Proverbs 23:32-35

23:32 Afterward ¹  it bites like a snake,

and stings like a viper.

23:33 Your eyes will see strange things, ² 

and your mind will speak perverse things.

23:34 And you will be like one who lies down in the midst ³  of the sea,

and like one who lies down on the top of the rigging. ⁴ 

23:35 You will say, ⁵  “They have struck me, but I am not harmed!

They beat me, but I did not know it! ⁶ 

When will I awake? I will look for another drink.” ⁷ 

[23:32]  ¹ tn Heb “its end”; NASB “At the last”; TEV (interpretively) “The next morning.”

[23:33]  ² tn The feminine plural of זָר (zar, “strange things”) refers to the trouble one has in seeing and speaking when drunk.

[23:34]  ³ tn Heb “heart.” The idiom here means “middle”; KJV “in the midst.”

[23:34]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn The phrase “You will say” is supplied in the translation to make it clear that the drunkard is now speaking.

[23:35]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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.