Lees

Old wine was left to sit on its sediment, and the prophets borrow that picture. Jeremiah says Moab “hath settled on his lees” and was never emptied “from vessel to vessel,” meaning it had known no upheaval and stayed just as it was. Zephaniah uses the same words against complacent men in Jerusalem who think the LORD will do nothing at all. Isaiah turns it into a promise, a feast of “wines on the lees well refined” on the LORD’s mountain. The psalmist, by contrast, sees a cup whose dregs the wicked must drink. Start with Jeremiah 48:11 and Zephaniah 1:12.

4 verses

Psalms

Psalms 75:8

For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.

Isaiah

Isaiah 25:6

And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 48:11

Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.

Zephaniah

Zephaniah 1:12

And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

(Heb. shemarim), from a word meaning to keep or preserve. It was applied to “lees” from the custom of allowing wine to stand on the lees that it might thereby be better preserved (Isa. 25:6). “Men settled on their lees” (Zeph. 1:12) are men “hardened or crusted.” The image is derived from the crust formed at the bottom of wines long left undisturbed (Jer. 48:11). The effect of wealthy undisturbed ease on the ungodly is hardening. They become stupidly secure (comp. Ps. 55:19; Amos 6:1). To drink the lees (Ps. 75:8) denotes severe suffering.

From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

the coarser parts of a liquor, its sediment or dregs. "Wine on the lees" means a generous, full-bodied liquor. (Isaiah 25:6) Before the wine was consumed, it was necessary to strain off the lees; such wine was then termed "well refined." (Isaiah 25:6) To drink the lees, or "dregs," was an expression for the endurance of extreme punishment. (Psalms 75:8)