Proverbs 23:20

Do not spend time ¹  among drunkards, ²  among those who eat too much ³  meat,

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

Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;

Do not carouse with drunkards and gluttons,

Don't drink too much wine and get drunk; don't eat too much food and get fat.

Do not be among those who give themselves to wine-drinking, or among those who make themselves full with meat:

Do not be among winebibbers, or among gluttonous eaters of meat;

Do not mix with winebibbers, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;

Do not spend time ¹  among drunkards, ²  among those who eat too much ³  meat,

¹ tn Heb “do not be among,” but in the sense of “associate with” (TEV); “join” (NIV); “consort…with” (NAB).

² tn The verb סָבָא (sava’) means “to imbibe; to drink largely.” The participial construction here, סֹבְאֵי־יַיִן (sov’e-yayin), describes “drunkards” (cf. NLT) which is somewhat stronger than saying it refers to “people who drink too much” (cf. NIV, TEV).

³ tn The verb זָלַל (zalal) means “to be light; to be worthless; to make light of.” Making light of something came to mean “to be lavish with; to squander,” especially with regard to food. So it describes “gluttons” primarily; but in the expression there is also room for the person who wastes a lot of food as well.