The Meaning of Isaiah 24:11 Explained

Isaiah 24:11

KJV: There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.

YLT: A cry over the wine is in out-places, Darkened hath been all joy, Removed hath been the joy of the land.

Darby: There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone;

ASV: There is a crying in the streets because of the wine; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

[There is] a crying  for wine  in the streets;  all joy  is darkened,  the mirth  of the land  is gone. 

What does Isaiah 24:11 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Shut up to life without God, humankind despairs because all remedies have been tried and found wanting. Stimulants fail to bring lasting joy, what joy there is sours, and gaiety is gone.

Context Summary

Isaiah 24:1-13 - The Desolation Of A Guilty World
This and the three following chapters form a single prophecy, describing the calamities about to desolate the land, because the inhabitants had transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Primarily it describes the experiences of Palestine under the successive invasions from the Euphrates valley, first of Nineveh and then of Babylon. There is a mysterious connection between the condition of a man's soul and the response of surrounding nature. The very vineyards would sigh in sad accord with the prevailing misery and sin, Isaiah 24:7-9; and in the great city silence would reign in streets decimated by plague and war, Isaiah 24:10-12. Both in the Old and the New Testament the blessings of sufficiency and comfort are the fruits of holy living; whereas, sooner or later, evil overtakes wrong-doing. "Trust in the Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed," is always true. [source]

Chapter Summary: Isaiah 24

1  The doleful judgments of God upon the land
13  A remnant shall joyfully praise him
16  God in his judgments shall advance his kingdom

What do the individual words in Isaiah 24:11 mean?

[There is] a cry for wine in the streets is darkened all joy is gone the mirth of the land
צְוָחָ֥ה עַל־ הַיַּ֖יִן בַּֽחוּצ֑וֹת עָֽרְבָה֙ כָּל־ שִׂמְחָ֔ה גָּלָ֖ה מְשׂ֥וֹשׂ הָאָֽרֶץ

צְוָחָ֥ה  [There  is]  a  cry 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: צְוָחָה  
Sense: outcry, shout.
הַיַּ֖יִן  wine 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: יַיִן  
Sense: wine.
בַּֽחוּצ֑וֹת  in  the  streets 
Parse: Preposition-b, Article, Noun, masculine plural
Root: חוּץ  
Sense: outside, outward, street, the outside.
עָֽרְבָה֙  is  darkened 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person feminine singular
Root: עָרַב  
Sense: to become evening, grow dark.
שִׂמְחָ֔ה  joy 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: שִׂמְחָה  
Sense: joy, mirth, gladness.
גָּלָ֖ה  is  gone 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: גָּלָה  
Sense: to uncover, remove.
מְשׂ֥וֹשׂ  the  mirth 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: מָשֹׂושׂ 
Sense: exultation, joy, rejoicing.
הָאָֽרֶץ  of  the  land 
Parse: Article, Noun, feminine singular
Root: אֶרֶץ  
Sense: land, earth.