20 Wine is a mocker,(A) beer is a brawler,
and whoever staggers because of them is not wise.

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20 Wine is a mocker; beer a carouser.
    Those it leads astray won’t become wise.

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19 Listen, my son, and be wise;
keep your mind on the right course.
20 Don’t associate with those who drink too much wine(A)
or with those who gorge themselves on meat.(B)
21 For the drunkard and the glutton will become poor,
and grogginess will clothe them in rags.(C)

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19 Listen, my child, and be wise!
    Keep your mind straight on the path.
20 Don’t hang out with those who get drunk on wine
    or those who eat too much meat,
21     because drunks and gluttons will be impoverished;
    their stupor will clothe them in rags.

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29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has conflicts? Who has complaints?
Who has wounds for no reason?(A)
Who has red eyes?
30 Those who linger over wine,
those who go looking for mixed wine.(B)
31 Don’t gaze at wine because it is red,(C)
when it gleams in the cup
and goes down smoothly.(D)
32 In the end it bites like a snake
and stings like a viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange things,
and you will say absurd things.[a](E)
34 You’ll be like someone sleeping out at sea
or lying down on the top of a ship’s mast.
35 “They struck me, but[b] I feel no pain!
They beat me, but I didn’t know it!(F)
When will I wake up?
I’ll look for another drink.”(G)

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:33 Or will speak perversities or inverted things
  2. Proverbs 23:35 LXX, Syr, Tg, Vg read me,” you will say, “But

29 Who is suffering?
    Who is uneasy?
    Who has arguments?
    Who has complaints?
    Who has unnecessary wounds?
    Who has glazed eyes?—
30         those who linger over wine;
        those who go looking for mixed wine.
31 Don’t look at wine when it is red,
    when it sparkles in the cup,
    going down smoothly.
32 In the end, it bites like a snake
    and poisons like a viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange things,
    and your heart will speak distorted words.
34 You will be like one who lies down while out on the sea[a]
    or one who lies on top of a mast.
35 “Though hit, I feel no pain;
    though beaten up, I don’t know anything about it.
When I wake up,
    I’ll look for wine again!”

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:34 Or in the heart of the sea