Proverbs 23:29

29 To whom is woe? to whose father is woe? to whom be chidings? (to whom be arguments?) to whom be ditches? to whom be wounds without cause? to whom is putting out of eyes?

Proverbs 23:29 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 23:29

Who hath woe?
&c.] In this world and in the other, in body and soul; diseases of body, distress of mind, waste of substance, and all manner of evils and calamities; if any man has these, the drunkard has: from whoredom, the Holy Ghost proceeds to drunkenness, which generally go together; and dissuades from it, by observing the mischiefs that come by it; who hath sorrow?
through pains of body, with the headache or through the agonies of the mind, and tortures of conscience, for sin committed; or through poverty and want, so Aben Ezra derives the word from one that signifies "poor"; and so it may be rendered, "who hath poverty" ^F14? the drunkard; see ( Proverbs 23:21 ) ; who hath contentions?
quarrels and lawsuits, which often come of drunken bouts; who hath babbling?
or "loquacity" ^F15? which drunkards are subject to; much vain babbling, foolish talk, scurrilous language, scoffs, jeers, especially at religion and religious men; and sometimes such men are full of talk about religion itself, and make great pretensions to it, and the knowledge of it, in their cups, when out of them they think and talk nothing about it; who hath wounds without cause?
from words, oftentimes, drunkards go to blows upon the most frivolous accounts; fight with one another for no reason at all, and get themselves beaten and bruised for nothing; who hath redness of eyes?
the drunkard has, inflamed with wine or strong drink; which, drank frequently and to excess, is the cause of sore eyes, as well as of weakening the sight; or, however, leaves a redness there, and in other parts of the face, whereby those sons of Bacchus may be known: so it is observed ^F16 of Vitellius the emperor, that his face was commonly red through drunkenness. Hillerus renders it, "blackness of eyes"; such as comes from blows received; taking the word to be of the same signification with the Arabic word (lxk) , which so signifies: this agrees with the preceding clause; and is countenanced by the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 (ywba yml) "cui egestas", Montanus, Amama; "cuinam penuria", Vatablus.
F15 (xyv) "loquacitas", Pagninus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Mercerus; so the Targum.
F16 Sueton. Vita ejus, c. 17.

Proverbs 23:29 In-Context

27 For a whore is a deep ditch, and an alien woman, is a strait pit. (For a whore is a deep ditch, and a woman whom thou hath been intimate with, but who is not thy wife, is a narrow pit.)

28 She setteth ambush in the way, as a thief (She setteth ambush on the way, like a thief); and shall add despisers in men, that is, (she) shall multiply (the) despisers of God among men.

29 To whom is woe? to whose father is woe? to whom be chidings? (to whom be arguments?) to whom be ditches? to whom be wounds without cause? to whom is putting out of eyes?

30 Whether not to them, that dwell in wine, and study to drink [up] all of (the) cups? (Whether not to those, who live in wine, and endeavour to drink up every last drop from the cup?)

31 Behold thou not [the] wine (Look thou not upon the wine), when it sparkleth, when the colour thereof shineth in a glass cup. It entereth sweetly,