Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.
Isaiah was a prophet who delivered difficult messages to Israel's leaders and people during a time of spiritual drift. In the verses surrounding this one, God is specifically rebuking the 'watchmen' — the leaders and prophets whose appointed role was to stand guard, see clearly, and warn the people of coming danger. Instead, they have abandoned their posts to indulge themselves. This verse captures their attitude in their own words: pour more wine, fill up, and tomorrow will be fine — even better than today. It is a portrait of willful blindness dressed up as optimism, where the people most responsible for seeing clearly have simply decided not to look.
God, show me where I've been pouring another cup and calling it faith. Give me the honesty to see clearly — not in a crushing way, but enough to wake me up to what actually needs my attention. I don't want to sleepwalk through the life you gave me. Amen.
Read it fast and it almost sounds like an affirmation — the kind of thing you might find on a motivational calendar. Tomorrow will be like today, or even far better. Read it slowly, in context, and it's something much darker: people in positions of responsibility who have stopped watching, stopped caring, and filled the silence with wine and wishful thinking. The tragedy Isaiah is pointing to isn't the drinking itself. It's the comfortable certainty that nothing needs to change, that the future will sort itself out, that someone else will deal with whatever's coming. That voice is recognizable. It says I'll deal with that conversation tomorrow. It says I'll get serious about that habit next month. It says things will probably work out — not as trust in God, but as a way of not having to do anything at all. There is a version of optimism that is really just avoidance wearing a nicer coat. Where in your life have you been pouring another cup and calling it hope? That question isn't meant to crush you — but it might be exactly the thing that wakes you up.
In context, Isaiah is describing leaders — watchmen — who abandoned their responsibility. What specific attitudes or patterns of thinking does this verse reveal about how they were operating, beyond just drinking too much?
Where in your own life do you hear the echo of 'tomorrow will be like today, or even far better' — an assumption that things will improve without you actually doing anything differently?
There's a real tension between genuinely trusting God with the future and using 'God will take care of it' as a cover for avoiding personal responsibility. How do you tell the difference in your own life?
The watchmen in this passage failed the people they were supposed to protect. Is there someone in your life — a child, a friend, a community — who needs you to be more awake and present than you have been?
Name one specific thing you have been putting off with 'I'll deal with it later' thinking. What would taking even one concrete step toward it this week look like — and what is actually stopping you?
Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.
Hosea 4:11
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
Hosea 4:6
Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
Isaiah 5:22
For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child ; and they shall not escape.
1 Thessalonians 5:3
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
Proverbs 20:1
And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
Luke 21:34
Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
Jeremiah 23:1
Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
Proverbs 27:1
"Come," [they say,] "let us get wine, and let us fill ourselves with strong drink; And tomorrow will be like today, very great indeed."
AMP
“Come,” they say, “let me get wine; let us fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be like this day, great beyond measure.”
ESV
'Come,' [they say], 'let us get wine, and let us drink heavily of strong drink; And tomorrow will be like today, only more so.'
NASB
“Come,” each one cries, “let me get wine! Let us drink our fill of beer! And tomorrow will be like today, or even far better.”
NIV
“Come,” one says, “I will bring wine, And we will fill ourselves with intoxicating drink; Tomorrow will be as today, And much more abundant.”
NKJV
“Come,” they say, “let’s get some wine and have a party. Let’s all get drunk. Then tomorrow we’ll do it again and have an even bigger party!”
NLT
"Come," they say, "let's have a party. Let's go out and get drunk!" And tomorrow, more of the same: "Let's live it up!"
MSG