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20 Wine is a mocker and beer is a brawler.
    Whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

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Advice on How to Live

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

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19 Listen, my son, and be wise,
    and keep your heart on the right path!
20 Don’t be among ones drinking too much wine,
    or those who gorge themselves on meat:
21 for the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor;
    and drowsiness clothes them in rags.

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19 Listen, my son, and be wise,
    commit yourself to live God’s[a] way.
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.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:19 Lit. live in the

29 Who has woe?
    Who has sorrow?
    Who has strife?
    Who has complaints?
    Who has needless bruises?
    Who has bloodshot eyes?
30 Those who stay long at the wine;
    those who go to seek out mixed wine.
31 Don’t look at the wine when it is red,
    when it sparkles in the cup,
    when it goes 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 mind will imagine confusing things.
34 Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the middle of the sea,
    or as he who lies on top of the rigging:
35 “They hit me, and I was not hurt!
    They beat me, and I don’t feel it!
    When will I wake up? I can do it again.
    I can find another.”

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On Sobriety

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.”

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:35 The Heb. lacks you will say