Proverbs 31:4

Pro 31:4 [It is] not for kings, O Lemuel, [it is] not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink:

Ver. 4. It is not for kings to drink wine,] i.e., To be "drunk with wine, wherein is excess," {Eph 5:18} where the apostle determines excessive drinking to be downright drunkenness, viz., when as swine do their bellies, so men break their heads with filthy quaffing. This, as no man may lawfully do, so least of all princes; for in maxima libertate minima est licentia. Men are therefore the worse because they are bound to be better.

Nor for princes strong drink.] Or, as some read it, Where is the strong drink? It is not for princes to ask such a question. All heady and intoxicating drinks are by statute here forbidden them. Of Bonosus the emperor it was said that he was born non ut vivat sed ut bibat, not to live but to drink; and when, being overcome by Probus, he afterwards hanged himself, it was commonly jested that a tankard hung there, and not a man. But what a beast was Marcus Antonius, that wrote (or rather spewed out) a book concerning his own strength to bear strong drink? And what another was Darius King of Persia, who commanded this inscription to be set upon his sepulchre, "I was able to hunt lustily, to drink wine soundly, and to bear it bravely." {a} That Irish rebel Tiroen, A.D. 1567, was such a drunkard, that, to cool his body when he was immoderately inflamed with wine and whisky, he would many times be buried in the earth up to the chin. {b} These were unfit men to bear rule.

{a} Kυνηγειν εκρατουν, οινον πολυν πινειν, και τουτον φερειν καλως. - Strabo.

{b} Camden’s Elisabeth.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Pro 31:4-7. It is not for kings to drink wine — Namely, to excess, as the next verse explains it: Lest they drink and forget the law — The laws of God, by which they are to govern themselves and their kingdoms; and pervert the judgment of the afflicted — Which may be easily done by a drunken judge, because drunkenness deprives a man of the use of his reason; by which alone men can distinguish between right and wrong, and withal stirs up those passions in him, which incline him both to precipitation and partiality. Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish — To faint; for such need a cordial. This is to be understood comparatively; to him rather than to kings, because he needs a liberal draught of it more than they do. Let him drink and forget his poverty — For wine moderately used allays men’s cares and fears, and cheers the spirits.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

31:4-7 Too much wine numbs the senses. A king needs his wits about him and should not overindulge in alcohol.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

That is, the King must not give himself to wantonness, and neglect of his office, which is to execute judgment.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Stimulants enfeeble reason, pervert the heart, and do not suit rulers, who need clear and steady minds, and well-governed affections (compare Pro 20:1; Pro 22:29).

pervert . . . afflicted--They give unrighteous decisions against the poor.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 4. It is not for kings - to drink wine] An intemperate man is ill fit to hold the reins of government.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(4) It is not for kings to drink wine.—Another of the temptations of kings. (Comp. 1Ki_16:9; 1Ki_20:16; Ecc_10:17.) Perversion of justice as the result of revelry is also noted by Isaiah (Isa_5:22-23). Comp. St. Paul’s advice to “use this world so as not abusing,” or rather “using it to the full” (1Co_7:31)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4. It is not for] or, Far be it from.

for princes strong drink] Rather, for princes to say, Where is strong drink? This is the corrected Heb. reading for that noticed in R.V., marg., “Another reading is, to desire strong drink.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

It is not for kings, O Lemuel,.... It is not fit for them, it is very unbecoming them; it is dishonourable to them, to such as Lemuel was, or was likely to be; or far be it from kings, let no such thing be do ne by them, nor by thee;

it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink; it is lawful for kings to drink wine in a moderate manner, and for princes, counsellors, and judges, to drink strong drink; meaning not such as is made of malt, which in those times was not used; but of honey, dates, pomegranates, and such like things; but then it was very unbecoming for either of them to drink any of these to excess; it is very disgraceful to any man to drink immoderately, to make a beast of himself, and much more a king or judge, who, of all men, ought to be grave and sober; both that they may perform their office well, and maintain the grandeur and dignity of it, which otherwise would become useless and despicable, yea, pernicious, as follows. Solomon, notwithstanding this advice, gave himself unto wine as well as women, Ecc 2:3. The Targum is,

"take care of kings, O Lemuel, of kings who drink wine, and of princes that drink strong drink.''

So the Syriac version, keep no company with them, nor follow their example; see Ecc 10:17; The last clause may be rendered, "nor for princes to say, where is strong drink" (d)? where is it to be had? where is the best? as drunkards do; which is according to the marginal reading; but the "Cetib", or writing, is "or" (e); but some render it as a noun, "the desire of strong drink" (f): it does not become princes to covet it.

(d) "ubi sechar?" Montanus, Vatlablus; "ubi (est) sicera?", Cocceius, Michaelis; so Ben Melech. (e) "siceram", Cocceius, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Gussetius. p. 20. Schultens. (f) "Nunc vino pellite curas", Horat. Carmin, l. 1. Ode 7. v. 31. "Tu spem reducis", &c. ib. l. 3. Ode 21. v. 17.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Some read: “nor for princes to say, Where is strong drink?” The “strong drink” Pro 20:1 was distilled from barley, or honey, or dates.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Give. Septuagint, "Do all with counsel. By advice drink wine. Lords are inclined to anger; let them not drink wine." (Haydock) --- Solomon took this advice, Ecclesiastes ii. 3.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

To drink wine, to wit, to drunkenness or excess, as the next verse explains it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4. Nor for princes strong drink — Or, the desire of strong drink. שׁכר, (shekhar,) rendered strong drink, usually means any kind of fermented drink other than wine, and sometimes means wine, or is so rendered, as in Num_28:7. There is nothing in the etymology of the word requiring our qualifying term strong. Nor is the qualifier used as distinguishing it from wine, or as compared with wine; but as distinguishing it from other drinks, as water, milk, etc., which possess no inebriating properties. It is the sikera of the Greeks, (see Luk_1:15.) Besides wine, which is properly the juice of the grape, the Hebrews and other ancients manufactured drinks possessing exhilarating and intoxicating qualities from other fruits also, as the date and apple; from grain, as barley; from honey, etc. Shekhar, or sikera, seems to have been a generic term applied to any and all of these drinks. It is generally distinguished from wine, and the poets often use shekhar in one member and יין, (yayin,) wine, in the other member of a verse or distich. It is probable that fermented wine was the strongest drink known to the Hebrews, except such as were mixed with drugs to increase their intoxicating properties. These mixed wines, or other mixed beverages, are also sometimes called shekhar. Isa_5:22. Compare Proverbs xxiii, 29, et seq., and notes.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 4-7. The second admonition. A warning against inebriety, and concerning a proper use of strong drink.

It is not for kings; or, as others read, far be it from kings. The injunction is repeated to indicate its vast importance. Nor for princes strong drink; literally, nor for princes (the word), Where is strong drink? (see on Pro_20:1; and comp. Job_15:23) The evils of intemperance, flagrant enough in the case of a private person, are greatly enhanced in the ease of a king, whose misdeeds may affect a whole community, as the next verse intimates. St. Jerome reads differently, translating, "Because there is no secret where drunkenness reigns." This is in accordance with the proverb, "When wine goes in the secret comes out;" and, "Where drink enters, wisdom departs;" and again, "Quod latet in mente sobrii, hoc natat in ore ebrii." Septuagint, "The powerful are irascible, but let them not drink wine." "Drunkenness," says Jeremy Taylor ("Holy Living," ch. 3, "opens all the sanctuaries of nature, and discovers the nakedness of the soul, all its weaknesses and follies; it multiplies sins and discovers them; it makes a man incapable of being a private friend or a public counsellor. It taketh a man"s soul into slavery and imprisonment more than any vice whatsoever, because it disarms a man of all his reason and his wisdom, whereby he might be cured, and, therefore, commonly it grows upon him with age; a drunkard being still more a fool and less a man."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To drink - To excess.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Hence there now follows a warning against drunkenness, not unmediated by the reading למחות:

4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel,

Not for kings to drink wine,

Not for rulers to ask for intoxicating drink;

5 Lest he drink, and forget what is prescribed,

And pervert the right of all the children of want.

The usual translation of 4a is: non decet reges... (as e.g., also Mhlau); but in this אל is not rightly rendered, which indeed is at times only an οὐ, spoken with close interest, but yet first of all, especially in such paraenetic connection as here, it is a dissuasive μή. But now לא למלכים שׁתות or לא למלכים לשׁתּות, after Ch2 26:18; Mic 3:1, signifies: it is not the part of kings, it does not become them to drink, which may also be turned into a dissuasive form: let it not be the part of kings to drink, let them not have any business therewith, as if it belonged to their calling; according to which Fleischer renders: Absit a regibus, Lemuel, absit a regibus potare vinum. The clearer expression למואל, instead of למוּאל, is, after Bttcher, occasioned by this, that the name is here in the vocative; perhaps rather by this, that the meaning of the name: consecrated to God, belonging to God, must be placed in contrast to the descending to low, sensual lust. Both times we write אל לּמלכים with the orthophonic Dagesh

(Note: Vid., Luth. Zeitschrift, 1863, p. 413. It is the rule, according to which, with Ben-Asher, it is to be written בּן־נּוּן.)

in the ל following ל, and without the recompensative Dagesh, the want of which is in a certain measure covered by the Metheg (vid., Norzi). Regarding the inf. constr. שׁתו (cf. קנה, Pro 16:16), vid., Gesen. 75, Anm. 2; and regarding the sequence of accents here necessary, אל לּמלכים שׁתו־יין (not Mercha, Dechi, Athnach, for Dechi would be here contrary to rule), vid., Thorath Emeth, p. 22 6, p. 43 7.

In 4b nothing is to be gained from the Chethı̂b או. There is not a substantive או, desire, the constr. of which would here have to be read, not או (Umbreit, Gesenius), but או, after the form קו (Maurer); and why did the author not write תּאות שׁכר? But the particle או does not here also fall in with the connection; for if או שׁכר connect itself with יין (Hitzig, Ewald, and others), then it would drag disagreeably, and we would have here a spiritless classification of things unadvisable for kings. Bttcher therefore sees in this או the remains of the obliterated סבוא; a corrector must then have transformed the וא which remained into או. But before one ventures on such conjectures, the Kerı̂ אי [where?] must be tried. Is it the abbreviated אין (Herzog's Real-Wrterbuch, xiv. 712)? Certainly not, because וּלרוזנים אין שׁכר would mean: and the princes, or rulers (vid., regarding רוזנים at Pro 8:15), have no mead, which is inconsistent. But אין does not abbreviate itself into אי, but into אי. Not אי, but אי, is in Heb., as well as in Ethiop., the word with which negative adjectives such as אי נקי, not innocent, Job 22:30, and in later Heb. also, negative sentences, such as אי אפשׁר: it is not possible, are formed.

(Note: The author of the Comm. עטרת זקנים to the ארח חיים, c. 6, Geiger and others would read אי, because אי is abbreviated from אין. But why not from אין, Sa1 21:9? The traditional expression is אי; and Elias Levita in the Tishbi, as also Baer in the Siddur Abodath Jisrael, are right in defending it against that innovation.)

Therefore Mhlau vocalizes אי, and thinks that the author used this word for אל, so as not to repeat this word for the third time. But how is that possible? אי שׁכר signifies either: not mead, or: there is not mead; and both afford, for the passage before us, no meaning. Is, then, the Kerı̂ אי truly so unsuitable? Indeed, to explain: how came intoxicating drink to rulers! is inadmissible, since אי always means only ubi (e.g., Gen 4:9); not, like the Ethiop. aitê, also quomodo. But the question ubi temetum, as a question of desire, fits the connection, whether the sentence means: non decet principibus dicere (Ahron b. Josef supplies שׁיאמרו) ubi temetum, or: absit a principibus quaerere ubi temetum (Fleischer), which, from our view of 4a, we prefer. There is in reality nothing to be supplied; but as 4a says that the drinking of wine ought not to characterize kings, so 4b, that "Where is mead?" (i.e., this eager inquiry after mead) ought not to characterize rulers.

(Note: The translation of Jerome, quia nullum secretum est ubi regnat ebrietas (as if the words were לית רזא אי שׁכר), corresponds to the proverb: נכנס יין יצא סוד :b, when the wine goes in the secret comes out; or, which is the same thing: if one adds יין (= 70), סוד (= 70) comes out.)

Why not? Pro 31:5 says. That the prince, being a slave to drink, may not forget the מחקּק, i.e., that which has been made and has become חק, thus that which is lawfully right, and may not alter the righteous cause of the miserable, who cry against their oppressors, i.e., may not handle falsely the facts of the case, and give judgment contrary to them.

שׁנּה דין (Aquila, Theodotion, Quinta, ἀλλοιοῦν κρίσιν) is elsewhere equivalent to הטּה משׁפּט (עוּת). בּני־עני are those who are, as it were, born to oppression and suffering. This mode of expression is a Semitism (Fleischer), but it here heightens the impression of the Arab. colouring. In כל (Venet. ὡντινοῦν) it is indicated that, not merely with reference to individual poor men, but in general to the whole class of the poorer people, suffering humanity, sympathy and a regard for truth on the part of a prince given to sensuality are easily thrown aside. Wine is better suited for those who are in a condition to be timeously helped over which, is a refreshment to them.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Lemuel

This is the name of a man. See how you translated this in Proverbs 31:1.

what has been decreed

This can be translated in active form. Possible meanings are 1) "what God has decreed" or 2) "what the kings themselves have decreed" (See: Active or Passive)

pervert the rights of all the afflicted

"deny afflicted people their legal rights"

pervert

exchange good for evil

all the afflicted

"all those people whom others wrongfully harm"

translationWords

king

wine

rule

strong drink

afflicted

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

It is not for kings, Lemoel This matter is not fit for kings who are for the Holy One, blessed be He. Lemoel is like (Job 40:4): “to (למו) my mouth.”

it is not for kings to drink wine It is not proper for them to become intoxicated.

neither is strong drink Heb. אי שכר, like אין שכר, there is no strong drink.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.