20 Wine causes mocking, and beer causes fights;
everyone led astray by them lacks wisdom.

²⁰ Don’t associate with heavy drinkers
    or dine with gluttons,
²¹ because drunks and gluttons tend to become poor,
    and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.

²⁹ Who has woe? Who has grief?
    Who has contention? Who has complaints?
Who has wounds without cause?
    Who has bloodshot eyes?
³⁰ Those who linger over their wine,
    who consume mixed drinks.
³¹ Don’t stare into red wine,
    when it sparkles in the cup
        and goes down smoothly.
³² Eventually it will bite like a snake
    and sting like a serpent.
³³ Your eyes will see strange things,
    and with slurred words you’ll speak what you really believe.
³⁴ You will be like someone who lies down in the sea,
    or like someone who sleeps on top of a mast.
³⁵ “They struck me,” you will say,^[a]
    “but I never felt it.
They beat me,
    but I never knew it.
When will I wake up?
    I want another drink.”

⁴ It is not for kings, Lemuel—
    Not for kings to drink wine
        or for rulers to desire liquor.
⁵ Otherwise, they may drink and forget what has been ordained,
    perverting justice for all the oppressed.