the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and
their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law
of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25. Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against His people, and
He hath stretched forth His hand against them, and hath smitten them:
and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of
the streets. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is
stretched out still. 26. And He will lift up an ensign to the nations
from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and,
behold, they shall come with speed swiftly: 17. None shall be weary nor
stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the
girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be
broken: 28. Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their
horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a
whirlwind: 29. Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like
young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall
carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it. 30. And in that day they
shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look
unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in
the heavens thereof.'--ISAIAH v. 8-30.


Drunkenness is, in this text, one of a ring of plague-spots on the body
politic of Judah. The prophet six times proclaims 'woe' as the
inevitable end of these; such 'sickness' is 'unto death' unless
repentance and another course of conduct bring healing. But drunkenness
appears twice in this grim catalogue, and the longest paragraph of
denunciation (vv, 11-17) is devoted to it. Its connection with the other
vices attacked is loose, but it is worth noting that all these have an
inner kinship, and tend to appear together. They are 'all in a string,'