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Contemporary English Version

Proverbs 20:1

It isn't smart to get drunk! Drinking makes a fool of you and leads to fights.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Abomination;   Drunkenness;   Wine;   Thompson Chain Reference - Drink, Strong;   Drunkenness;   Intemperance;   Intoxication;   Temperance;   Temperance-Intemperance;   Wine;   The Topic Concordance - Drunkenness;   Mockery;   Wisdom;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Drunkenness;   Wine;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Drunkenness;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Grapes;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Drunkenness;   Pardon;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Drink, Strong;   Wine;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Proverbs, Book of;   Wisdom and Wise Men;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Wine and Strong Drink;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Wine;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Drink, Strong;   Drunkenness;   Err;   Liquor;   Mock;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Asmodeus;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Wine is a mocker, beer is a brawler;
Hebrew Names Version
Wine is a mocker, and beer is a brawler; Whoever is let astray by them is not wise.
King James Version
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
English Standard Version
Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.
New American Standard Bible
Wine is a mocker, intoxicating drink a brawler, And whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise.
New Century Version
Wine and beer make people loud and uncontrolled; it is not wise to get drunk on them.
Amplified Bible
Wine is a mocker, strong drink a riotous brawler; And whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise.
World English Bible
Wine is a mocker, and beer is a brawler; Whoever is let astray by them is not wise.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Wine is a mocker and strong drinke is raging: and whosoeuer is deceiued thereby, is not wise.
Legacy Standard Bible
Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler,And whoever is led astray by it is not wise.
Berean Standard Bible
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
Complete Jewish Bible
Wine is a mocker, strong liquor a rowdy; anyone led astray by it is unwise.
Darby Translation
Wine is a scorner, strong drink is raging; and whoso erreth thereby is not wise.
Easy-to-Read Version
Wine and beer make people lose control; they get loud and stumble around. And that is foolish.
George Lamsa Translation
WINE is grievous, drunkenness is shameful; and whosoever drinks excessively is not wise.
Good News Translation
Drinking too much makes you loud and foolish. It's stupid to get drunk.
Lexham English Bible
Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and any who go astray by it are not wise.
Literal Translation
Wine is a mocker, fermented drink is stirring, and each one straying by it is not wise.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Wyne is a voluptuous thinge, & drockennes causeth sedicion: who so delyteth therin, shal neuer be wyse.
American Standard Version
Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler; And whosoever erreth thereby is not wise.
Bible in Basic English
Wine makes men foolish, and strong drink makes men come to blows; and whoever comes into error through these is not wise.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is riotous; and whosoever reeleth thereby is not wise.
King James Version (1611)
Wine is a mocker, strong drinke is raging: and whosoeuer is deceiued thereby, is not wise.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Wine maketh a man to be scornefull, & strong drinke causeth a man to be vnquiet: who so delighteth therin shall not be wyse.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Wine is an intemperate thing, and strong drink full of violence: but every fool is entangled with them.
English Revised Version
Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler; and whosoever erreth thereby is not wise.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Wiyn is a letcherouse thing and drunkenesse is ful of noise; who euere delitith in these, schal not be wijs.
Update Bible Version
Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler; And whoever errs thereby is not wise.
Webster's Bible Translation
Wine [is] a mocker, strong drink [is] raging: and whoever is deceived by it is not wise.
New English Translation
Wine is a mocker and strong drink is a brawler; whoever goes astray by them is not wise.
New King James Version
Wine is a mocker, Strong drink is a brawler, And whoever is led astray by it is not wise.
New Living Translation
Wine produces mockers; alcohol leads to brawls. Those led astray by drink cannot be wise.
New Life Bible
Wine makes people act in a foolish way. Strong drink starts fights. Whoever is fooled by it is not wise.
New Revised Standard
Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Wine is, a scoffer, and strong drink, a brawler, every one therefore who erreth therein, is unwise.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Wine is a luxurious thing, and drunkenness riotous: whosoever is delighted therewith, shall not be wise.
Revised Standard Version
Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler; and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.
Young's Literal Translation
Wine [is] a scorner -- strong drink [is] noisy, And any going astray in it is not wise.
THE MESSAGE
Wine makes you mean, beer makes you quarrelsome— a staggering drunk is not much fun.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, And whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise.

Contextual Overview

1 It isn't smart to get drunk! Drinking makes a fool of you and leads to fights.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Proverbs 23:29-35, Proverbs 31:4, Genesis 9:21-23, Genesis 19:31-36, 1 Samuel 25:36-38, 2 Samuel 11:13, 2 Samuel 13:28, 1 Kings 20:16-21, Isaiah 28:7, Hosea 4:11, Hosea 7:5, Habakkuk 2:15, Habakkuk 2:16, 1 Corinthians 6:10, Galatians 5:21, Ephesians 5:18

Reciprocal: Genesis 19:33 - drink Deuteronomy 21:20 - he is a glutton Esther 1:10 - the heart Psalms 94:9 - He that planted Proverbs 23:20 - not Proverbs 23:30 - tarry Ecclesiastes 2:3 - yet Ecclesiastes 10:16 - and Isaiah 5:11 - inflame Habakkuk 2:5 - he transgresseth

Cross-References

Genesis 13:1
Abram and Sarai took everything they owned and went to the Southern Desert. Lot went with them.
Genesis 14:7
They went back to the city of Enmishpat, better known as Kadesh. Then they captured all the land that belonged to the Amalekites, and they defeated the Amorites who were living in Hazazon-Tamar.
Genesis 16:1
Abram's wife Sarai had not been able to have any children. But she owned a young Egyptian slave woman named Hagar,
Genesis 16:7
Hagar stopped to rest at a spring in the desert on the road to Shur. While she was there, the angel of the Lord came to her
Genesis 16:14
That's why people call the well between Kadesh and Bered, "The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me."
Genesis 18:1
One hot summer afternoon Abraham was sitting by the entrance to his tent near the sacred trees of Mamre, when the Lord appeared to him.
Genesis 20:13
When God made us leave my father's home and start wandering, I told her, "If you really love me, you will tell everyone that I am your brother."
Genesis 20:14
Abimelech gave Abraham some sheep, cattle, and slaves. He sent Sarah back
Genesis 24:62
At that time Isaac was living in the southern part of Canaan near a place called "The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me."
Genesis 26:1
Once during Abraham's lifetime, the fields had not produced enough grain, and now the same thing happened. So Isaac went to King Abimelech of the Philistines in the land of Gerar,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Wine [is] a mocker, strong drink [is] raging,.... Wine deceives a man; it not only overcomes him before he is aware, but it promises him a pleasure which it does not give; but, on the contrary, excessive drinking gives him pain, and so mocks him; yea, it exposes him to reproach and disgrace, and to the mockery and derision of others; as well as it sets him to scoff at his companions, and even to mock at religion, and all that is good and serious; see Hosea 7:5; and strong drink not only disturbs the brain, and puts the spirits in a ferment, so that a man rages within, but it sets him a raving and quarrelling with his company, and everybody he meets with; such generally get into broils and contentions, and get woe, sorrow, and wounds, Proverbs 23:29. Aben Ezra gives this as the sense of the words,

"a man of wine''

(that is, one that is given to wine, a wine bibber), so Ben Melech,

"is a mocker, and he cries out for strong drink, that it may be given him;''

which is not a bad sense of the words.

and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise; whosoever gives himself to it, is not on his guard against it, but is overcome by it, does not act a wise but an unwise part: wine besots as well as deceives men. This may be applied to the wine of fornication, or to the false doctrine and superstition of the church of Rome; with which the nations of the earth are deceived and made drunk, and which puts them upon blaspheming God, deriding his people, and using cruelty to them,

Revelation 17:2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

“Wine” and “strong drink” are personified as themselves doing what they make men do. The latter (see Leviticus 10:9 note) is here, probably, the “palm-wine” of Syria.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER XX

Against wine and strong drink. We should avoid contentions.

The sluggard. The righteous man. Weights and measures.

Tale-bearers. The wicked son. The wise king. The glory of

young men. The beauty of old men. The benefit of correction.

NOTES ON CHAP. XX

Verse Proverbs 20:1. Wine is a mocker — It deceives by its fragrance, intoxicates by its strength, and renders the intoxicated ridiculous.

Strong drink — שכר shechar, any strong fermented liquor, whether of the vine, date, or palm species.


 
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