On Life and Conduct

20 (A)Wine is a mocker, (B)intoxicating drink a brawler,
And whoever [a]is intoxicated by it is not wise.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 20:1 Lit errs

20 Wine produces mockers; alcohol leads to brawls.
    Those led astray by drink cannot be wise.

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17 One who (A)loves pleasure will become a poor person;
One who loves wine and oil will not become rich.

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17 Those who love pleasure become poor;
    those who love wine and luxury will never be rich.

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20 Do not be with (A)heavy drinkers of wine,
Or with (B)gluttonous eaters of meat;
21 For the (C)heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty,
And (D)drowsiness will clothe one with rags.

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20 Do not carouse with drunkards
    or feast with gluttons,
21 for they are on their way to poverty,
    and too much sleep clothes them in rags.

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29 Who has (A)woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has contentions? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has red eyes?
30 Those who (B)linger long over wine,
Those who go to [a]taste (C)mixed wine.
31 Do not look at wine when it is red,
When it [b]sparkles in the cup,
When it (D)goes down smoothly;
32 In the end it (E)bites like a snake
And stings like a (F)viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange things
And your [c]mind will (G)say perverse things.
34 And you will be like one who lies down in the [d]middle of the sea,
Or like one who lies down on the top of a [e]mast.
35 “They (H)struck me, but I did not become [f]ill;
They beat me, but I did not know it.
When will I awake?
I will (I)seek [g]another drink.”

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:30 Or search out
  2. Proverbs 23:31 Lit gives its eye
  3. Proverbs 23:33 Lit heart
  4. Proverbs 23:34 Lit heart
  5. Proverbs 23:34 Or lookout
  6. Proverbs 23:35 I.e., from the effect of wounds
  7. Proverbs 23:35 Lit it yet again

29 Who has anguish? Who has sorrow?
    Who is always fighting? Who is always complaining?
    Who has unnecessary bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
30 It is the one who spends long hours in the taverns,
    trying out new drinks.
31 Don’t gaze at the wine, seeing how red it is,
    how it sparkles in the cup, how smoothly it goes down.
32 For in the end it bites like a poisonous snake;
    it stings like a viper.
33 You will see hallucinations,
    and you will say crazy things.
34 You will stagger like a sailor tossed at sea,
    clinging to a swaying mast.
35 And you will say, “They hit me, but I didn’t feel it.
    I didn’t even know it when they beat me up.
When will I wake up
    so I can look for another drink?”

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It is not for (A)kings, Lemuel,
It is not for kings to (B)drink wine,
Or for rulers to desire intoxicating drink,
Otherwise they will drink and forget what is decreed,
And (C)pervert the [a]rights of all the [b]needy.
Give intoxicating drink to one who is (D)perishing,
And wine to one [c](E)whose life is bitter.
Let him drink and forget his poverty,
And remember his trouble no more.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 31:5 Lit judgment
  2. Proverbs 31:5 Lit sons of affliction
  3. Proverbs 31:6 Lit bitter of soul

It is not for kings, O Lemuel, to guzzle wine.
    Rulers should not crave alcohol.
For if they drink, they may forget the law
    and not give justice to the oppressed.
Alcohol is for the dying,
    and wine for those in bitter distress.
Let them drink to forget their poverty
    and remember their troubles no more.

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