What does “who hath woe, who hath sorrow” mean in this passage?

The questions “who hath woe, who hath sorrow, who hath contentions, who hath babbling, who hath wounds without cause, who hath redness of eyes?” are like a riddle that points to one clear answer. The passage is saying, “Who brings all this on themselves?” The answer is the person who stays long at wine and goes looking for strong, mixed drink. It shows that many troubles people carry—fights, shameful words, needless injuries, and even poor health—often spring from a life given over to drink.

What does it mean to ‘look not upon the wine when it is red’?

“Look not upon the wine when it is red” is a warning against being drawn in by how appealing wine seems. The colour, the way it swirls in the cup, and how smoothly it goes down can stir desire. The point is not that simply seeing wine is wrong, but that staring at it with a hungry eye leads to wanting more and more. The passage urges you to stop temptation early, before desire grows and pulls you into drunkenness and all that comes with it.

What are the ‘strange women’ and ‘perverse things’ in this passage?

“Thine eyes shall behold strange women” points to how drunkenness stirs sexual sin. A drunk person’s eyes roam to women who are not his wife, or to prostitutes, and lust rises more easily. “Thine heart shall utter perverse things” shows how the tongue also loosens. When drunk, people say things they would be ashamed to say when sober: foolish words, rude talk, mocking speech, and unclean or boastful language. The passage links heavy drinking with both impurity and twisted speech.

Why does the drunk person say, ‘They have beaten me, and I felt it not’?

This line shows how dulled and senseless a drunk person becomes. After a night of drinking and fighting, he wakes bruised and sore but remembers little and says, “They have stricken me, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not.” Drink has numbed him to pain and warning. Even the trouble he just went through does not wake him up morally. Instead of learning from it, he shrugs it off, which shows how deeply this sin can deaden a person’s heart and mind.

What does ‘when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again’ teach about addiction?

The words “when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again” show the enslaving pull of drunkenness. Even after a night of misery, confusion, and harm, the person wakes up and almost at once wants to return to the same drink. His body and desires cry out for more, and his will is weakened. This shows how sin can trap someone in a repeating pattern. Instead of turning away, he plans his next drink. The verse is a sober picture of how strong habits of sin can hold a person fast.

How does this warning about wine apply to life today?

This passage speaks clearly to any form of drunkenness or substance abuse today. It shows how chasing the feeling that drink gives can lead to broken relationships, shameful words, sexual sin, health problems, and a deadened heart that keeps going back for more. The call is to stay away from the first steps that feed addiction, to guard what you look at and desire, and to value a clear mind. It encourages choosing self-control and wisdom instead of short pleasure that ends in pain.

Why does the passage focus on quarrels, babbling, and wounds without cause?

These details describe what often happens when people drink heavily together. “Contentions” and “babbling” show how arguments and foolish talk rise easily when minds are clouded. Words get sharper, and people are quick to take offense. “Wounds without cause” picture fights that break out over nothing, leading to injuries that serve no good purpose. By painting this scene, the passage shows that drunkenness does not only harm the one who drinks, but spreads trouble and hurt to those around as well.

Prov.23.29

Proverbs 23:29

Q: Why is wine compared to a serpent and an adder here?

Wine is compared to a serpent and an adder to show that its end is painful and dangerous, even if it seems pleasant at first. When a person drinks too much, the first taste may feel smooth and sweet, but in the end it “biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder.” This picture warns that drunkenness brings harm to body, mind, and soul. It can bring sickness, loss, guilt, and, if unrepented, God’s judgment. The image helps you see past the short pleasure to the lasting hurt.

KJV

Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?

Saying 19

Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?

They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.

Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.

At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.

Yea, 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.

They 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.

Cross References

No cross references available for this verse.