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29 [a]Who scream? Who shout?
    Who have strife? Who have anxiety?
Who have wounds for nothing?
    Who have bleary eyes?
30 Whoever linger long over wine,
    whoever go around quaffing wine.(A)
31 Do not look on the wine when it is red,
    when it sparkles in the cup.
It goes down smoothly,
32     but in the end it bites like a serpent,
    and stings like an adder.
33 Your eyes behold strange sights,
    and your heart utters incoherent things;
34 You are like one sleeping on the high seas,
    sprawled at the top of the mast.
35 “They struck me, but it did not pain me;
    they beat me, but I did not feel it.
When can I get up,
    when can I go out and get more?”[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 23:29–35 A vivid description of the evil effects, physical and psychological, of drunkenness. The emphasis is on the unwise behavior, the folly, caused by alcohol. Cf. 20:1.
  2. 23:35 Drunkards become insensible to bodily and moral harm. Their one desire is to indulge again.