Proverbs 20:1

Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Wine	הַ֭יַּין Hai.yain	H3196	wine (as fermented) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
mocker	לֵ֣ץ letz	H3887	properly · adjective, masculine singular absolute
drink	שֵׁכָ֑ר she.Khar	H7941	an intoxicant · noun, common masculine singular absolute
raging	הֹמֶ֣ה ho.Meh	H1993	to make a loud sound (like English 'hum') · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
deceived	שֹׁ֥גֶה Sho.geh	H7686	to stray (causatively · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
wise	יֶחְכָּֽם yech.Kam	H2449	to be wise (in mind · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Ephesians 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
Hosea 4:11 Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.
Isaiah 28:7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong dri…
Proverbs 31:4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink:
1 Corinthians 6:10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they w…
Habakkuk 2:15-16 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their na…
2 Samuel 11:13 And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the se…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

John Gill on Proverbs 20:1

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 conten…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 20:1

This proverb warns against the debauchery with which free-thinking is intimately associated. Wine is a mocker, mead boisterous; And no one who is overtaken thereby is wise. The article stands with יין. Ewald maintains that in 10:1-22:6 the article occurs only here and at Pro 21:31, and that it is here, as the lxx shows, not original. Both statements are incorrect. The article is found, e.g., at Pro 19:6; Pro 18:18, Pro 18:17, and here the personification of "wine" requires it; but that it is wanting to שׁכר shows how little poetry delights in it; it stands once for twice. The effects of wine and mead (שׁכר from שׁכר, to stop, obstruct, become stupid) are attributed to these liquors themselve…

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Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 20:1

Too much alcohol clouds a person’s judgment. The Old Testament is not against drinking wine in moderation (3:10; 9:5; Ps 104:14-15), but it adamantly opposes excessive drinking (Prov 21:17; 23:29-35; 31:4-5).

Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).

The Church Fathers

Those who eat the heavenly bread become heavenly without doubt! Wine teaches us in that it makes those who are familiar with it like itself: for it hates those who are fond of it and is intoxicating and maddening and a mocker of them.
— Ephrem the Syrian, HYMNS ON THE NATIVITY 3

As it is said, "The priest and the prophet were deranged by wine." "Wine is licentious, drunkenness is bold. The person who indulges in them will not be exempt from sin." Wine is a good thing if you drink it with moderation. "If you set your eyes on cups and goblets you will walk naked as a pestle." Therefore, all who have prepared to become disciples of Jesus should abstain from wine and drunkenness.
— Pachomius the Great, INSTRUCTIONS 1:45

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Drink, strong — (Heb. shekar’), an intoxicating liquor (Judg. 13:4; Luke 1:15; Isa. 5:11; Micah 2:11) distilled from corn, honey, or dates. The effects of the use of strong drink are referred to in Ps. 107:27; Isa.…
Wine — The common Hebrew word for wine is yayin, from a root meaning “to boil up,” “to be in a ferment.” Others derive it from a root meaning “to tread out,” and hence the juice of the grape trodden out.…
Abomination · .Unjust weights and measures — .Unjust weights and measures
Drunkenness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Wine · In excess: Infuriates the temper — In excess: Infuriates the temper

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).