Isaiah 56:12 describes people who plan their whole lives around indulgence, assuming tomorrow will simply repeat today with more of the same. The verse is a warning about a self-centered outlook that treats excess as the goal and ignores the emptiness it leaves behind. The prophet Isaiah speaks these words as God’s judgment against the leaders of Israel, who were supposed to guard and guide the people but instead chased their own comfort.
“Come,” say they, “I will get wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be as today, great beyond measure.”
Isaiah 56:12 (WEB)
What Isaiah 56:12 Means
The verse opens with an invitation, “Come,” spoken by people who have settled on a plan. They say they will get wine and fill themselves with strong drink, which means they intend to pursue drunkenness and indulgence openly, without restraint. The phrase captures a casual, confident attitude, as if nothing could interrupt their pleasure.
The last line reveals their assumption that tomorrow will be as today, “great beyond measure.” They expect the party to continue indefinitely, with no reckoning, no change, and no consequence. The verse does not promise that such living is secure. It exposes how fragile that expectation really is, since the speakers are blind to the judgment already gathering around them in the verses before it.
The Context of Isaiah 56:12
The book of Isaiah is traditionally attributed to the prophet Isaiah, who ministered in Jerusalem during the eighth century BC. Chapters 56 through 66 address a community that had returned from exile and was struggling to live faithfully. The audience here is the leadership, pictured as blind watchmen and dogs that cannot bark, people who were meant to warn the nation but who slept and indulged instead.
Just before verse 12, the prophet describes these leaders as greedy shepherds who have turned each to his own way. Read against that backdrop, verse 12 is not a cheerful invitation to a party but a portrait of spiritual neglect. The people who should have been watching for danger were the ones drinking themselves into a stupor.
Key Phrases in Isaiah 56:12
Ephesians 5:18
Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit…
(WEB)
Paul contrasts drunkenness with being filled by the Spirit, offering the true fullness that the people in Isaiah were chasing in wine. The verse shows where genuine satisfaction is found.
Proverbs 23:20-21
20 Don’t be among ones drinking too much wine, or those who gorge themselves on meat: 21 for the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor; and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
(WEB)
This passage warns plainly about the company of heavy drinkers and the poverty that follows excess. It deepens the concern Isaiah raises about lives drifting toward indulgence.
A Short Prayer From Isaiah 56:12
Lord, you see the places in my life where I have settled into comfortable habits and assumed tomorrow will simply repeat today. Show me where I have been filling myself with things that cannot satisfy, and give me the honesty to name them. Help me to stay awake and watchful, like those you call to guard and serve, and to care more about faithfulness than about passing pleasure. Fill me with your Spirit and your truth, so that my days reflect your purposes rather than my own appetites. Amen.
