29 (A)Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
    Who has strife? Who has complaining?
Who has (B)wounds without cause?
    Who has (C)redness of eyes?
30 Those who (D)tarry long over wine;
    those who go to try (E)mixed wine.
31 Do not look at wine when it is red,
    when it sparkles in the cup
    and goes down smoothly.
32 In the end it (F)bites like a serpent
    and stings like an adder.
33 Your eyes will see strange things,
    and your heart utter (G)perverse things.
34 You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
    like one who lies on the top of a mast.[a]
35 “They (H)struck me,” you will say,[b] “but I was not hurt;
    they beat me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake?
    I (I)must have another drink.”

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:34 Or of the rigging
  2. Proverbs 23:35 Hebrew lacks you will say

29 To whom is woe? To whom is sorrow? To whom are quarrels? To whom is complaint?
    To whom are wounds without cause? To whom is redness of the eyes?
30 To those who linger over wine,
    to those who come to try mixed wine.
31 Do not look at wine when it is red,
    when it sparkles[a] on the cup,
    going down smoothly.
32 In the end,[b] it will bite like a serpent,
    and it will sting like an adder.
33 Your eyes will see strange things,
    and your heart[c] will speak perverse things.
34 And you will be like him who lies down in the heart of the sea,
    and like him who lies down on top of a mast.
35 “They struck me; I was not hurt. They beat me; I did not know it.
    When I will awake, I will continue; I will seek it again.”

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:31 Literally “gives its eye”
  2. Proverbs 23:32 Literally “end him”
  3. Proverbs 23:33 Or “mind”