20 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is enraging; and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

¹⁷ He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man; he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.

²⁰ Be not among winebibbers, among riotous eaters of flesh;

²¹ for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

²⁹ Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes?

³⁰ They that tarry long at wine, they that go to seek mixed wine.

³¹ Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.

³² At the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder:

³³ Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.

³⁴ Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.

³⁵ “They have struck me,” shalt thou say, “and I was not sick! They have beaten me, and I felt it not! When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again!”

⁴ It is not for kings, O Lemuel — it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink,

⁵ lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.

⁶ Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.

⁷ Let them drink and forget their poverty, and remember their misery no more.