Lectionary Calendar
Monday, July 7th, 2025
the Week of Proper 9 / Ordinary 14
Attention!
Tired of seeing ads while studying? Now you can enjoy an "Ads Free" version of the site for as little as 10¢ a day and support a great cause!
Click here to learn more!

Read the Bible

Bishop's Bible

Proverbs 31:5

Lest they by drnkyng forget the lawe, and peruert the iudgement of all poore mens children.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Drunkenness;   Injustice;   King;   Rulers;   Wine;   Thompson Chain Reference - Injustice;   Justice-Injustice;   Woman;   The Topic Concordance - Drunkenness;   Government;   Sobriety;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Afflicted, Duty toward the;   Injustice;   Kings;   Wine;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Lemuel;   Proverb, the Book of;   Wine;   Woman;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Grapes;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Lemuel;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Agur;   Lemuel;   Proverbs, the Book of;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Lemuel;   Proverbs, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Acrostic;   Ethics;   Lemuel;   Marriage;   Massa;   Proverbs, Book of;   Song of Songs;   Trade and Commerce;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Lemuel ;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Lem'uel;   Wine;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Drink, Strong;   Drunkenness;   Lemuel;   Proverbs, Book of;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Otherwise, he will drink,forget what is decreed,and pervert justice for all the oppressed.
Hebrew Names Version
Lest they drink, and forget the law, And pervert the justice due to anyone who is afflicted.
King James Version
Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.
English Standard Version
lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
New American Standard Bible
Otherwise they will drink and forget what is decreed, And pervert the rights of all the needy.
New Century Version
If they drink, they might forget the law and keep the needy from getting their rights.
Amplified Bible
Otherwise they drink and forget the law and its decrees, And pervert the rights and justice of all the afflicted.
World English Bible
Lest they drink, and forget the law, And pervert the justice due to anyone who is afflicted.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Lest he drinke and forget the decree, and change the iudgement of all the children of affliction.
Legacy Standard Bible
Lest he drink and forget what is decreed,And pervert the justice of all the afflicted.
Berean Standard Bible
lest they drink and forget what is decreed, and deprive all the oppressed of justice.
Contemporary English Version
Drinking makes you forget your responsibilities, and you mistreat the poor.
Complete Jewish Bible
For they may drink, then forget what has been decreed, and pervert the justice due to the poor.
Darby Translation
—lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the children of affliction.
Easy-to-Read Version
They may drink too much and forget what the law says. Then they might take away the rights of the poor.
George Lamsa Translation
Lest you drink and forget the law and forsake the judgment of the afflicted.
Good News Translation
When they drink, they forget the laws and ignore the rights of people in need.
Lexham English Bible
Or else he will drink and forget what has been decreed, and he will pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
Literal Translation
that they not drink and forget what is decreed, and pervert the right of the sons of affliction.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
lest they beinge dronken forget the lawe, & regarde not ye cause of the poore, & of all soch as be in aduersite.
American Standard Version
Lest they drink, and forget the law, And pervert the justice due to any that is afflicted.
Bible in Basic English
For fear that through drinking they may come to have no respect for the law, wrongly judging the cause of those who are in trouble.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Lest they drink, and forget that which is decreed, and pervert the justice due to any that is afflicted.
King James Version (1611)
Lest they drinke, and forget the Law, and peruert the iudgement of any of the afflicted.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
He that prepares a net in the way of his own friend, entangles his own feet in it.
English Revised Version
Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any that is afflicted.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Lest perauenture thei drynke, and foryete domes, and chaunge the cause of the sones of a pore man.
Update Bible Version
Or else they will drink, and forget the law, And pervert the justice [due] to any that is afflicted.
Webster's Bible Translation
Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.
New English Translation
lest they drink and forget what is decreed, and remove from all the poor their legal rights.
New King James Version
Lest they drink and forget the law, And pervert the justice of all the afflicted.
New Living Translation
For if they drink, they may forget the law and not give justice to the oppressed.
New Life Bible
Or they might drink and forget the law, and go against the rights of all who are suffering.
New Revised Standard
or else they will drink and forget what has been decreed, and will pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Lest he drink, and forget that which is decreed, and alter the plea of any who are sorely oppressed.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And lest they drink and forget judgments, and pervert the cause of the children of the poor.
Revised Standard Version
lest they drink and forget what has been decreed, and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
Young's Literal Translation
Lest he drink, and forget the decree, And change the judgment of any of the sons of affliction.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
For they will drink and forget what is decreed, And pervert the rights of all the afflicted.

Contextual Overview

1 THE wordes of king Lamuel, and the lesson that his mother taught him. 2 What my sonne? what the sonne of my body? and what O my deare beloued sonne? 3 Geue not ouer thy strength & wayes vnto women, which are the destruction euen of kynges. 4 O Lamuel, it is not for kynges, it is not [I say] for kynges to drynke wine, nor princes strong drynke. 5 Lest they by drnkyng forget the lawe, and peruert the iudgement of all poore mens children. 6 Geue strong drynke vnto such as are redy to perishe, and wine vnto those that mourne: 7 That they may drynke it, and forget their miserie and aduersitie. 8 Be thou an aduocate for the dumbe, [to speake] in the cause of all such as be succourlesse in this transitorie worlde. 9 Open thy mouth, defende the thyng that is lawfull and ryght, and the cause of the poore and helpelesse.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

pervert: Heb. alter

any of the afflicted: Heb. all the sons of affliction, Habakkuk 2:5

Reciprocal: Leviticus 10:9 - Do not Numbers 6:3 - General Deuteronomy 24:17 - pervert Deuteronomy 27:19 - General 1 Kings 20:12 - drinking Proverbs 3:1 - forget Proverbs 23:33 - and Ecclesiastes 2:3 - yet Ecclesiastes 10:17 - and thy Isaiah 5:23 - justify Isaiah 28:7 - erred Isaiah 56:12 - I will Mark 6:21 - his birthday Titus 1:7 - not given to wine

Cross-References

Genesis 21:22
And at the same season, Abimelech and Phicol his chiefe captayne spake vnto Abraham, saying, God [is] with thee in all that thou doest:
Genesis 31:2
And Iacob behelde the countenaunce of Laban, and beholde, it was not towardes hym as it was wont to be.
Genesis 31:3
And the Lorde sayde vnto Iacob: turne agayne into the lande of thy fathers, and to thy kynrede, and I wyll be with thee.
Genesis 31:13
I am the God of Bethel, where thou annoyntedst the stone set vp on an ende, and where thou vowedst a vowe vnto me: nowe therefore aryse, and get thee out of this countrey, and returne vnto the lande where thou wast borne.
Genesis 31:42
And except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the feare of Isahac had ben with me, surely thou haddest sent me away nowe all emptie: but God behelde my tribulation and the labour of my handes, and rebuked [thee] yesternyght.
Genesis 31:53
The God of Abraham, and the God of Nachor, and the God of theyr father, be iudge betwixt vs. And Iacob sware by the feare of his father Isahac.
Genesis 32:9
And Iacob said agayne: O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isahac, Lorde whiche saydest vnto me, returne vnto thy countrey, and to thy kindred, & I will do well with thee:
Genesis 48:15
And he blessed Ioseph, and sayde: God in whose syght my fathers Abraham & Isahac dyd walke, God which hath fedde me al my lyfe long vnto this day,
Genesis 50:17
This wyse shall ye say vnto Ioseph, Forgeue [I pray thee] the trespasse of thy brethren, and their sinne: for they rewarded thee euyll. And nowe we praye thee forgeue the trespasse of the seruauntes of the God of thy father. And Ioseph wept when they spake vnto hym.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Lest they drink, and forget the law,.... The law of God by Moses, which the kings of Israel were obliged to write a copy of, and read over daily, to imprint it on their minds, that they might never forget it, but always govern according to it, Deuteronomy 17:18; or the law of their ancestors, or what was made by themselves, which through intemperance may be forgotten; for this sin stupefies the mind and hurts the memory, and makes men forgetful;

and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted; a king on the throne, or a judge on the bench, drunk, must be very unfit for his office; since he must be incapable of attending to the cause before him, of taking in the true state of the case; and, as he forgets the law, which is his rule of judgment, so he will mistake the point in debate, and put one thing for another; and "change" g and alter, as the word signifies, the judgment of the afflicted and injured person, and give the cause against him which should be for him; and therefore it is of great consequence that kings and judges should he sober. A certain woman, being undeservedly condemned by Philip king of Macedon, when drunk, said,

"I would appeal to Philip, but it shall be when he is sober;''

which aroused him; and, more diligently examining the cause, he gave, a more righteous sentence h.

g ישנה "mutet", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Mercerus, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis "demutet", Schultens. h Valer. Maxim l. 6. c. 2. extern. 1.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 31:5. Lest they drink, and forget the law — When they should be administering justice, they are found incapable of it; or, if they go into the judgment-seat, may pervert justice.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile