Proverbs 23:31-33

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

when it sparkles ¹  in the cup,

when it goes down smoothly. ² 

23:32 Afterward ³  it bites like a snake,

and stings like a viper.

23:33 Your eyes will see strange things, ⁴ 

and your mind will speak perverse things.

[23:31]  ¹ tn Heb “its eye gives.” With CEV’s “bubbling up in the glass” one might think champagne was in view.

[23:31]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “its end”; NASB “At the last”; TEV (interpretively) “The next morning.”

[23:33]  ⁴ tn The feminine plural of זָר (zar, “strange things”) refers to the trouble one has in seeing and speaking when drunk.