Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
Parallel translations
- WEB Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
- BSB Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?
- NKJV Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
- NASB ¶Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has red eyes?
- NLT Who has anguish? Who has sorrow? Who is always fighting? Who is always complaining? Who has unnecessary bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A series of questions exposes the woes, sorrows, and wounds that drunkenness brings.
Overview
This begins a vivid extended warning against drunkenness, listing its bitter fruits through pointed rhetorical questions. Woe, strife, needless injury, and bloodshot eyes are the harvest of overindulgence. The passage unmasks the false promise of wine, contrasting its misery with the true joy and clarity found in walking soberly before God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Eph 5:18And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
- 1 Sam 25:36–37And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
- Prov 23:21For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
- Isa 5:22Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
- Isa 28:7–8But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
- 2 Sam 13:28Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, Mark ye now when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine, and when I say unto you, Smite Amnon; then kill him, fear not: have not I commanded you? be courageous, and be valiant.
- Isa 5:11Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!
- Luke 12:45–46But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;
- Nah 1:10For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.
- Matt 24:49–50And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
- 1 Kgs 20:16–22And they went out at noon. But Benhadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him.
- Prov 20:1Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
- Gen 49:12His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 23:29 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.