Proverbs 23:31-33

23:31 Do not look on the wine when it is red,

when it sparkles in the cup,

when it goes down smoothly.

23:32 Afterward it bites like a snake,

and stings like a viper.

23:33 Your eyes will see strange things,

and your mind will speak perverse things.


tn Heb “its eye gives.” With CEV’s “bubbling up in the glass” one might think champagne was in view.

tn The expression is difficult, and is suspected of having been added from Song 7:10, although the parallel is not exact. The verb is the Hitpael imperfect of הָלַךְ (halakh); and the prepositional phrase uses the word “upright; equity; pleasing,” from יָשָׁר (yashar). KJV has “when it moveth itself aright”; much more helpful is ASV: “when it goeth down smoothly.” Most recent English versions are similar to ASV. The phrase obviously refers to the pleasing nature of wine.

tn Heb “its end”; NASB “At the last”; TEV (interpretively) “The next morning.”

tn The feminine plural of זָר (zar, “strange things”) refers to the trouble one has in seeing and speaking when drunk.