29 (A)Who has woe?
Who has sorrow?
Who has contentions?
Who has complaints?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who (B)has redness of eyes?
30 (C)Those who linger long at the wine,
Those who go in search of (D)mixed wine.
31 Do not look on the wine when it is red,
When it sparkles in the cup,
When it [a]swirls around smoothly;
32 At the last it bites like a serpent,
And stings like a viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange things,
And your heart will utter perverse things.
34 Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the [b]midst of the sea,
Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying:
35 “They(E) have struck me, but I was not hurt;
They have beaten me, but I did not feel it.
When shall (F)I awake, that I may seek another drink?

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:31 goes around
  2. Proverbs 23:34 Lit. heart

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)
because 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. 23:33 Or will speak perversities, or inverted things
  2. 23:35 LXX, Syr, Tg, Vg read me,” you will say, “but