Proverbs 23:34 (BSB)

You will be like one sleeping on the high seas or lying on the top of a mast:

From Proverbs 23. Also in the ESV.

Commentary on Proverbs 23:34

• Matthew Henry (Presbyterian), Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on Proverbs 23:29-35: Solomon here gives fair warning against the sin of drunkenness, to confirm what he had said, Pro 23:20. I. He cautions all people to keep out of the way of temptations to this sin (Pro 23:31): Look not thou upon the wine when it is red. Red wine was in Canaan looked upon as the best wine, it is therefore called the blood of the grape.
• John Gill (Reformed Baptist), Exposition of the Old and New Testaments on Proverbs 23:34: Yea, thou shall be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea,.... Not in the open sea, and the waves of it, there fluctuating and tossed about; nor in an island encompassed by sea; but in a ship at sea, a drunken man reels and tumbles about, just as a ship does at sea; hence the motions and agitations of it, and...
• Geneva Bible Notes (Reformed), Geneva Bible Study Notes on Proverbs 23:34: And thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. (p) In such great danger will you be.
• Keil & Delitzsch (Lutheran), Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament on Proverbs 23:29-35: Pro 23:29-35 The author passes from the sin of uncleanness to that of drunkenness; they are nearly related, for drunkenness excites fleshly lust; and to wallow with delight in the mire of sensuality, a man, created in the image of God, must first brutalize himself by intoxication. The Mashal in the number of its lines passes beyond the limits of the distich, and becomes a Mashal ode.