The new wine languisheth - The new wine (תירושׁ tı̂yrôsh), denotes properly must, or wine that was newly expressed from the grape, and that was not fermented, usually translated 'new wine,' or 'sweet wine.' The expression here is poetic. The wine languishes or mourns because there are none to drink it; it is represented as grieved because it does not perform its usual office of exhilarating the heart, and the figure is thus an image of the desolation of the land.

The vine languisheth - It is sickly and unfruitful, because there are none to cultivate it as formerly. The idea is, that all nature sympathizes in the general calamity.

All the merry-hearted - Probably the reference is mainly to those who were once made happy at the plenteous feast, and at the splendid entertainments where wine abounded. They look now upon the widespread desolation of the land, and mourn.

The new wine mourneth,.... For want men to drink it, or because spilled by the enemy; or the inhabitants of the land mourn for want of it, not having their vintages as usual:

the vine languisheth; or is sickly, and so barren and unfruitful, does not bring forth its clusters of grapes as it used to do; there being none to prune it, and take care of it, and being trodden down by hostile forces. The Targum is,

"all that drink wine shall mourn, because the vines are broken down.''

So the Romish harlot, and those that have drank of the wine of her fornication, and have lived deliciously, shall have, in one hour, death, and mourning, and famine, Revelation 18:7,

all the merryhearted do sigh; such, whose hearts wine has formerly made glad, shall now sigh for want of it; and such who have lived deliciously with the whore of Rome, and have had many a merry bout with her, shall now bewail her, and lament for her, when she shall be utterly burnt with fire, Revelation 18:9.

The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh.

24:7 Mourneth - Because there are none to drink it. Grief is ascribed to senseless creatures by a figure usual in all authors. Languisheth - Because there are no people left to dress it, or gather its grapes. The merry - hearted - That made their hearts merry with wine.

7. mourneth-because there are none to drink it [Barnes]. Rather, "is become vapid" [Horsley].

languisheth-because there are none to cultivate it now.

24:1-12 All whose treasures and happiness are laid up on earth, will soon be brought to want and misery. It is good to apply to ourselves what the Scripture says of the vanity and vexation of spirit which attend all things here below. Sin has turned the earth upside down; the earth is become quite different to man, from what it was when God first made it to be his habitation. It is, at the best, like a flower, which withers in the hands of those that please themselves with it, and lay it in their bosoms. The world we live in is a world of disappointment, a vale of tears; the children of men in it are but of few days, and full of trouble, See the power of God's curse, how it makes all empty, and lays waste all ranks and conditions. Sin brings these calamities upon the earth; it is polluted by the sins of men, therefore it is made desolate by God's judgments. Carnal joy will soon be at end, and the end of it is heaviness. God has many ways to imbitter wine and strong drink to those who love them; distemper of body, anguish of mind, and the ruin of the estate, will make strong drink bitter, and the delights of sense tasteless. Let men learn to mourn for sin, and rejoice in God; then no man, no event, can take their joy from them.