Isaiah 24:11 - Exposition

There is a crying for wine in the streets . Wine, though still manufactured (see Isaiah 24:7 , Isaiah 24:9 ) is scarce, but is much sought after. Men clamor for it at the doors of the wine-shops, but are unable to obtain it. They crave for its exhilarating effects, or perhaps for the oblivion which it brings when drunk to excess. If they could obtain it, they would act as the Jews in the siege of Jerusalem ( Isaiah 22:13 ). But they cannot. Hence even the factitious merriment, which wine is capable of producing, is denied now to the inhabitants of the earth, with whom all joy is darkened , from whom all mirth is gone .