Isaiah 51:21

51:21 So listen to this, oppressed one,

who is drunk, but not from wine!

Isaiah 63:6

63:6 I trampled nations in my anger,

I made them drunk ¹  in my rage,

I splashed their blood on the ground.” ² 

Lamentations 4:21

The Prophet Speaks:

ש (Sin/Shin)

4:21 Rejoice and be glad for now, ³  O people of Edom, ⁴ 

who reside in the land of Uz.

But the cup of judgment ⁵  will pass ⁶  to you also;

you will get drunk and take off your clothes.

Habakkuk 2:16

2:16 But you will become drunk ⁷  with shame, not majesty. ⁸ 

Now it is your turn to drink and expose your uncircumcised foreskin! ⁹ 

The cup of wine in the Lord’s right hand ¹⁰  is coming to you,

and disgrace will replace your majestic glory!

[63:6]  ¹ sn See Isa 49:26 and 51:23 for similar imagery.

[63:6]  ² tn Heb “and I brought down to the ground their juice.” “Juice” refers to their blood (see v. 3).

[4:21]  ³ tn The phrase “for now” is added in the translation to highlight the implied contrast between the present joy of the Gentiles (4:21a) and their future judgment (4:21b).

[4:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “O Daughter of Edom.”

[4:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “the cup.” Judgment is often depicted as a cup of wine that God forces a person to drink, causing him to lose consciousness, red wine drooling out of his mouth – resembling corpses lying on the ground as a result of the actual onslaught of the Lord’s judgment. The drunkard will reel and stagger, causing bodily injury to himself – an apt metaphor to describe the devastating effects of God’s judgment. Just as a cup of poison kills all those who are forced to drink it, the cup of God’s wrath destroys all those who must drink it (e.g., Ps 75:9; Isa 51:17, 22; Jer 25:15, 17, 28; 49:12; 51:7; Lam 4:21; Ezek 23:33; Hab 2:16).

[4:21]  ⁶ tn The imperfect verb “will pass” may also be a jussive, continuing the element of request, “let the cup pass…”

[2:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “are filled.” The translation assumes the verbal form is a perfect of certitude, emphasizing the certainty of Babylon’s coming judgment, which will reduce the majestic empire to shame and humiliation.

[2:16]  ⁸ tn Or “glory.”

[2:16]  ⁹ tc Heb “drink, even you, and show the foreskin.” Instead of הֵעָרֵל (he’arel, “show the foreskin”) one of the Dead Sea scrolls has הֵרָעֵל (hera’el, “stumble”). This reading also has support from several ancient versions and is followed by the NEB (“you too shall drink until you stagger”) and NRSV (“Drink, you yourself, and stagger”). For a defense of the Hebrew text, see P. D. Miller, Jr., Sin and Judgment in the Prophets, 63-64.

[2:16]  ¹⁰ sn The Lord’s right hand represents his military power. He will force the Babylonians to experience the same humiliating defeat they inflicted on others.