Mishle 23:33

33 Thine eynayim shall behold zarot (strange women), and thine lev shall utter perverse things.

Mishle 23:33 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 23:33

Thine eyes shall behold strange women
Being inflamed with wine, shall look upon women, other men's wives, and lust after them; or harlots, whom seeking after or meeting with, when in their cups, are drawn into their embraces; excess of wine leads to whoredom {w}. So Aben Ezra supplies the word "women", and Jarchi interprets it to this sense; but the Targum renders it, "strange things"; and so many others: a drunken man, through the lunges and vapours that ascend into his brain, fancies he sees strange sights; he sees things double; imagines that he sees trees walk, and many such like absurd and monstrous things; and thine heart shall utter perverse things;
or the mouth, from the abundance of the heart, and imagination of it, shall utter things contrary to sense and reason, contrary to truth and righteousness, contrary to chastity and good manners, contrary to their own honour and credit, contrary to God and men; the mouth then utters all that is in the heart, which it at other times conceals. It may have a particular respect to the unchaste, filthy, and obscene words, uttered to strange women, into whose company men fall when in liquor.


FOOTNOTES:

F23 "Vina parant animos Veneri", Ovid. de Arte Amandi, l. 1.

Mishle 23:33 In-Context

31 Stare not thou into the yayin when it is red, when it sparkles in the kos (cup), when it goeth down smoothly.
32 At the acharit (latter end, future) it biteth like a nachash, and stingeth with venomous poisons like a viper.
33 Thine eynayim shall behold zarot (strange women), and thine lev shall utter perverse things.
34 Indeed, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the lev yam (heart of the sea), or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.
35 They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not hurt; they have beaten me, and I felt it not. Mosai (when) shall I awake? I will seek yet another drink.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.