Proverbs 31:5-7 New English Translation
5 lest they drink and forget what is decreed,
and remove[a] from all the poor[b] their legal rights.[c]
6 Give strong drink to the one who is perishing,[d]
and wine to those who are bitterly distressed;[e]
7 let them[f] drink and forget[g] their poverty,
and remember their misery no more.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 31:5 tn The verb means “change,” perhaps expressed in reversing decisions or removing rights.
- Proverbs 31:5 tn Heb “all the children of poverty.” This expression refers to the poor by nature. Cf. KJV, NASB, NRSV “the afflicted”; NIV “oppressed.”
- Proverbs 31:5 sn The word is דִּין (din, “judgment”; so KJV). In this passage it refers to the cause or the plea for justice, i.e., the “legal rights.”
- Proverbs 31:6 sn Wine and beer should be given to those distressed and dying in order to ease their suffering and help them forget.
- Proverbs 31:6 tn Heb “to the bitter of soul.” The phrase לְמָרֵי נָפֶשׁ (lemare nafesh) has been translated “of heavy hearts” (KJV); “in anguish” (NIV); “in misery” (TEV); “in bitter distress” (NRSV); “sorely depressed” (NAB); “in deep depression (NLT); “have lost all hope” (CEV). The word “bitter” (מַר, mar) describes the physical and mental/spiritual suffering as a result of affliction, grief, or suffering—these people are in emotional pain. So the idea of “bitterly distressed” works as well as any other translation.
- Proverbs 31:7 tn The subjects and suffixes are singular (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB). Most other English versions render this as plural for stylistic reasons, in light of the preceding context.
- Proverbs 31:7 tn The king was not to “drink and forget”; the suffering are to “drink and forget.”
New English Translation (NET)
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