The next three verses present pictures of the feelings and behavior of a drunken person. Verse 33 describes his strange thoughts and absurd talk; verse 34 is a picture of his unsteady stance and movement; and verse 35 describes how he wakes up with a hangover.

“Your eyes will see strange things”: The second person singular pronouns from here to the end of the saying refer back to the young person who is given the command in verse 31. “Strange things” is a plural form of the adjective “strange.” Some versions say “strange sights”; others use expressions like “weird things” or “peculiar things,” which are appropriate in this context in English. An example of the way this may be expressed in other languages is “Your mind will be confused and you will think you see all sorts of things.”

“And your mind utter perverse things”: As in verse 26 above, “your mind” represents the Hebrew “your heart.” For “utter perverse things” see the comments on 2.12, where “perverted speech” represents the same Hebrew words as used here. Here where a drunken person is described, the sense is probably “confused speech”; Revised English Bible says “your wits and your speech will be confused,” and New Jerusalem Bible “you will talk nonsense from your heart.” However, the verb translated “utter” in Revised Standard Version, which generally means “speak,” may also be taken in the sense of “tell you” or “imagine.” So New International Version, for instance, has “and your mind imagine confusing things,” and Contemporary English Version says “and your mind will play tricks on you.” Translators are advised to follow the majority of versions, which refer to both “mind” and “speech” in this line. Scott “your mind and speech will be confused” and Good News Translation “you will not be able to think or speak clearly” are both good models.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .