Proverbs 23:35
in Proverbs 23“They struck me, but I feel no pain! They beat me, but I did not know it! When can I wake up to search for another drink?”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not hurt; They have beaten me, and I felt it not: When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Proverbs 23
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Gregory the DialogistThe Book of Pastoral Rule, Part 3, Chapter 32 · Written before 604.
Whence, also, the utterance of one that is stricken and yet sleeps is expressed by Solomon, who says, "They have beaten thee, and I was not pained; they have dragged me, and I felt it not. When shall I awake and again find wine?" For the soul that sleeps from the care of its solicitude is beaten and feels not pain, because, as it foresees not impending evils, so neither is it aware of those which it has perpetrated.
This site's exposition
Your eyes will see strange things
on Proverbs 23:33-35
The poem's last lines follow the drinker past the cup into its ruin: "Your eyes will see strange things." He lies "like one sleeping on the high seas," with danger everywhere and no sense of it. The last verse gives the drunkard his own voice, beaten and feeling nothing.
This site's exposition
They struck me, but I feel no pain
The drunkard speaks for himself at last. Adam Clarke marks the horror of it, a man too drunk to know who struck him and already planning to search for another drink. Gregory the Dialogist applies the verse to the careless soul that is beaten and feels no pain.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
And you will say, They struck me, but I was not hurt, etc. The voice of one beaten and sleeping is expressed. The mind, indeed, sleeping from the care of diligence, is struck and does not hurt, because just as it does not foresee impending …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick,.... Or "grieved not" (x); or was not wounded or skin broken (y); see Jer 5:
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
They have stricken me - Though beat and abused, full of pain, and exhibiting a frightful figure; yet so drunk was he, as to be insensible who had struck him: still, after all this abuse and disgrace, he purposes to embrace the next opportunity of repeating his excesses! Sin makes a man contemptible in life, miserable in death, and wretched to all eternity. Is it not strange, then, that men should Love it?
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
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הִכּ֥וּנִי | hikuni | they struck me | H5221 → | 499 times |
| בַל־ | val- | not | H1077 → | 73 times |
| חָלִיתִי֮ | chaliti | I am sick | H2470 → | 76 times |
| הֲלָמ֗וּנִי | halamuni | they beat me | H1986 → | |
| בַּל־ | bal- | not | H1077 → | 73 times |
| יָ֫דָ֥עְתִּי | yadaeti | I know | H3045 → | 945 times |
| מָתַ֥י | matai | when? | H4970 → | 43 times |
| אָקִ֑יץ | ʾakitz | will I awake | H6974 → | |
| א֝וֹסִ֗יף | ʾosif | I will repeat | H3254 → | 212 times |
| אֲבַקְשֶׁ֥נּוּ | ʾavakshenu | I will seek it | H1245 → | 225 times |
| עֽוֹד׃ | od | again | H5750 → | 490 times |
הִכּ֥וּנִיthey struck me
hikuniH5221 →499 times
בַל־not
val-H1077 →73 times
חָלִיתִי֮I am sick
chalitiH2470 →76 times
הֲלָמ֗וּנִיthey beat me
halamuniH1986 →
בַּל־not
bal-H1077 →73 times
יָ֫דָ֥עְתִּיI know
yadaetiH3045 →945 times
מָתַ֥יwhen?
mataiH4970 →43 times
אָקִ֑יץwill I awake
ʾakitzH6974 →
א֝וֹסִ֗יףI will repeat
ʾosifH3254 →212 times
אֲבַקְשֶׁ֥נּוּI will seek it
ʾavakshenuH1245 →225 times
עֽוֹד׃again
odH5750 →490 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
Isaiah 22:13But look, there is joy and gladness, butchering of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 15:32
If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for human motives, what did I gain? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 56:12
“Come, let me get the wine, let us imbibe the strong drink, and tomorrow will be like today, only far better!”
- Luke 17:26–29
Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man:
- 1 Corinthians 15:32
Through
Proverbs 27:22Though you grind a fool like grain with mortar and a pestle, yet his folly will not depart from him.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 5:3
O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than…
- Isaiah 1:5
Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep rebelling? Your head has a massive wound, and your whole heart is afflicted.
- Jeremiah 5:3
Through
Isaiah 56:12“Come, let me get the wine, let us imbibe the strong drink, and tomorrow will be like today, only far better!”
it leads to
- Psalms 10:6
He says to himself, “I will not be moved; from age to age I am free of distress.”
- Proverbs 27:1
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.
- Luke 12:19–20
Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’
- Psalms 10:6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; Gregory the Dialogist, The Book of Pastoral Rule, Part 3, Chapter 32; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).