The final Woe Oracle in this collection focuses on a theme similar to that of the second oracle in verse 11 (see also 28.7). It refers to wine and strong drink as in verse 11 (see the comments there).

Those who are heroes at drinking wine: The prophet says this to insult those he is condemning here. He describes those who think that drinking wine makes them great. They drink too much, but they regard it as a mark of being a mature adult. Heroes is a masculine noun in Hebrew, which may indicate that only men are the object of this oracle. This noun is literally “great ones” or “champions” (New American Bible). Since heroes is usually a positive term, Isaiah is using the term here with irony. Translators should try to find an expression that sounds scornful. Good News Translation “Heroes of the wine bottle!” is good idiomatic English, but it could easily be misunderstood. Other possible renderings are “those who are experts in drinking wine” or “those who are very good at….”

And valiant men in mixing strong drink is a parallel to the previous clause. Valiant men is literally “men of strength.” Mixing probably refers to the practice of pouring fermented drinks from a large container into a serving pitcher, where it was mixed with water and poured into individual cups. It is unlikely that it refers to the modern practice of mixing different flavors together into a “cocktail,” and it certainly did not include distilled liquor. The Hebrew verb rendered mixing also means “to pour,” which may be closer to the sense here.

Translation examples for this verse are:

• Woe to those whose reputation for greatness is that they drink much wine,
and to those whose strength is in mixing [or, pouring] beer.

• Alas for those who think greatness is in drinking much wine,
and for those who are strong when they are full of alcohol.

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 .