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)

Read full chapter

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 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.”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

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