Read the passage and its setting
Proverbs 31:6–7, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Proverbs 31:6–7
The suffering and ancient palliative comparison
The Main Point
contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts”; by 31:7, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more”. Together the unit concentrates on appetite, intoxication, desire, and self-government, wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power within “A mother's instruction to King Lemuel.”
What Is Happening Here?
Proverbs 31:6–7 opens with “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be…” and closes with “Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.” Those endpoints show the unit's movement from opening claim to reviewed close.
Context That Shapes This Passage
How does this passage relate?
Proverbs 31:6–7In “The suffering and ancient palliative comparison,” the complete unit develops this passage-specific claim: contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts”; by 31:7, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more”. Together the unit concentrates on appetite, intoxication, desire, and self-government, wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power within “A mother's instruction to King Lemuel.”
Why this relationship fits: The reviewed reasoning path begins, “Opening (31:6): the unit contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts”.” and concludes, “Close (31:7): the unit contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more”, creating the next supported pause.”
How does this passage relate?
Proverbs 31:6–7Proverbs 31:6–7 is the reviewed unit “The suffering and ancient palliative comparison.” Its parallel lines, repeated address, comparison, or local cluster controls how each verse contributes without borrowing a neighboring unit's subject.
Why this relationship fits: The unit opens “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be…” and closes “Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.”
What earlier material does it rely on?
Proverbs 31:4–5Proverbs 31:6–7 continues the earlier movement “Intoxication threatens royal justice” by carrying “The suffering and ancient palliative comparison.”
Why this relationship fits: The earlier unit ends “Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the…,” and this unit opens “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that….”
What following material clarifies it?
Proverbs 31:8–9Proverbs 31:8–9 continues this unit's “The suffering and ancient palliative comparison” by carrying “Speak and judge for people denied a hearing.”
Why this relationship fits: This unit ends “Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more,” and the following unit opens “Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to….”
Where does this sit in the whole book?
Proverbs as a wholeProverbs 31:6–7 belongs to “A mother's instruction to King Lemuel.” The queen mother's oracle warns royal power against destructive appetite and intoxication and requires the king to speak and judge for people whose rights are easily ignored. This unit contributes appetite, intoxication, desire, and self-government, wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power through its own received wording and form.
Why this relationship fits: The received sequence places Proverbs 31:6–7 inside Proverbs 31:1–31:9; this unit opens “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be…” and closes “Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.” The unit's reviewed main point is: contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts”; by 31:7, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more”. Together the unit concentrates on appetite, intoxication, desire, and self-government, wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power within “A mother's instruction to King Lemuel.”
Follow the Wisdom Collection
See why this section appears here and how the author's wisdom movement leads to its meaning.
Why Is This Passage Here?
Proverbs 31:6–7 continues “Intoxication threatens royal justice” by carrying “The suffering and ancient palliative comparison” within the same sustained discourse, admonition, numbered form, or poem.
Follow the Saying or Discourse
Opening (31:6): the unit contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts”.
Development (31:6–7): adjacent lines test appetite, intoxication, desire, and self-government, wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power through parallelism, contrast, motive, image, or consequence.
Close (31:7): the unit contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more”, creating the next supported pause.
Why This Interpretation Fits
Exact verse-level work
Every line in Proverbs 31:6–7 retains its own Verse Lens role and does not borrow a neighboring verse's claim.
Collection context
The superscription and placement identify this unit inside “A mother's instruction to King Lemuel”: The queen mother's oracle warns royal power against destructive appetite and intoxication and requires the king to speak and judge for people whose rights are easily ignored.
Proverbial proportion
The unit's instruction and observations concern appetite, intoxication, desire, and self-government, wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power; they describe moral direction without explaining every exceptional outcome.
Understand the Meaning and Its Boundaries
Clarify the words that matter and keep the conclusion no broader than the passage allows.
What the Passage Is Not Saying
Reading Proverbs 31:6–7 as edited wisdom rather than a detached formula rules out these uses:
The saying does not diagnose addiction, shame bodies or appetite, guarantee control through willpower, or deny medical and community support.
The saying does not promise prosperity, blame sufferers or poor people, excuse predatory lending, or make wealth proof of divine approval.
The unit does not turn a normal wisdom pattern into a universal promise, a complete causal explanation of suffering, or a mandate broader than Proverbs 31:6–7.
Context check: Within a mother's instruction to king lemuel, contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts”; by 31:7, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more”. Together the unit concentrates on appetite, intoxication, desire, and self-government, wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power within “A mother's instruction to King Lemuel.” The sayings function as context-shaped instruction and observation: general patterns are not automatic guarantees, commands stay bounded by their ancient role, and an individual line must not erase the edited collection around it.
What Remains True Today
Unexamined appetite can narrow judgment and make people, resources, and responsibilities easier to neglect. Proverbs treats resources as morally consequential but never reduces wealth to virtue or poverty to personal failure. These truths remain proportionate only when the proverb's literary form, affected people, exceptions, and wider fear-of-the-LORD frame remain visible.
Respond and Remember
Let the meaning shape life carefully, then practice explaining the section in context.
How This Should Shape Us
Why these applications follow
Proverbs 31:6–7 applies appetite, intoxication, desire, and self-government, wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power through the people, action, comparison, and consequence named in its complete movement.
Within a mother's instruction to king lemuel, contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts”; by 31:7, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more”. Together the unit concentrates on appetite, intoxication, desire, and self-government, wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power within “A mother's instruction to King Lemuel.” The sayings function as context-shaped instruction and observation: general patterns are not automatic guarantees, commands stay bounded by their ancient role, and an individual line must not erase the edited collection around it.
Unexamined appetite can narrow judgment and make people, resources, and responsibilities easier to neglect. Proverbs treats resources as morally consequential but never reduces wealth to virtue or poverty to personal failure. These truths remain proportionate only when the proverb's literary form, affected people, exceptions, and wider fear-of-the-LORD frame remain visible.
How does the application follow proportionately?
Set realistic limits, reduce access to known hazards, seek support early, and respond to compulsive use without stigma. Examine how money was obtained, who bears the cost, whether basic needs are met, and how resources can serve justice and durable care. In 31:6–7, let the concrete wording “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish,…” keep that response tied to the people, action, comparison, or consequence actually named.
Teach It Back
Explain Proverbs 31:6–7 in your own words. Identify its form and collection, trace one line from role through contextual meaning and enduring truth to application, name one uncertainty, and reject one misuse explicitly.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Go Deeper
The main explanation above stands on its own. Open these optional sections for fuller language, history, disagreements, and source locations.
Read it sentence by sentenceEach line inside the larger movement
Exact verse-level work
Every line in Proverbs 31:6–7 retains its own Verse Lens role and does not borrow a neighboring verse's claim.
Collection context
The superscription and placement identify this unit inside “A mother's instruction to King Lemuel”: The queen mother's oracle warns royal power against destructive appetite and intoxication and requires the king to speak and judge for people whose rights are easily ignored.
Proverbial proportion
The unit's instruction and observations concern appetite, intoxication, desire, and self-government, wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power; they describe moral direction without explaining every exceptional outcome.
Original-language wording and grammarTechnical detail appears only where it helps
No individual Hebrew or KJV expression in Proverbs 31:6–7 needs a separate lexical card beyond the complete saying or discourse explanation.
What the first readers would have understoodRelevant history and culture
Edited wisdom and social setting
This unit belongs to a mother's instruction to king lemuel. Aitken's printed pages 405-422 and the book-specific sources identify family, community, agricultural, commercial, scribal, court, and royal settings as relevant possibilities without proving one setting for every saying.
How certain? probableWhy translations sometimes differMaterial translation choices
No older-English term in this unit requires a separate reader note after reading the complete KJV line in context.
Earlier Scripture and inherited backgroundSupported quotations, allusions, and inherited ideas
Israelite wisdom setting
The unit's first horizon is Israel's wisdom collection under fear of the LORD. Torah-shaped justice, creation, household teaching, royal responsibility, and community life may inform the language, but no cross-reference overrides this unit's own parallelism and collection role.
How certain? probableHow this connects with the rest of ScriptureThe passage's own meaning remains primary
Responsible canonical location
Within the received book, The queen mother's oracle warns royal power against destructive appetite and intoxication and requires the king to speak and judge for people whose rights are easily ignored. This local unit is read through that movement before broader canonical comparison.
How certain? probableTextual variantsManuscript differences only when they affect meaning
Material textual or translation question
The complete NET notes attached to Proverbs 31:6–7 were inspected alongside MorphHB. No unreviewed alternative replaces the pinned KJV; any verse whose wording materially affects interpretation carries an expanded Lens and visible uncertainty rather than a silent emendation.
How certain? probableWhere careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful readers disagree?
Best judgment: The unit's speaker, literary form, imagery, or arrangement carries named uncertainty. The judgment follows the received sequence without inventing a biography or forcing every image into one allegory.
How certain? probableTheology that emerges from this passageConclusions drawn after reading the complete section
Theological contribution
The unit places practical wisdom under a moral order answerable to the LORD: Unexamined appetite can narrow judgment and make people, resources, and responsibilities easier to neglect. Proverbs treats resources as morally consequential but never reduces wealth to virtue or poverty to personal failure.
How certain? strongTheological contribution
Within A mother's instruction to King Lemuel, contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts”; by 31:7, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more”. Together the unit concentrates on appetite, intoxication, desire, and self-government, wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power within “A mother's instruction to King Lemuel.”
How certain? strongCommon ways this passage gets misusedFair explanation, context check, and stronger reading
The saying does not diagnose addiction, shame bodies or appetite, guarantee control through willpower, or deny medical and community support.
A compact saying is easy to detach and universalize.
Within a mother's instruction to king lemuel, contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts”; by 31:7, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more”. Together the unit concentrates on appetite, intoxication, desire, and self-government, wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power within “A mother's instruction to King Lemuel.” The sayings function as context-shaped instruction and observation: general patterns are not automatic guarantees, commands stay bounded by their ancient role, and an individual line must not erase the edited collection around it.
Unexamined appetite can narrow judgment and make people, resources, and responsibilities easier to neglect. Proverbs treats resources as morally consequential but never reduces wealth to virtue or poverty to personal failure. These truths remain proportionate only when the proverb's literary form, affected people, exceptions, and wider fear-of-the-LORD frame remain visible.
The context-supported contribution remains: contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts”; by 31:7, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more”. Together the unit concentrates on appetite, intoxication, desire, and self-government, wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power within “A mother's instruction to King Lemuel.”
The saying does not promise prosperity, blame sufferers or poor people, excuse predatory lending, or make wealth proof of divine approval.
An ancient authority, household, wealth, gender, or consequence image can be imported into modern power without following the interpretation chain.
Within a mother's instruction to king lemuel, contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts”; by 31:7, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more”. Together the unit concentrates on appetite, intoxication, desire, and self-government, wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power within “A mother's instruction to King Lemuel.” The sayings function as context-shaped instruction and observation: general patterns are not automatic guarantees, commands stay bounded by their ancient role, and an individual line must not erase the edited collection around it.
Unexamined appetite can narrow judgment and make people, resources, and responsibilities easier to neglect. Proverbs treats resources as morally consequential but never reduces wealth to virtue or poverty to personal failure. These truths remain proportionate only when the proverb's literary form, affected people, exceptions, and wider fear-of-the-LORD frame remain visible.
The context-supported contribution remains: contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts”; by 31:7, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more”. Together the unit concentrates on appetite, intoxication, desire, and self-government, wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power within “A mother's instruction to King Lemuel.”
The unit does not turn a normal wisdom pattern into a universal promise, a complete causal explanation of suffering, or a mandate broader than Proverbs 31:6–7.
An ancient authority, household, wealth, gender, or consequence image can be imported into modern power without following the interpretation chain.
Within a mother's instruction to king lemuel, contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts”; by 31:7, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more”. Together the unit concentrates on appetite, intoxication, desire, and self-government, wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power within “A mother's instruction to King Lemuel.” The sayings function as context-shaped instruction and observation: general patterns are not automatic guarantees, commands stay bounded by their ancient role, and an individual line must not erase the edited collection around it.
Unexamined appetite can narrow judgment and make people, resources, and responsibilities easier to neglect. Proverbs treats resources as morally consequential but never reduces wealth to virtue or poverty to personal failure. These truths remain proportionate only when the proverb's literary form, affected people, exceptions, and wider fear-of-the-LORD frame remain visible.
The context-supported contribution remains: contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts”; by 31:7, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more”. Together the unit concentrates on appetite, intoxication, desire, and self-government, wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power within “A mother's instruction to King Lemuel.”
Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV words, canonical order, paragraph flags, supplied-word markup, and complete unit coverage.
Proverbs 31:6–7, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology used only for the exact unit's lexical, grammatical, parallel, superscription, number-saying, and acrostic questions.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Prov.xml, OSIS 31:6-31:7
Supports: Verse-attached textual, lexical, grammatical, syntactic, parallelism, and older-English controls for the exact range.
NET Bible Proverbs PDF, printed pp. 1181-1182, exact tc/tn/sn entries attached to 31:6–7
Supports: Whole-book and collection orientation, local commentary, social-setting proposals, and named interpretation limits.
Aitken, ‘Proverbs,’ Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 405-422, subsection covering 31:6–7 and the A mother's instruction to King Lemuel outline
Supports: One historical-social account of poverty, wealth, interest, oppression, labor, and differing evaluations within the collection.
Wittenberg, ‘Situational context of statements concerning poverty and wealth,’ Scriptura 21, pp. 1-23, especially the sayings and redactional comparison relevant to Proverbs 31:6–7
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV words, canonical order, paragraph flags, supplied-word markup, and complete unit coverage.
Exact location: Proverbs 31:6–7, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Proverbs
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology used only for the exact unit's lexical, grammatical, parallel, superscription, number-saying, and acrostic questions.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Prov.xml, OSIS 31:6-31:7
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Proverbs with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-attached textual, lexical, grammatical, syntactic, parallelism, and older-English controls for the exact range.
Exact location: NET Bible Proverbs PDF, printed pp. 1181-1182, exact tc/tn/sn entries attached to 31:6–7
Open source ↗modern critical commentary
Proverbs
K. T. Aitken
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001
Supports: Whole-book and collection orientation, local commentary, social-setting proposals, and named interpretation limits.
Exact location: Aitken, ‘Proverbs,’ Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 405-422, subsection covering 31:6–7 and the A mother's instruction to King Lemuel outline
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access journal article
The situational context of statements concerning poverty and wealth in the Book of Proverbs
G. H. Wittenberg
Scriptura 21, 1987; open archive 2020
Supports: One historical-social account of poverty, wealth, interest, oppression, labor, and differing evaluations within the collection.
Exact location: Wittenberg, ‘Situational context of statements concerning poverty and wealth,’ Scriptura 21, pp. 1-23, especially the sayings and redactional comparison relevant to Proverbs 31:6–7
Open source ↗