Isaiah 19:14

19:14 The Lord has made them undiscerning; ¹ 

they lead Egypt astray in all she does,

so that she is like a drunk sliding around in his own vomit. ² 

Isaiah 24:20

24:20 The earth will stagger around ³  like a drunk;

it will sway back and forth like a hut in a windstorm. ⁴ 

Its sin will weigh it down,

and it will fall and never get up again.

Isaiah 28:1

The Lord Will Judge Samaria

28:1 The splendid crown of Ephraim’s drunkards is doomed, ⁵ 

the withering flower, its beautiful splendor, ⁶ 

situated ⁷  at the head of a rich valley,

the crown of those overcome with wine. ⁸ 

[19:14]  ¹ tn Heb “the Lord has mixed into her midst a spirit of blindness.”

[19:14]  ² tn Heb “like the going astray of a drunkard in his vomit.”

[24:20]  ³ tn Heb “staggering, staggers.” The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute before the finite verb for emphasis and sound play.

[24:20]  ⁴ tn The words “in a windstorm” are supplied in the translation to clarify the metaphor.

[28:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “Woe [to] the crown [or “wreath”] of the splendor [or “pride”] of the drunkards of Ephraim.” The “crown” is Samaria, the capital city of the northern kingdom (Ephraim). Priests and prophets are included among these drunkards in v. 7.

[28:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “the beauty of his splendor.” In the translation the masculine pronoun (“his”) has been replaced by “its” because the referent (the “crown”) is the city of Samaria.

[28:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “which [is].”

[28:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “ones overcome with wine.” The words “the crown of” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The syntactical relationship of the final phrase to what precedes is uncertain. הֲלוּמֵי יָיִן (halume yayin, “ones overcome with wine”) seems to correspond to שִׁכֹּרֵי אֶפְרַיִם (shikkore ’efrayim, “drunkards of Ephraim”) in line 1. The translation assumes that the phrase “the splendid crown” is to be understood in the final line as well.