What does Isaiah 5:11 mean?

Isaiah pronounces his second "woe" of grief and judgment upon those in Judah and Jerusalem. Given the context, this is likely directed at those who were wealthy as well (Isaiah 5:8). In the ancient world, only the wealthy could afford to spend all day, every day, from early in the morning until late at night, getting drunk.

These people have turned pleasure and drinking into a full-time pursuit. Drunkenness and debauchery is why these wealthy people get out of bed in the morning. The constant drunkenness brings with it nightly rounds of being "inflamed," likely indicating participation in sexual immorality.

Scripture does not condemn the consumption of alcohol. After all, Isaiah's song and parable was about the production of grapes to make wine, and table wine was a staple of Israel's diet (Isaiah 5:1–4). And in the New Testament Paul instructs Timothy to drink some wine for his ailments (1 Timothy 5:23) We see throughout Scripture it is drunkenness that is condemned, not alcohol itself. In this passage, Isaiah is calling out the excessive lifestyles of the wealthy. As the following verse reveals, it robs them of concern for anything else, including the work of the Lord.