Proverbs 23:29
in Proverbs 23Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? Who hath complaining? who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes?
KJV
Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
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This verse in Proverbs 23
Commentary
14 notes on this verseWho hath wo? - I believe Solomon refers here to the natural effects of drunkenness. And perhaps אוי oi, which we translate wo, and אבוי aboi, which we translate sorrow, are mere natural sounds or vociferations that take place among drunken men, either from illness, or the nauseating effects of too much liquor.
This site's exposition
Who hath woe? who hath sorrow?
on Proverbs 23:29-30
The chapter closes with its strangest and most vivid poem, six rhetorical questions fired in a row before the answer ever comes: who hath woe, who hath sorrow, who hath contentions, who hath babbling, who hath wounds without cause, who hath redness of eyes. The answer lands as its own line, they that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine, the riddle's suspense itself part of the poem's craft. Delitzsch reads the piled questions as deliberately overwhelming, mimicking the drunkard's own scattered, complaining speech before the reader ever reaches the cause.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
Understand this, brethren, that every drunkard who has made drinking a habit will have leprosy within, in his soul, because the soul of the drunkard is known to be such as the flesh of the leper is seen to be. Therefore one who wishes to …
People who want to be like this try miserably to excuse themselves. They say, My friend will be unpleasant if I do not give him as much as he wants to drink when I invite him to a banquet. [But I say to you,] Do …
A commentator
Apostolic ConstitutionsCONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES · Written before 380.
proposed
Since you are the presbyters and deacons of Christ, you ought always to be sober, both among yourselves and among others, so that you may be able to warn the unruly. Now the Scripture says, "The men in power are passionate. But let them not drink wine, lest by drinking they forget wisdom and are not able to judge aright." Wherefore, [the bishops] and the presbyters and the deacons are those of authority in the church next to God Almighty and his beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. We say this, not that they are not to drink at all, otherwise it would be to the reproach of what God has made for cheerfulness, but that they not be disordered with wine. For the Scripture does not say, "Do not drink wine"; but what says it? "Drink not wine to drunkenness." .
Since you are the presbyters and deacons of Christ, you ought always to be sober, both among yourselves and among others, so that you may be able to warn the unruly. Now the Scripture says, "The men in power are passionate. But let them not …
"Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow?" For whom is distress and darkness? For whom eternal doom? Is it not for the transgressors? For them that deny the faith? And what is the proof of their denial? Is it not that they have set at naught their own confessions? And when and what did they confess? Belief in the Father and in the Son and in the Holy Ghost, when they renounced the devil and his angels, and uttered those saving words. What fit title then for them has been discovered, for the children of light to use?
7 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers1 voice
By the mention of redness of eyes—a sign of death—it is made clear that the wine-bibber is already dead to the Word and to reason. It declares his death to the Lord. If one forgets the motives that prompt him to seek the true life, he is dragged down to corruption. With good reason, then, the Educator, in his concern for our salvation, sternly forbids us, "Do not drink wine to drunkenness."
The Medieval Church3 voices
Woe to whom? Woe to whose father? He asks, while disputing, for what crimes of men the greatest punishment from the Lord is reserved. And he himself responds through reasoning, that without any doubt, it is to those who, through drunkenness, fall into excess. To …
To whom quarreling? To whom a pitfall? Quarreling, because he who is rendered impotent of senses by drunkenness cannot maintain the harmony of peace; a pitfall, because he who cannot distinguish between good and bad, as if captivated in mind, does not tremble in falling …
To whom wounds without cause? etc. Wounds without cause, because many, filled beyond measure with wine, have received wounds in their limbs out of fear, which they have endured for no cause; weakening of the eyes, because the immoderate drink of wine produces darkness to …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Those that have contentions have woe and sorrow; and drunkards are the fools whose lips enter into contention. When the wine is in the wit is out and the passions are up; and thence come drunken scuffles, and drunken frays, and drunken disputes over the cups; many a vexatious ruining law-suit has begun thus.
Who hath woe?....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
A solemn warning against whoredom and drunkenness (Ho 4:11). give me--This is the address of that divine wisdom so often presented (Pr 8:1; 9:3, &c.). heart--confidence. observe--keep. my ways--such as I teach you (Pr 3:17;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לְמִ֨י | lemi | [belongs] to whom? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| א֥וֹי | ʾo | woe | H188 → | |
| לְמִ֪י | lemi | [belongs] to whom? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| אֲב֡וֹי | ʾavo | woe! | H17 → | |
| לְמִ֤י | lemi | [belong] to whom? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| מִדְיָנִ֨ים | midonim | contentions | H4079 → | 10 times |
| לְמִ֥י | lemi | [belongs] to whom? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| שִׂ֗יחַ | siach | complaint | H7879 → | |
| לְ֭מִי | lemi | [belong] to whom? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| פְּצָעִ֣ים | petzaim | wounds | H6482 → | 8 times |
| חִנָּ֑ם | chinam | without cause | H2600 → | 32 times |
| לְ֝מִ֗י | lemi | [belongs] to whom? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| חַכְלִל֥וּת | chakhlilut | dullness of | H2448 → | |
| עֵינָֽיִם׃ | ʾeinayim | eyes | H5869 → | 887 times |
לְמִ֨י[belongs] to whom?
lemiH4310 →423 times
א֥וֹיwoe
ʾoH188 →
לְמִ֪י[belongs] to whom?
lemiH4310 →423 times
אֲב֡וֹיwoe!
ʾavoH17 →
לְמִ֤י[belong] to whom?
lemiH4310 →423 times
מִדְיָנִ֨יםcontentions
midonimH4079 →10 times
לְמִ֥י[belongs] to whom?
lemiH4310 →423 times
שִׂ֗יחַcomplaint
siachH7879 →
לְ֭מִי[belong] to whom?
lemiH4310 →423 times
פְּצָעִ֣יםwounds
petzaimH6482 →8 times
חִנָּ֑םwithout cause
chinamH2600 →32 times
לְ֝מִ֗י[belongs] to whom?
lemiH4310 →423 times
חַכְלִל֥וּתdullness of
chakhlilutH2448 →
עֵינָֽיִם׃eyes
ʾeinayimH5869 →887 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ephesians 5:18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
it leads to
- Proverbs 20:1
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Romans 13:13
Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Luke 1:15
for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall never take wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb.
- Galatians 5:21–25
and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
- Acts 11:24
Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.
- Proverbs 20:1
Through
Isaiah 5:11Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of strong drink, who linger into the evening, to be inflamed by wine.
it leads to
- Proverbs 23:29–30
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?
- Isaiah 5:22
Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and champions in mixing strong drink,
- Proverbs 23:29–30
Through
Proverbs 23:21For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.
it leads to
- Proverbs 21:17
He who loves pleasure will become poor; the one who loves wine and oil will never be rich.
- Proverbs 21:17
About Proverbs
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Apostolic Constitutions, CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES; Basil of Caesarea, ON THE SPIRIT 11:27; Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Caesarius of Arles, SERMON 189:5; Caesarius of Arles, SERMON 46:4; Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor Book 2; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Nilus of Sinai, CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES 8:4.44.