They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.

ISAIAH 24:9KJV
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Isaiah 24:9 (KJV)

What does Isaiah 24:9 mean?

Isaiah 24:9 pictures a time when ordinary celebration has lost its joy. People may still drink, but the song that once accompanied wine has stopped, and even strong drink tastes bitter to those who drink it.

After the music falls silent in verse 8, Isaiah turns to the drink that often accompanied a feast. The bitter taste makes the loss of gladness vivid: an experience associated with pleasure has become unpleasant.

The Hebrew behind Isaiah 24:9

  • “strong drink” — שֵׁכָר (shekhar): This word refers to an intoxicating drink. It is a broader term than wine, which is named separately in the same verse.

Why Isaiah 24:9 matters

  • The verse shows a change in the experience of drinking, not simply an end to drinking. “They that drink it” still have strong drink, but find it bitter.
  • The missing song is part of a wider picture of lost celebration. In verse 8, the sound of instruments has also stopped.
  • Isaiah connects the loss of joy with a devastated world. Later in the passage, verse 11 describes cries in the streets over wine and says that gladness has departed.

Where else these words appear

“bitter” Hebrew H4843 · used in 15 verses

  • Genesis 49:23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:
  • Ruth 1:20 And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.
  • Isaiah 38:17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.

“drink” Hebrew H7941 · used in 20 verses

  • Leviticus 10:9 Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations:
  • Judges 13:7 But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death.
  • Proverbs 31:6 Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.

“song” Hebrew H7892 · used in 87 verses

  • Genesis 31:27 Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me; and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harp?
  • Psalms 18:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said, I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.
  • Psalms 126:1 A Song of degrees. When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.

“wine” Hebrew H3196 · used in 134 verses

  • Genesis 9:21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
  • 2 Chronicles 2:10 And, behold, I will give to thy servants, the hewers that cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.
  • Isaiah 22:13 And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.