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 produces mockers; alcohol leads to brawls.
    Those led astray by drink cannot be wise.

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17 The one who loves pleasure will become a poor man;
whoever loves wine and oil will not get rich.(A)

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17 Those who love pleasure become poor;
    those who love wine and luxury will never be rich.

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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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20 Do not carouse with drunkards
    or feast with gluttons,
21 for they are on their way to poverty,
    and too much sleep clothes 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 has anguish? Who has sorrow?
    Who is always fighting? Who is always complaining?
    Who has unnecessary bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
30 It is the one who spends long hours in the taverns,
    trying out new drinks.
31 Don’t gaze at the wine, seeing how red it is,
    how it sparkles in the cup, how smoothly it goes down.
32 For in the end it bites like a poisonous snake;
    it stings like a viper.
33 You will see hallucinations,
    and you will say crazy things.
34 You will stagger like a sailor tossed at sea,
    clinging to a swaying mast.
35 And you will say, “They hit me, but I didn’t feel it.
    I didn’t even know it when they beat me up.
When will I wake up
    so I can look for another drink?”

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It is not for kings, Lemuel,
it is not for kings(A) to drink wine(B)
or for rulers to desire beer.
Otherwise, they[a] will drink,
forget what is decreed,(C)
and pervert justice for all the oppressed.[b](D)
Give beer to one who is dying
and wine to one whose life is bitter.(E)
Let him drink so that he can forget his poverty
and remember his trouble no more.(F)

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 31:5 Lit he
  2. Proverbs 31:5 Lit sons of affliction

It is not for kings, O Lemuel, to guzzle wine.
    Rulers should not crave alcohol.
For if they drink, they may forget the law
    and not give justice to the oppressed.
Alcohol is for the dying,
    and wine for those in bitter distress.
Let them drink to forget their poverty
    and remember their troubles no more.

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