Proverbs 23:29-35 · Bible study
Proverbs 23:29-35 Commentary: The Drunkard's Life Unmasked
Hebrew · 9 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
This passage paints a vivid picture of the drunkard's life: woe, strife, wounds, insensibility, and self-deception. A wisdom warning with pastoral depth.
Research Summary
- Meaning: A vivid warning against drunkenness, describing its physical, moral, and spiritual consequences, ending with the addict's denial and compulsion.
- Key words: woe (H0188 oy), mixed wine (H4469 mimsakh), bite (H5391 nashak), strange things (H2114 zarot), awake (H6974 qits).
- Main debate: Whether 'strange things' (v33) refers to hallucinations, foreign women, or both; the Hebrew allows either.
- Theological theme: Wisdom's path to life versus the self-destructive way of excess; the deceitfulness of sin and the need for self-control.
- Best use: A cautionary passage for preaching on addiction, temptation, and the grace that breaks the cycle of denial.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
29Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?
30Those who linger over wine, who go to taste mixed drinks.
31Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
32In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.
33Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perversities.
34You will be like one sleeping on the high seas or lying on the top of a mast:
35“They struck me, but I feel no pain! They beat me, but I did not know it! When can I wake up to search for another drink?”
WEB World English Bible 2000
29Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
30Those who stay long at the wine; those who go to seek out mixed wine.
31Don’t look at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly.
32In the end, it bites like a snake, and poisons like a viper.
33Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will imagine confusing things.
34Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the middle of the sea, or as he who lies on top of the rigging:
35“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 will look for more.”
KJV King James Version 1769
29Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
30They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
31Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.
32At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
33Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.
34Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.
35They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
29Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? Who hath complaining? who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes?
30They that tarry long at the wine; They that go to seek out mixed wine.
31Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, When it sparkleth in the cup, When it goeth down smoothly:
32At the last it biteth like a serpent, And stingeth like an adder.
33Thine eyes shall behold strange things, And thy heart shall utter perverse things.
34Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, Or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.
35They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not hurt; They have beaten me, and I felt it not: When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
29Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? who hath plaint? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes?
30Those tarrying by the wine, Those going in to search out mixed wine.
31See not wine when it showeth itself red, When it giveth in the cup its colour, It goeth up and down through the upright.
32Its latter end--as a serpent it biteth, And as a basilisk it stingeth.
33Thine eyes see strange women, And thy heart speaketh perverse things.
34And thou hast been as one lying down in the heart of the sea, And as one lying down on the top of a mast.
35`They smote me, I have not been sick, They beat me, I have not known. When I awake--I seek it yet again!'
Darby Darby Bible 1890
29Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who contentions? Who complaining? Who wounds without cause? Who redness of eyes?
30— They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to try mixed wine.
31Look not upon the wine when it is red, when it sparkleth in the cup, and goeth down smoothly:
32at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
33Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall speak froward things;
34and thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, and as he that lieth down upon the top of a mast:
35— “They have smitten me, [and] I am not sore; they have beaten me, [and] I knew it not. When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.”
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
29Who hath woe? whose father hath woe? who hath contentions? who falls into pits? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
30Surely they that pass their time in wine, and study to drink off their cups.
31Look not upon the wine when it is yellow, when the colour thereof shineth in the glass: it goeth in pleasantly,
32But in the end, it will bite like a snake, and will spread abroad poison like a basilisk.
33Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things.
34And thou shalt be as one sleeping in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot fast asleep when the stern is lost.
35And thou shalt say: They have beaten me, but I was not sensible of pain: they drew me, and I felt not: when shall I awake and find wine again?
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Proverbs 23:29
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators agree this passage exposes the drunkard's condition through a series of rhetorical questions (v29) answered by the portrait that follows. Adam Clarke notes the Hebrew interjections oy and avoy echo the actual groans of excess, natural sounds of pain. Matthew Henry emphasises the caution against looking at wine when it sparkles: coveting what pleases the eye leads to ruin. Gill traces the progression from physical harm (wounds, bloodshot eyes) to moral decay (strange visions, perverse speech) and finally to the addict's cry of denial. The Cambridge Bible observes irony in the verb chaqar (v30 'seek out'): it is the same word used elsewhere for searching out wisdom. The drunkard pursues intoxication with the diligence due to truth, and finds a snake's bite instead.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Low
What is clear: The passage is a warning against the abuse of alcohol and its disastrous consequences—physical, mental, moral, and spiritual—with the drunkard's addiction cycle exposed in the final verse.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| The meaning of 'strange things' in verse 33 | The phrase refers to the drunkard's distorted perception, whether visions, immoral desires, or both. | Some translations (KJV, Geneva, Clarke) read 'strange women,' citing the link between drunkenness and lust; others (Cambridge, RV text) read 'strange things' (hallucinations), noting better parallelism with 'perverse things.' |
| The command 'Look not upon the wine' (v31) | The verse warns against fixing one's desire on wine's attractive appearance. | Most interpreters see it as a warning against excess, not total abstinence; a minority across traditions apply it as a call to avoid alcohol entirely, especially given the addiction cycle described. |
| The drunkard's speech in verse 35 | It shows the drinker's insensibility to pain and resolve to continue. | Some read it as a literal quotation after a fight; others as a representative cry of the addict who minimises consequences and rationalises relapse. |
| The image of sleeping on a mast (v34) | It depicts extreme danger combined with foolish security. | Some commentators (Clarke, Cambridge) take it as a literal scenario, a man climbs the rigging and passes out; others (Poole, Gill) see it as a metaphor for the dizziness and risk of the drunkard's life. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Wine was a staple of daily life in ancient Israel, drunk at meals and festivals (Genesis 49:12). But strong drink, wine mixed with spices to increase potency, carried risks the wisdom tradition knew well. Proverbs 20:1 calls wine a mocker and beer a brawler. This passage (23:29, 35) belongs to a series of warnings against excess that runs through the book, often pairing drunkenness with sexual sin (v27, 28, v33).
The opening six questions (v29) catalogue the drunkard's world: woe (personal misery), strife (relational conflict), needless wounds (physical harm from brawls), and bloodshot eyes (hangover). The interrogative pronoun mi ('who?') repeats six times, demanding the listener's self-examination.
The vocabulary carries weight. 'Mixed wine' (mimsakh) appears in Proverbs 9:2, where wisdom prepares her feast, an ironic contrast. The verb 'linger' (achar) suggests delay, as one who cannot tear away. 'Seek out' (chaqar) is used in Job 28:27 of God searching out wisdom; the drunkard misdirects his diligence.
The vivid metaphors draw on everyday dangers: a snake's bite (v32), unusual visions or illicit desire (v33), sleeping on a ship's mast (v34), and the insensible boast of v35. The image of lying 'in the heart of the sea' (v34) conveys both dizziness, the floor heaves, and utter recklessness. Poole and others note the drunkard's security in extreme peril, a picture of spiritual blindness.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants in Proverbs 23:29, 35. The Masoretic Text is stable, and the ancient versions (LXX, Syriac, Vulgate) follow the same sense. One minor variation appears in the spelling of midyanim (contentions, v29), where the Kethib has medunim, a difference in written form but not in meaning.
Reception History
This passage has served as a primary text for Christian teaching on temperance and the dangers of addiction. Early church fathers like Clement of Alexandria used it to argue that wine is a gift but must be used with restraint. The Reformers, Matthew Henry, John Wesley, Adam Clarke, each drew from it warnings against the physical and moral ruin of drunkenness. The vivid metaphors have been set to hymnody and employed in revival preaching to illustrate the deceitfulness of sin. In modern pastoral care, the passage is recognised for its accurate portrayal of addiction's cycle: craving, denial, temporary resolve, and return. Its honesty offers a starting point for confession and the hope of change through Christ.
Preaching This Verse
Three-Point Outline
- The Questions That Identify (vv29, 30). Six rapid-fire questions paint the drunkard's life: woe, sorrow, strife, complaints, wounds, red eyes. The answer names the company, those who linger over wine and seek mixed drinks.
- The Warning That Protects (vv31, 32). A direct imperative: do not gaze at the wine when it looks appealing. Its end is a serpent's bite. The pleasure is short; the pain is lasting.
- The Deception That Destroys (vv33, 35). The drunkard sees strange things, speaks perversely, sleeps in mortal danger, and when he wakes, his first thought is to drink again. Addiction's cycle: craving, denial, relapse.
Five-Point Outline
- Portrait of Misery (v29). Six effects of drunkenness: woe (inner pain), sorrow (grief), strife (fighting), complaints (murmuring), wounds (bruises), red eyes (hangover).
- Company of Temptation (v30). Those who tarry long at wine, who go to seek mixed wine. The pursuit itself becomes a pattern.
- Seduction of Sight (v31). Don't even look at the red, sparkling, smooth-gliding wine. The eye leads the heart into craving.
- Bitter Outcome (vv32, 34). Snake bite (physical), strange visions (mental), perverse speech (moral), sleeping at sea (reckless danger).
- Captive's Cry (v35). 'They struck me, I felt nothing… When I wake up, I'll do it again.' The addict's self-deception and compulsion.
Illustration Hooks
- The opening questions sound like a medical intake form: 'Who has headaches? Who has arguments? Who has unexplained bruises?' The wise teacher hands us the list and says, 'Look in the mirror.'
- A person nursing a hangover says, 'Never again.' By evening the resolve fades. The passage captures that exact moment of denial and return.
- Think of a ship's mast in a storm, the most dangerous place to be. The drunkard chooses it as a bed. That is the insanity of addiction: sleeping where falling means death.
Questions Your Congregation Is Asking
- 'Is drinking alcohol itself a sin, or is the problem only excess?'
- 'How can I know if I or someone I love has crossed the line into addiction?'
- 'What do I say to a friend who keeps repeating the same destructive choices?'
Leading a Discussion
The passage opens with six questions that demand the reader's self-involvement. 'Who has woe?' The answer is not abstract, it is anyone who matches the description. The verses trace a downward spiral: from the first glance at the wine (v31) to the snake bite of consequences (v32), the loss of moral clarity (v33), the reckless endangerment (v34), and finally the addict's own voice, promising to repeat the cycle (v35). This is wisdom literature's way of making vice visible so we can choose another path.
Discussion Questions
- Look at the six questions in verse 29. What physical, emotional, and relational symptoms of drunkenness does the list identify?
- Why does the teacher forbid even looking at the wine (v31)? What does this say about the power of visual temptation?
- The word translated 'seek out' in verse 30 is used elsewhere of searching for wisdom. What makes this irony effective?
- Verse 33 says the drunkard's eyes see 'strange things' and his heart speaks 'perverse things.' How does alcohol distort perception and speech?
- What does the image of sleeping on a ship's mast (v34) reveal about the drunkard's judgment and sense of danger?
- Verse 35 records the drunkard's own words. What patterns of denial and compulsion do you hear in them?
- How can this passage guide us in caring for someone caught in addiction without enabling them?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Genesis 49:12 | His eyes will be red with wine, his teeth white with milk. |
| I Samuel 25:36 | Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. Therefore she told him nothing until the morning light. |
| I Samuel 25:37 | In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things; and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. |
| II Samuel 13:28 | Absalom commanded his servants, saying, “Mark now, when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine; and when I tell you, ‘Strike Amnon,’ then kill him. Don’t be afraid. Haven’t I commanded you? Be courageous, and be valiant!” |
| I Kings 20:16 | 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. |
| I Kings 20:22 | The prophet came near to the king of Israel and said to him, “Go, strengthen yourself, and plan what you must do, for at the return of the year, the king of Syria will come up against you.” |
| Proverbs 20:1 | Wine is a mocker and beer is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise. |
| Proverbs 23:21 | for the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor; and drowsiness clothes them in rags. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
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What the Commentators Say
8 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke notes that drunkenness causes illness physical injuries and loss of self control. It also brings evil desires that lead a person to act foolishly and endanger their life.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
Christians who hold the view that Proverbs 23:29 describes a literal drunken man point to the Hebrew word used there, noting it shows physical fights and bloodshot eyes caused by drinking. Both see the passage as warning about the dangers of excessive wine use.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
Geneva Bible Notes shows that drinking wine leads to many problems including pain health issues and sinful thoughts. Christians who hold this view believe it causes harm even if a person does not feel sick at first.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill catalogs the miseries that attend drunkenness — poverty, quarrels, wounds, and sore eyes — but his distinctive focus falls on the drunkard's complete loss of sensation. Beaten and bruised, he feels nothing and wakes only to seek more wine, confirming the addict's self-destructive cycle.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
Jamieson Fausset Brown notes that mixed wine causes great sorrow today just as it did in other ancient texts. It gives a bright sparkle and makes the drinker act correctly but also leads to serious suffering and prevents change even when in great pain.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange reads the opening warning as focused on the person, not the food: when dining with a ruler, careful observation of the host himself is what matters, because the meal is deceptive. He sees covetousness as the deep root behind the chapter's many warnings against greed, drunkenness, and licentiousness.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry notes that wine looks attractive when it is red and flows smoothly in the cup. He warns that people should not be led by its pleasing appearance.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley notes that some read these verses as describing a single drinking party where wine is mixed with water and colored red before being drunk while on a ship at sea. He also explains that another view sees the passage as telling a story about a person who becomes ill unaware of it and later decides to sleep once he feels better.