Study Desk

Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

He who loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich.

Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat,

for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.

Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?

Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.

Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly!

In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper.

Your eyes will see strange sights and your mind imagine confusing things.

You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging.

"They hit me," you will say, "but I'm not hurt! They beat me, but I don't feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?"

"It is not for kings, O Lemuel- not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer,

lest they drink and forget what the law decrees, and deprive all the oppressed of their rights.

Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish;

let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more.