1 Samuel 25:36-37

25:36 When Abigail went back to Nabal, he was holding a banquet in his house like that of the king. Nabal was having a good time ¹  and was very intoxicated. She told him absolutely nothing ²  until morning’s light. 25:37 In the morning, when Nabal was sober, ³  his wife told him about these matters. He had a stroke and was paralyzed. ⁴ 

Proverbs 23:29-35

23:29 Who has woe? ⁵  Who has sorrow?

Who has contentions? Who has complaints?

Who has wounds without cause? Who has dullness ⁶  of the eyes?

23:30 Those who linger over wine,

those who go looking for mixed wine. ⁷ 

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

when it sparkles ⁸  in the cup,

when it goes down smoothly. ⁹ 

23:32 Afterward ¹⁰  it bites like a snake,

and stings like a viper.

23:33 Your eyes will see strange things, ¹¹ 

and your mind will speak perverse things.

23:34 And you will be like one who lies down in the midst ¹²  of the sea,

and like one who lies down on the top of the rigging. ¹³ 

23:35 You will say, ¹⁴  “They have struck me, but I am not harmed!

They beat me, but I did not know it! ¹⁵ 

When will I awake? I will look for another drink.” ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 21:4-5

21:4 My heart palpitates, ¹⁷ 

I shake in fear; ¹⁸ 

the twilight I desired

has brought me terror.

21:5 Arrange the table,

lay out ¹⁹  the carpet,

eat and drink! ²⁰ 

Get up, you officers,

smear oil on the shields! ²¹ 

Daniel 5:4-5

5:4 As they drank wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

5:5 At that very moment the fingers of a human hand appeared ²²  and wrote on the plaster of the royal palace wall, opposite the lampstand. ²³  The king was watching the back ²⁴  of the hand that was writing.

Acts 2:15

2:15 In spite of what you think, these men are not drunk, ²⁵  for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. ²⁶ 

Acts 2:2

2:2 Suddenly ²⁷  a sound ²⁸  like a violent wind blowing ²⁹  came from heaven ³⁰  and filled the entire house where they were sitting.

Acts 2:13

2:13 But others jeered at the speakers, ³¹  saying, “They are drunk on new wine!” ³² 

[25:36]  ¹ tn Heb “and the heart of Nabal was good upon him”; NASB, NRSV “Nabal’s heart was merry within him”; NIV “he was in high spirits”; NCV, TEV “was in a good mood”; CEV “was very drunk and feeling good.”

[25:36]  ² tn Heb “and she did not tell him a thing, small or large.”

[25:37]  ³ tn Heb “when the wine had gone out from Nabal.”

[25:37]  ⁴ tn Heb “and his heart died within him and he became a stone.” Cf. TEV, NLT “stroke”; CEV “heart attack.” For an alternative interpretation than that presented above, see Marjorie O’Rourke Boyle, “The Law of the Heart: The Death of a Fool (1 Samuel 25),” JBL 120 (2001): 401-27, who argues that a medical diagnosis is not necessary here. Instead, the passage makes a connection between the heart and the law; Nabal dies for his lawlessness.

[23:29]  ⁵ sn The eighteenth saying is about excessive drinking. The style changes here as the sage breaks into a vivid use of the imagination. It begins with a riddle describing the effects of drunkenness (v. 29) and gives the answer in v. 30; instructions follow in v. 31, with the consequences described in v. 32; the direct address continues in vv. 33 and 34; and the whole subject is concluded with the drunkard’s own words in v. 35 (M. E. Andrews, “Variety of Expression in Proverbs 23:29-35,” VT 28 [1978]: 102-3).

[23:29]  ⁶ sn The Hebrew word translated “dullness” describes darkness or dullness of the eyes due to intoxication, perhaps “redness” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NIV, NCV, NLT “bloodshot eyes.” NAB understands the situation differently: “black eyes.”

[23:30]  ⁷ sn The answer to the question posed in v. 29 is obviously one who drinks too much, which this verse uses metonymies to point out. Lingering over wine is an adjunct of drinking more wine; and seeking mixed wine obviously means with the effect or the purpose of drinking it.

[23:31]  ⁸ tn Heb “its eye gives.” With CEV’s “bubbling up in the glass” one might think champagne was in view.

[23:31]  ⁹ 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.

[23:32]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “its end”; NASB “At the last”; TEV (interpretively) “The next morning.”

[23:33]  ¹¹ tn The feminine plural of זָר (zar, “strange things”) refers to the trouble one has in seeing and speaking when drunk.

[23:34]  ¹² tn Heb “heart.” The idiom here means “middle”; KJV “in the midst.”

[23:34]  ¹³ sn The point of these similes is to compare being drunk with being seasick. One who tries to sleep when at sea, or even worse, when up on the ropes of the mast, will be tossed back and forth.

[23:35]  ¹⁴ tn The phrase “You will say” is supplied in the translation to make it clear that the drunkard is now speaking.

[23:35]  ¹⁵ sn The line describes how one who is intoxicated does not feel the pain, even though beaten by others. He does not even remember it.

[23:35]  ¹⁶ tn The last line has only “I will add I will seek it again.” The use of אוֹסִיף (’osif) signals a verbal hendiadys with the next verb: “I will again seek it.” In this context the suffix on the verb refers to the wine – the drunkard wants to go and get another drink.

[21:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “wanders,” perhaps here, “is confused.”

[21:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “shuddering terrifies me.”

[21:5]  ¹⁹ tn The precise meaning of the verb in this line is debated. Some prefer to derive the form from the homonymic צָפֹה (tsafoh, “keep watch”) and translate “post a guard” (cf. KJV “watch in the watchtower”; ASV “set the watch”).

[21:5]  ²⁰ tn The verbal forms in the first three lines are infinitives absolute, which are functioning here as finite verbs. It is uncertain if the forms should have an imperatival or indicative/descriptive force here.

[21:5]  ²¹ sn Smearing the shields with oil would make them more flexible and effective in battle. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:394.

[5:5]  ²² tn Aram “came forth.”

[5:5]  ²³ sn The mention of the lampstand in this context is of interest because it suggests that the writing was in clear view.

[5:5]  ²⁴ tn While Aramaic פַּס (pas) can mean the palm of the hand, here it seems to be the back of the hand that is intended.

[2:15]  ²⁵ tn Grk “These men are not drunk, as you suppose.”

[2:15]  ²⁶ tn Grk “only the third hour.”

[2:2]  ²⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated for stylistic reasons. It occurs as part of the formula καὶ ἐγένετο (kai egeneto) which is often left untranslated in Luke-Acts because it is redundant in contemporary English. Here it is possible (and indeed necessary) to translate ἐγένετο as “came” so that the initial clause of the English translation contains a verb; nevertheless the translation of the conjunction καί is not necessary.

[2:2]  ²⁸ tn Or “a noise.”

[2:2]  ²⁹ tn While φέρω (ferw) generally refers to movement from one place to another with the possible implication of causing the movement of other objects, in Acts 2:2 φέρομαι (feromai) should probably be understood in a more idiomatic sense of “blowing” since it is combined with the noun for wind (πνοή, pnoh).

[2:2]  ³⁰ tn Or “from the sky.” The Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven” depending on the context.

[2:13]  ³¹ tn The words “the speakers” are not in the Greek text, but have been supplied for clarity. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[2:13]  ³² tn Grk “They are full of new wine!”