1 Wine is a mocker, and beer is a brawler; Whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away understanding.
It is not for kings, Lemuel; It is not for kings to drink wine; Nor for princes to say, 'Where is strong drink?'
Even these reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they stagger with strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortioners, will inherit the Kingdom of God.
When David had called him, he ate and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but didn't go down to his house.
On the day of our king, the princes made themselves sick with the heat of wine. He joined his hand with mockers.
"Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies! You are filled with shame, and not glory. You will also drink, and be exposed! The cup of Yahweh's right hand will come around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory.
Come you, [say they], I will get wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, [a day] great beyond measure.
Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, And champions at mixing strong drink;
Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: therefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light. It happened in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, that his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. It happened about ten days after, that Yahweh struck Nabal, so that he died.
The firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. Come, let's make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed." They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. He didn't know when she lay down, nor when she arose. It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, "Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine again, tonight. You go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed." They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger arose, and lay with him. He didn't know when she lay down, nor when she arose. Thus both of Lot's daughters were with child by their father.
He drank of the wine, and got drunk. He was uncovered within his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it on both their shoulders, went in backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were backwards, and they didn't see their father's nakedness.
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who stay long at the wine; Those who go to seek out mixed wine. Don't look at the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly: In the end, it bites like a snake, And poisons like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, And your mind will imagine confusing things. Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the midst of the sea, Or as he who lies on top of the rigging: "They hit me, and I was not hurt; They beat me, and I don't feel it! When will I wake up? I can do it again. I can find another."
They went out at noon. But Ben Hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty-two kings who helped him. The young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Ben Hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, There are men come out from Samaria. He said, Whether they are come out for peace, take them alive, or whether they are come out for war, taken them alive. So these went out of the city, the young men of the princes of the provinces, and the army which followed them. They killed everyone his man; and the Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them: and Ben Hadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with horsemen. The king of Israel went out, and struck the horses and chariots, and killed the Syrians with a great slaughter.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Proverbs 20
Commentary on Proverbs 20 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 20
Pr 20:1-30.
1. mocker—scorner. Such men are made by wine.
strong drink—made by spicing wine (compare Isa 5:11, 22); and it may include wine.
raging—or boisterous as a drunkard.
deceived—literally, "erring," or reeling.
2. (Compare Pr 19:12). Men who resist authority injure themselves (Ro 13:2).
3. to cease from strife—or, better, "to dwell from or without strife," denoting the habit of life.
fool … meddling—(Pr 17:14).
4. shall … beg—literally, "ask" (in this sense, Ps 109:10).
5. Counsel … water—that is, deeply hidden (Pr 18:4; Ps 13:2). The wise can discern well.
6. Boasters are unreliable.
goodness—or, "kind disposition."
7. The conduct of good men proclaims their sound principles. God's covenant and their good example secure blessing to their children (Pr 4:26; Ps 112:1, 2).
8. As in Pr 14:35; 16:10, 15, this is the character of a good king, not of all kings.
9. The interrogation in the affirmative strengthens the implied negation (compare Job 15:14; Ec 7:20).
10. Various measures, implying that some are wrong (compare Pr 11:1; 16:11).
11. The conduct of children even is the best test of principle (compare Mt 7:16).
12. Hence, of course, God will know all you do (Ps 94:9).
13. Activity and diligence contrasted with sloth (Pr 6:9; 10:11).
lest … poverty—literally, "be deprived of inheritance."
14. when … his way—implying that he goes about boasting of his bargains.
15. The contrast denotes the greater value of knowledge (compare Pr 3:14-16).
16. Take his garment—implies severe exaction, justified by the surety's rashness.
a strange woman—by some readings "strangers," but the former here, and in Pr 27:13, is allowable, and strengthens the sense. The debauchee is less reliable than the merely careless.
17. Bread … sweet—either as unlawfully (Pr 9:17) or easily obtained.
mouth … gravel—well expresses the pain and grief given at last.
18. (Compare Pr 15:22). Be careful and considerate in important plans.
19. Those who love to tell news will hardly keep secrets.
flattereth … lips—(compare Margin; Pr 1:10).
meddle … him—literally, "join," or "associate with."
20. his lamp—(Compare Pr 13:9; 24:20).
21. gotten hastily—contrary to God's providence (Pr 28:20), implying its unjust or easy attainment; hence the man is punished, or spends freely what he got easily (compare Pr 20:17).
22. (Compare Ps 27:14; Ro 12:17-19).
23. (Compare Pr 20:10; 11:1).
24. Man's goings—literally, "Stately steppings of a strong man."
a man—any common man.
understand—or, "perceive."
25. devoureth … holy—or, better, "who rashly speaks promises," or "devotes what is holy," consecrating any thing. This suits better the last clause, which expresses a similar view of the results of rashly vowing.
26. (Compare Pr 20:8).
bringeth … over them—The wheel was used for threshing grain. The figure denotes severity (compare Am 1:3).
27. The spirit … Lord—Men's minds are God's gifts, and thus able to search one another (compare Pr 20:5; Pr 18:8, 17; 1Co 2:11).
28. (Compare Pr 3:3; 16:6, 12).
29. The glory of young men … the beauty of old men—Each age has its peculiar excellence (Pr 16:31).
30. blueness—literally, "joining," the process of uniting the edges of a wound throws off purulent matter.
stripes … belly—So punishment provides healing of soul (Pr 18:8), by deterring from evil courses.