1 Wine `is' a scorner -- strong drink `is' noisy, And any going astray in it is not wise.
Wo `to' him who is giving drink to his neighbour, Pouring out thy bottle, and also making drunk, In order to look on their nakedness. Thou hast been filled -- shame without honour, Drink thou also, and be uncircumcised, Turn round unto thee doth the cup of the right hand of Jehovah, And shameful spewing `is' on thine honour.
And Abigail cometh in unto Nabal, and lo, he hath a banquet in his house, like a banquet of the king, and the heart of Nabal `is' glad within him, and he `is' drunk unto excess, and she hath not declared to him anything, less or more, till the light of the morning. And it cometh to pass in the morning, when the wine is gone out from Nabal, that his wife declareth to him these things, and his heart dieth within him, and he hath been as a stone. And it cometh to pass, `in' about ten days, that Jehovah smiteth Nabal, and he dieth,
And the first-born saith unto the younger, `Our father `is' old, and a man there is not in the earth to come in unto us, as `is' the way of all the earth; come, we cause our father to drink wine, and lie with him, and preserve from our father -- a seed.' And they cause their father to drink wine on that night; and the first-born goeth in, and lieth with her father, and he hath not known in her lying down, or in her rising up. And it cometh to pass, on the morrow, that the first-born saith unto the younger, `Lo, I have lain yesterday-night with my father: we cause him to drink wine also to-night, and go thou in, lie with him, and we preserve from our father -- a seed.' And they cause their father to drink wine on that night also, and the younger riseth and lieth with him, and he hath not known in her lying down, or in her rising up. And the two daughters of Lot conceive from their father,
and drinketh of the wine, and is drunken, and uncovereth himself in the midst of the tent. And Ham, father of Canaan, seeth the nakedness of his father, and declareth to his two brethren without. And Shem taketh -- Japheth also -- the garment, and they place on the shoulder of them both, and go backward, and cover the nakedness of their father; and their faces `are' backward, and their father's nakedness they have not seen.
Who hath wo? who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? who hath plaint? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? Those tarrying by the wine, Those going in to search out mixed wine. See not wine when it showeth itself red, When it giveth in the cup its colour, It goeth up and down through the upright. Its latter end -- as a serpent it biteth, And as a basilisk it stingeth. Thine eyes see strange women, And thy heart speaketh perverse things. And thou hast been as one lying down in the heart of the sea, And as one lying down on the top of a mast. `They smote me, I have not been sick, They beat me, I have not known. When I awake -- I seek it yet again!'
and they go out at noon, and Ben-Hadad is drinking -- drunk in the booths, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings, helping him. And the young men of the heads of the provinces go out at the first, and Ben-Hadad sendeth, and they declare to him, saying, `Men have come out of Samaria.' And he saith, `If for peace they have come out -- catch them alive; and if for battle they have come out -- alive catch them.' And these have gone out of the city -- the young men of the heads of the provinces -- and the force that `is' after them, and smite each his man, and Aram fleeth, and Israel pursueth them, and Ben-Hadad king of Aram escapeth on a horse, and the horsemen; and the king of Israel goeth out, and smiteth the horses, and the charioteers, and hath smitten among the Aramaeans a great smiting.
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.