And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.

And behold joy and gladness, killing calves, and slaying rams, eating flesh, and drinking wine: Let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.

and behold joy and rejoicing, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.

and behold, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine: let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die.

And lo, joy and gladness, slaying of oxen, And slaughtering of sheep, Eating of flesh, and drinking of wine, Eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.

But in place of these there was joy and delight, oxen and sheep were being made ready for food, there was feasting and drinking: men said, Now is the time for food and wine, for tomorrow death comes.

And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine- 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die!'

But behold: gladness and rejoicing, the killing of calves and the slaughter of rams, the eating of meat and the drinking of wine: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die."

Et ecce gaudium et lætitia, occidere bovem, mactare ovem, edere carnes, et bibere vinum, comedere, inquam, et bibere; quia cras moriemur.

And, behold, joy and gladness. The Prophet does not here find fault with joy viewed in itself; for we see that Paul exhorts the godly to true joy, the "joy" which is "in the Lord," (Philippians 4:4;) but now he censures the joy which is opposite to that sadness which commonly springs from repentance, of which Paul also speaks. (2-Corinthians 7:10.) No man can be under the influence of repentance and of a sincere feeling of the wrath of God, without being led, by the grief which accompanies it, willingly to afflict himself. The joy which is opposite to this grief is therefore sinful, because it proceeds from brutish indifference, and is justly blamed, since the Lord curses it. (Luke 6:25.) Slaying oxen and killing sheep. From what has been said, it is easy to see the reason why he censures them for "slaying oxen and killing sheep." These things are not in themselves sinful, and are not displeasing to God; but as fasting is a part of a solemn declaration of repentance, which we make before men, so to slay cattle for feasting, when we ought to fast, is a proof of obstinacy and contempt of God; for in this way men despise God's threatenings, and encourage themselves in their crimes. Such is the statement which Isaiah intended to make in general terms. But it is absurd in the Papists to think of drawing from it an approbation of abstinence from eating flesh. Why do they not also include what the Apostle adds about wine? They are so far from abstaining from the use of wine, that they freely indulge in drinking it, as a compensation for the want of flesh. But let us pass over these absurdities. Isaiah does not absolutely condemn the use of flesh or the drinking of wine, but he condemns the luxury and wantonness by which men are hardened in such a manner that they obstinately set aside God's threatenings, and treat as false all that the prophets tell them. This ought to be carefully observed, for we do not always wear sackcloth and ashes; but we cannot have true repentance without making it manifest by the fruits which it must unavoidably produce. In short, as he had described repentance by its signs, so he marks out obstinacy by its signs; for as by fasting and other outward acts we testify our repentance, so by feasting and luxury we give proofs of an obstinate heart, and thus provoke more the wrath of God, in a similar manner to what we read about the days of Noah. (Genesis 6:5; Matthew 24:38, 39; Luke 17:27.) After having described intemperance and luxury in general terms, he particularly mentions eating and drinking, in which the Jews indulged to such an extent as if they had been able, in some measure, to combat the wrath of God, and to obliterate the remembrance of his threatening. For to-morrow we shall die. This clause shews plainly enough why the Prophet complained so loudly about eating flesh and drinking wine. It was because all the threatenings uttered by the prophets were turned by them into a subject of jesting and laughter. It is supposed that Paul quotes this passage, when, in writing to the Corinthians, he uses nearly the same words. (1-Corinthians 15:32.) But I am of a different opinion; for he quotes the opinion of the Epicureans, who lived for the passing day, and gave themselves no concern about eternal life, and therefore thought that they should follow their natural disposition, and enjoy pleasures as long as life lasted. Isaiah, on the other hand, relates here the speeches of wicked men, who obstinately ridiculed the threatenings of the prophets, and could not patiently endure to be told about chastisements, banishment, slaughter, and ruin. They employed the words of the prophets, and in the midst of their feasting and revelry, turned them into ridicule, saying, in a boasting strain, "To-morrow we shall die. If the prophets tell us that our destruction is at hand, let us pass the present day, at least, in cheerfulness and mirth." Thus, obstinate minds cannot be struck with any terror, but, on the contrary, mock at God and the prophets, and give themselves up more freely to licentiousness. It certainly was frightful madness when, through indignation and wrath, they quoted with bitter irony the words which not only ought to have affected their minds, but ought to have shaken heaven and earth. Would that there were not instances of the same kind in the present day! For whenever God threatens, the greater part of men either vomit out their bitterness, or sneeringly ridicule everything that has proceeded from God's holy mouth.

And behold - When they ought to give themselves to fasting and prayer, they gave themselves up to revelry and riot.
Let us eat and drink - Saying, Let us eat and drink. That is, it is inevitable that we must soon die. The army of the Assyrian is approaching, and the city cannot stand against him. It is in vain to make a defense, and in vain to call upon God. Since we "must" soon die, we may as well enjoy life while it lasts. This is always the language of the epicure; and it seems to be the language of no small part of the world. Probably if the "real" feelings of the great mass of worldly people were expressed, they could not be better expressed than in this passage of Isaiah: 'We must soon die at all events. We cannot avoid that, for it is the common lot of all. And since we have been sent into a dying world; since we had no agency in being placed here; since it is impossible to prevent this doom, we may as well "enjoy" life while it lasts, and give ourselves to pleasure, dissipation, and revelry.
While we can, we will take our comfort, and when death comes we will submit to it, simply because we cannot avoid it.' Thus, while God calls people to repentance and seriousness; and while he would urge them, by the consideration that, this life is short, to prepare for a better life; and while he designs that the nearness of death should lead them to think solemnly of it, they abuse all His mercies, endeavor to thwart all His arrangements, and live and die like the brutes. This passage is quoted by Paul in his argument on the subject of the resurrection in 1-Corinthians 15:32. Sentiments remarkably similar to this occur in the writings of the Greek and Roman poets. Among the Egyptians, the fact that life is short was urged as one argument for promoting soberness and temperance, and in order to produce this effect, it was customary at their feasts to have introduced, at some part of the entertainment, a wooden image of Osiris in the form of a human mummy standing erect, or lying on a bier, and to show it to each of the guests, warning him of his mortality, and of the transitory nature of human pleasures.
He was reminded that one day he would be like that; and was told that people 'ought to love one another, and to avoid those evils which tend to make them consider life too long, when in reality it is too short, and while enjoying the blessings of this life, to bear in mind that life was precarious, and that death would soon close all their comforts.' (See Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians," vol. ii. pp. 409-411.) With the Greeks and Romans, however, as well as the Jews in the time of Isaiah, the fact of the shortness of life was used to produce just the contrary effect - to prompt them to dissipation and licentiousness. The fact of the temporary pilgrimage of man served as an inducement to enjoy the pleasures of life while they lasted, since death was supposed to close the scene, and no prospect was held out of happiness in a future state. This sentiment was expressed in their songs at their entertainments to urge themselves on to greater indulgence in wine and in pleasure. Thus, in Anacreon, Ode 4:
Εις εαυτον
Ο δ ̓ Ερως χιτωνα δησας
Υπερ αυχενος παπυρῳ
Μεθυ μοι διηκονειτὀ
Τροχος αρματος γαροια
Βιοτος τρεχει κυλισθεις
Ολιγη δε κεισομεσθα
Κονις, οστεων λυθεντων
Τι σε δει λιθον μυριζειν;
Τι δε γῃ χεειν ματαια;
Εμε μαλλον, ως ετι ζω,
Μυριζον, καλει δ ̓ εταιρην.
Πριν, Ερως, εκει με απελθειο
Υπο νερτερων χορειας,
Σκεδασαι θελω μεριμνας.
Eis eauton
Ho d' Erōs chitōna dēesas
Huper auchenos papurō
Methu moi diēkoneito.
Trochos armatos gar oia
Biotos trechei kulistheis
Oligē de keisomestha
Konis, osteōn luthentōn.
Ti se dei lithon murizein;
Ti de gē cheein mataia;
eme mallon, hōs eti zō,
Murizon, kalei d' hetairēn
Prin, Erōs, ekei me apelthein
Hupo nerterōn choreias,
Skedasai thelō merimnas.
'In decent robe behind him bound,
Cupid shall serve the goblet round;
For fast away our moments steal,
Like the swift chariot's rolling wheel;
The rapid course is quickly done,
And soon the race of life is run.
Then, then, alas! we droop, we die;
And sunk in dissolution lie:
Our frame no symmetry retains,
Nought but a little dust remains.
Why o'er the tomb are odors shed?
Why poured libations to the dead?
To me, far better, while I live,
Rich wines and balmy fragrance give.
Now, now, the rosy wreath prepare,
And hither call the lovely fair.
Now, while I draw my vital breath,
Ere yet I lead the dance of death,
For joy my sorrows I'll resign,
And drown my cares in rosy wine.'
A similar sentiment occurs in Horace. Odyssey iii. 13:
Huc vina, et unguente, et nimium brevis
Flores amoenos ferre jube rosae.
Dum res, et aetas, et sororum
Fila trium patiuntur atra.
And still more strikingly in Petronius, "Satyric." c. 34, "ad finem:"
Heu, heu, nos miseros, quam torus homuncio nil est!
Sic erimus cuncti, postquam nos auferat Orcus:
Ergo vivamus, dum licet esse, bene.
The same sentiments prevailed among the Jews in the time of the author of the Book of Wisdom (Wisd. 11:1-9): 'Our life is short and tedious, and in the death of a man there is no remedy: neither was there any man known to have returned from the grave. For we are born at all adventure; and we shall be hereafter as though we had never been, for the breath in our nostrils is as smoke, and a little spark in the moving of our heart. Come on, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are present; let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments, and let no flower of the spring pass by us; let us crown ourselves with rose buds before they be withered; let none of us go without his part of our voluptuousness; let us leave tokens of our joyfulness in every place.' It was with reference to such sentiments as these, that Dr. Doddridge composed that beautiful epigram which Dr. Johnson pronounced the finest in the English language:
'Live while you live,' the sacred preacher cries,
'And give to God each moment as it flies;'
'Live while you live,' the Epicure would say,
'And seize the pleasures of the present day.'
Lord, in my view, let both united be,
I live to pleasure when I live to thee.

Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die - This has been the language or all those who have sought their portion in this life, since the foundation of the world. So the poet: -
Heu, heu nos miserif quam totus homuncio nil est!
Sic erimus cuncti, postquam nos auferet orcus.
Ergo vivamus, dum licet esse, bene.
Alas alas! what miserable creatures are we, oniy the semblances of men! And so shall we be all when we come to die. Therefore let us live joyfully while we may.
Domitian had an image of death hung up in his dining-room, to show his guests that as life was uncertain, they should make the best of it by indulging themselves. On this Martial, to flatter the emperor, whom he styles god, wrote the following epigram: -
Frange thoros, pete vina, tingere nardo.
Ipse jubet mortis te meminisse Deus.
Sit down to table - drink heartily - anoint thyself with spikenard; for God himself commands thee to remember death.
So the adage: -
Ede, bibe, lude
post mortem nulla voluptas.
"Eat, drink, and play, while here ye may:
No revelry after your dying day."
St. Paul quotes the same heathen sentiment, 1-Corinthians 15:32 : "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." Anacreon is full in point, and from him nothing better can be expected: -
Ὡς ουν ετ' ευδι' εστιν,
Και πινε και κυβευε
Και σπενδε τῳ Λυαιῳ·
Μη νουσος, ην τις ελθῃ,
Λεγῃ, σε μη δει πινειν.
Anac. Od. xv., 50:11.
"While no tempest blots your sky,
Drink, and throw the sportful dye:
But to Bacchus drench the ground,
Ere you push the goblet round;
Lest some fatal illness cry,
'Drink no more the cup of joy.'"
Addison.

And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us (p) eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.
(p) Instead of repentance you were joyful and made great cheer, contemning the admonitions of the prophets saying Let us eat and drink for our prophets say that we will die tomorrow.

And behold joy and gladness,.... As if it was a time of rejoicing, rather than of weeping and mourning; and as if they were at a festival, and in the greatest prosperity and liberty, and not besieged by a powerful army:
slaying oxen, and killing sheep: not for sacrifice, to make atonement for sin, as typical of the great sacrifice; but to eat, and that not as at ordinary meals, or merely for the support of life, but as at feasts, where, as there was great plenty, so luxury and intemperance were indulged; just as Belshazzar did, at the same time that Babylon was beset by the army of the Medes and Persians, Daniel 5:1 so the Jews here, having taken the armour out of the treasury, and furnished the soldiers with them, and took care of provisions of bread and water, and having repaired and fortified the walls of the city, thought themselves secure, and gave up themselves to feasting, mirth, and pleasure: saying,
let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die; which they said, not as believing their case to be desperate; that the next day, or in a few days, their city would be taken by the Assyrians, and they should be put to the sword, and therefore, since they had but a short life to live, they would live a merry one; but rather as not believing it, but scoffing at the prophet, and at the word of the Lord by him; as if they should say, the prophet says we shall die tomorrow, or we are in great danger of being suddenly destroyed; but let us not be dismayed at such words, and to show that we do not believe them, or if this is our case, let us take our fill of pleasure, while we may have it. This is the language of epicures, and of such that disbelieve the resurrection of the dead, and a future state, to whom the apostle applies the words in 1-Corinthians 15:32.

Notwithstanding Jehovah's "call to mourning" (Isaiah 22:12), many shall make the desperate state of affairs a reason for reckless revelry (Isaiah 5:11-12, Isaiah 5:14; Jeremiah 18:12; 1-Corinthians 15:32).
In Isaiah 36:3, Isaiah 36:22; Isaiah 37:2, we find Shebna "a scribe," and no longer prefect of the palace ("over the household"), and Eliakim in that office, as is here foretold. Shebna is singled out as the subject of prophecy (the only instance of an individual being so in Isaiah), as being one of the irreligious faction that set at naught the prophet's warnings (Isaiah. 28:1-33:24); perhaps it was he who advised the temporary ignominious submission of Hezekiah to Sennacherib.

Let us, &c. - A most perverse and desperate conclusion.