Woe to those who rise early in the morning … who tarry late into the evening …: This Woe Oracle centers on people who get drunk. The two verbs rise early and tarry late indicate that they spend the entire day drinking. To tarry late into the evening means to delay going to bed or to stay up very late. Revised English Bible says “sit late into the night,” New International Version has “stay up late at night,” and New Century Version uses “stay awake late at night.”
That they may run after strong drink … till wine inflames them: These two parallel lines express the purpose of these people. They spend all day getting drunk. The Hebrew verb rendered run after means literally “to chase after.” It is used here figuratively with the meaning “to do something with a fixed purpose in mind,” so the second line of this verse may be rendered “and whose heart is set right away on beer.” If the figure of “running after” something is not known in the sense it has here, it may be necessary to render its meaning in nonfigurative language. Possible models are “because they desperately want to obtain beer” and “because they think only of getting….”
Strong drink is a misleading translation. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is better with “beer.” The Hebrew word here means “beer,” that is, a drink made from fermented grain. (According to some scholars, this Hebrew word could also refer to a fermented drink made of juice from any fruit other than grapes.) It should not be rendered in the receptor language with a word that means “distilled drink” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “liquor”) since distilled drinks, such as gin and whiskey, were not developed until after the biblical period. Strong drink is often paired with wine (see 1.22) in poetry. Together they signify any fermented drink, so translators may use a pair of words that refer to the various alcoholic beverages that are commonly available. However, they should not use the names of specific alcoholic drinks that are locally available, because this could clash with the biblical culture. Good News Translation does not specify what kind of drinks are involved. In English “drinking,” especially with “getting drunk,” is sufficient to indicate an excessive use of alcohol. Although strong drink and wine could make a person drunk, they are not forbidden in the Bible except for the Nazirites (see Num 6.2-4; Pro 31.6). However, there are warnings against drinking too much (see Pro 20.1; 23.20, 30-31). This is what is condemned here.
The Hebrew verb rendered inflames can literally mean “to burn.” Because alcohol gives a warm sensation when swallowed, this verb may have been chosen deliberately. Here it more likely means “to pursue hotly” since it is parallel with run after, so the last line may be rendered “wine becomes their passion [or, their main pursuit].” Whether it refers to “burning from having drunk too much” or “burning from a desire to drink more,” these people are described as being drunk all day.
Translators should be careful with the punctuation and conjunctions in this verse, so that “rising early in the morning” is not implied to be bad, but that “waking up and then drinking a lot of beer” (as a unit) is being condemned. Good News Translation avoids this problem by beginning with “You are doomed!” as a separate sentence, which is followed by another sentence with the accusation. Bible en français courant starts with “What a tragedy to see those who, right from early morning, pounce on strong drinks….”
Translation examples for this verse are:
• Alas for those who get up early in the morning
to get their first drink of beer,
and who stay up late into the evening
to get drunk on wine.
• Woe to those who from early morning to late at night
think of nothing but drinking and getting drunk [on beer and wine].
Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .