²⁰ 
Do not associate with heavy drinkers of wine,
Or with gluttonous eaters of meat,^(A)
21 
For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty,
And the drowsiness [of overindulgence] will clothe one with rags.

²⁹ 
Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has strife? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause?
Whose eyes are red and dim?
³⁰ 
Those who linger long over wine,
Those who go to taste mixed wine.^(A)
31 
Do not look at wine when it is red,
When it sparkles in the glass,
When it goes down smoothly.
³² 
At the last it bites like a serpent
And stings like a viper.
³³ 
Your [drunken] eyes will see strange things
And your mind will utter perverse things [untrue things, twisted things].
³⁴ 
And you will be [as unsteady] as one who lies down in the middle of the sea,
And [as vulnerable to disaster] as one who lies down on the top of a ship’s mast, saying,
³⁵ 
“They struck me, but I was not hurt!
They beat me, but I did not feel it!
When will I wake up?
I will seek more wine.”

⁴ 
It is not for kings, O Lemuel,
It is not for kings to drink wine,
Or for rulers to desire strong drink,^(A)
5 
Otherwise they drink and forget the law and its decrees,
And pervert the rights and justice of all the afflicted.
⁶ 
Give strong drink [as medicine] to him who is ready to pass away,
And wine to him whose life is bitter.
⁷ 
Let him drink and forget his poverty
And no longer remember his trouble.