769
The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merry-hearted do sigh.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
Mourned hath the new wine, languished the vine, Sighed have all the joyful of heart.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all that were merry-hearted do sigh;
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
The vintage hath mourned, the vine hath languished away, all the merry have sighed.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Perdióse el vino, enfermó la vid, gimieron todos los que eran alegres de corazón.
O suco de uva chora, a vinha se enfraquece; todos os alegres de coração agora suspiram.
Le moût est triste, la vigne est flétrie;
Der Most verschwindet, der Weinstock verschmachtet; und alle, die von Herzen fröhlich waren, seufzen.
De most treurt, de wijnstok kweelt, allen die blijhartig waren, zuchten.
Il mosto è in lutto, la vigna langue, tutti quelli che avean la gioia nel cuore sospirano.
Smucić się będzie moszcz, uwiędnie winna macica, wzdychać będą wszyscy wesołego serca.
Плачет сок грозда; болит виноградная лоза; воздыхают все веселившиеся сердцем.
新酒 悲哀，葡萄樹 衰殘；心中 歡樂的 俱都 歎息。
The new wine is thin, the vine is feeble, and all the glad-hearted make sounds of grief.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Isaiah 24:7
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree that this verse uses poetic personification to depict the desolation of the land under divine judgment. Barnes notes that the new wine 'mourns' because there are none to drink it; the vine 'languishes' because no one cultivates it. Calvin sees the verse as part of a longer description to impress the reality of God's judgment on those who indulged in luxury and feasting. Gill observes that the Targum takes 'the new wine mourneth' as a reference to drinkers mourning for lack of wine. Wesley adds that the 'merry-hearted' are those who once made their hearts merry with wine. The consensus is that the removal of joy and agricultural abundance is a direct consequence of covenant unfaithfulness (Isa 24:5). The earth itself participates in the mourning, emphasizing the comprehensive scope of judgment.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Low
What is clear: The verse clearly uses poetic personification to depict the removal of joy and agricultural abundance as a consequence of divine judgment for covenant breaking.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Scope of judgment | The verse describes a divine judgment that brings agricultural failure and loss of joy. | Some see it as a universal judgment on all nations (Keil & Delitzsch), while others focus on judgment against Israel specifically (Calvin, Gill). |
| Personification of wine and vine | All agree the verse uses poetic personification to make the desolation vivid. | No significant debate; the personification is a shared literary reading. |
| Identity of the 'merry-hearted' | They are those who enjoyed wine and mirth before the judgment. | Barnes and Wesley specify they are the wealthy feasters; others take it as all who rejoiced in the land's produce. |
| The 'everlasting covenant' broken (v.5) | The judgment is a response to a covenantal violation. | Protestant commentators often see the Noahic covenant (Poole, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown); Keil & Delitzsch suggest the covenant with Israel or the moral order of creation. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Isaiah 24 stands at the head of the 'Isaiah Apocalypse' (chapters 24, 27), a section that widens the prophetic lens beyond Israel to a universal judgment on the earth. The context is severe: the earth is emptied and laid waste because its inhabitants have 'transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant' (Isa 24:5).
The Hebrew noun תִּירוֹשׁ (tîrôsh) refers to fresh, unfermented wine, the firstfruits of the harvest that symbolize blessing and celebration. For the vine to languish (אָמַל, 'āmal) and the new wine to mourn (אָבַל, 'āval) is to see the very symbols of God's goodness wither. The verbs are perfects, presenting the vision as already accomplished in the prophet's mind.
This imagery was not new to Isaiah's audience. Prophets like Joel (1:10, 12) and Hosea (9:1, 2) had used similar language to describe the link between covenant betrayal and agricultural collapse. The 'merry-hearted' (literally 'joyful of heart') are those who lived in complacent luxury, a group Isaiah often targets (e.g., the careless women of Isa 32:9, 13).
Calvin writes that the lengthy description is meant to affect the people deeply, to 'impress them with a conviction of the judgment of God.' The land's desolation is not random; it is the fruit of sin. Nature itself groans under the weight of human transgression, and what was once a source of gladness becomes a witness to loss.
Textual Notes
The Masoretic Text for Isaiah 24:7 is stable, with no significant variants noted in the consulted sources. The Hebrew forms are standard. The language of mourning and languishing appears similarly in Joel 1:10, 12, suggesting a shared prophetic idiom for judgment rather than a textual difficulty.
Reception History
This verse has been read within the 'Isaiah Apocalypse' since the early church, where it was often interpreted as a prophecy of cosmic judgment on the sinful world. Reformers such as Calvin applied it specifically to Israel's punishment for luxury and idolatry. In later tradition, the verse has been used in Advent and Lenten contexts to emphasize the seriousness of sin and the need for repentance. Modern interpreters highlight the apocalyptic imagery and the theme of creation groaning under sin, linking it to Romans 8:19, 22. The personification of wine and vine continues to resonate as a vivid image of how sin dries up the sources of gladness.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The Personification of Judgment: Nature itself mourns alongside the guilty, showing that sin unravels the whole created order.
- The Loss of Joy: The merry-hearted sigh because the sources of gladness have dried up. Sin does not just break rules, it empties life of the very blessings God intended.
- The Hope Beyond Judgment: The earth's groaning points toward a restoration that only God can bring (Rom 8:19, 22). The same prophet who speaks of desolation also promises new heavens and a new earth (Isa 65:17).
Five-point outline
- The new wine mourns: The end of celebration, no one is left to drink it.
- The vine languishes: The end of cultivation, no one cares for the vineyard.
- The merry-hearted sigh: The end of complacency, the comfortable find nothing to be happy about.
- The cause: Covenant unfaithfulness, the people broke God's laws and the everlasting covenant (Isa 24:5).
- The call: Repent before the curse devours completely, only a remnant will be left (Isa 24:6).
Illustration hooks
- A small farming town after its main employer shuts down: the empty streets, the silence where harvest celebrations once happened.
- A vineyard after a devastating frost: the brown leaves, the withered fruit, the still winepress that will not be used.
- A wedding reception interrupted by bad news: the music stops, laughter fades, and the joy that filled the room evaporates in an instant.
Questions your congregation is asking
- “Does God really take away joy when we sin, or is that just how life works?”
- “How can we trust God when he seems to destroy the good things he gave us?”
- “What does it mean for the earth to mourn? Is that just poetry, or is creation actually affected by human sin?”
Leading a Discussion
This verse pictures the devastation that sin brings, not just to people but to the land itself. As you discuss, consider how sin affects your own joy and community.
Discussion questions
- Read Isaiah 24:7. What images stand out to you? Which emotion do you feel most, fear, sadness, or something else?
- Why do the new wine and vine mourn? What does that show about the connection between creation and human behavior?
- Who are the “merry-hearted”? Why are they sighing instead of celebrating?
- How do verses 5, 6 explain the reason for this mourning? What specific sins are named?
- In what ways have you seen sin steal joy from your life, family, or church community?
- Does this chapter offer any hope? Where might we look for a word of restoration?
- How does this verse help you understand the seriousness of covenant-breaking, both for the people of God and for the world?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Isaiah 16:8 | For the fields of Heshbon languish with the vine of Sibmah. The lords of the nations have broken down its choice branches, which reached even to Jazer, which wandered into the wilderness. Its shoots were spread abroad. They passed over the sea. |
| Isaiah 16:10 | Gladness is taken away, and joy out of the fruitful field; and in the vineyards there will be no singing, neither joyful noise. Nobody will tread out wine in the presses. I have made the shouting stop. |
| Isaiah 32:9 | Rise up, you women who are at ease! Hear my voice! You careless daughters, give ear to my speech! |
| Isaiah 32:13 | Thorns and briers will come up on my people’s land; yes, on all the houses of joy in the joyous city. |
| Hosea 9:1 | Don’t rejoice, Israel, to jubilation like the nations; for you were unfaithful to your God. You love the wages of a prostitute at every grain threshing floor. |
| Hosea 9:2 | The threshing floor and the wine press won’t feed them, and the new wine will fail her. |
| Joel 1:10 | The field is laid waste. The land mourns, for the grain is destroyed, The new wine has dried up, and the oil languishes. |
| Joel 1:12 | The vine has dried up, and the fig tree withered— the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all of the trees of the field are withered; for joy has withered away from the sons of men. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
9 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes highlights the poetic personification: the new wine and vine are pictured as mourning because no one is left to drink or enjoy them. Even the merry-hearted people now look on the desolation and join in the lament, showing nature and humanity united in grief.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin observes that the prophet’s detailed description of luxury and feasting serves to make the coming desolation more vivid. Abundance had bred pride and rebellion against God, and the judgment is presented as already happening so the people can see it clearly.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva note connects the failure of the vine with the end of joy: when outward blessings vanish, even the cheerful are brought to mourning. The point is that earthly gladness depends entirely on God's provision, and its removal strips away every reason for mirth.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill takes the verse as both a literal description of wartime ruin and a prophetic picture of judgment on the Roman harlot. Just as the vine fails and drinkers mourn, those who have shared in Babylon's sinful pleasures will one day groan for her destruction.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB presents two possible meanings for "mourneth": Barnes reads it as mourning because there are none to drink, while Horsley suggests it means the wine has become vapid. For "languisheth", JFB explains it is because no one now cultivates the land.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch stresses that the earth itself shares in the curse because it became wicked through human sin. They see the earth mourning like a withered plant, and the curse devours it like fire. The divine law broken here includes the universal covenant with Noah, not just Israel's law, so all humanity is guilty.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange insists these chapters describe the final judgment of the world, not any historical event like the Babylonian exile. He points to four features that prove this: the earth’s total destruction, the judgment on heavenly powers, the abolition of death, and the resurrection of the dead. These, he argues, go far beyond any earthly political upheaval.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry emphasizes that God's judgment falls without distinction on every rank and station, making the devastation complete. He notes the prophecy piles up image after image to drive home one point: human sin has defiled the earth itself, and the curse consumes everything, leaving only a few survivors.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley notes that the vine’s mourning and languishing are poetic figures, not literal feelings. The vine mourns because no one is left to drink its wine, and it languishes because no one remains to tend it. The "merry-hearted" refers to those who once found joy in that wine.