What Does Isaiah 28:7 Mean?
And these also stagger in wine, and reel in strong drink. The priest and the prophet reel in strong drink; they are swallowed by wine; they reel from the drink; they stagger in seeing; they stumble in judgment.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.THE KEY
Here wine does not merely cloud the leaders: it swallows them, and their sight and judgment go with it.
THE MEANING
The verse shows intoxication swallowing those trusted to discern: they lose their way, mis-see, and stumble in judgment. It speaks to you now: drinking that clouds perception can also bend the judgment others rely on.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Holding a role others trust does not make your perception immune to impairment.
THE ROOT
שָׁגוּ
shagu
GROWS FROM
שגה
שגה (sh-g-h; shagah): to stray, wander off course, or reel.
“stagger” in this verse is shagu. English repeats “erred” as a generic mistake, but שָׁגוּ (shagu, they strayed or reeled) belongs to a root that can describe going off course. Its wine-linked form שֹׁגֶה (shogeh, one who strays) appears in Proverbs 20:1, making the verse’s repeated error a loss of bearings.
ALSO GROWS
shegagah: Inadvertent error or lapse.
שְׁגָגָה
This branch shows the root can name an error made without full intent, while the verse still names the resulting failure of judgment.
shogeh: One who strays or errs.
שֹׁגֶה
Proverbs 20:1 uses this form for the person deceived by wine, linking intoxication with losing one’s bearings.
תָּעוּ
ta'u
GROWS FROM
תעה
תעה (t-ʿ-h; ta’ah): to wander, stray, or lose the way.
“reel” in this verse is ta'u. English “out of the way” can sound like a single deviation; תָּעוּ (ta’u, they wandered) is repeated, making the loss of direction persistent. The same root becomes תָּעִינוּ (ta’inu, we have gone astray) in Isaiah 53:6, where the lost path is shared rather than confined to leaders.
ALSO GROWS
ta'inu: We have gone astray.
תָּעִינוּ
Isaiah 53:6 uses this form for the collective loss of direction expressed as “we all.”
to'eh: One who wanders or strays.
תֹּעֶה
This form pictures someone off course, matching the verse’s repeated description of people who have lost their way.
רֹאֶה
ro'eh
GROWS FROM
ראה
ראה (r-’-h; ra’ah): to see, look, or perceive.
“stagger in seeing” in this verse is ro'eh. Vision here comes from רֹאֶה (ro’eh, seeing), from ראה (ra’ah, to see); the verse says the act of seeing itself goes wrong. The move from impaired perception to stumbling judgment is in the verse’s own sequence.
ALSO GROWS
ro'eh: One who sees; a seer.
רֹאֶה
The same word family can name the person who sees, making the failure of perception central to the verse.
mar'eh: Appearance, sight, or vision.
מַרְאֶה
This branch names what appears to be seen, showing how the root connects seeing with the field of appearances.
THE PATTERN
When intoxication clouds perception, judgment and vigilance falter even in people charged with discernment.
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is roaring, and whoever reels in it is not wise.Lest they drink and forget the statute, and twist the judgment of all who are bowed.THE THREAD
All of us like sheep have wandered; each has turned to his own way, and the LORD has caused the crookedness of us all to fall upon him.Isaiah 28 uses תָּעוּ (ta’u, they wandered); Isaiah 53:6 uses תָּעִינוּ (ta’inu, we have gone astray), both from תעה (ta’ah, to wander or lose the way). The shift from they to we all extends the warning: losing direction is not sealed inside leaders but reaches everyone.
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