Proverbs 23:33

Strange women. Some have felt that the contrast of this verse demands that this phrase be translated “strange things.” It is true that drunkenness causes men to see fantastic sights, but the repeated references to strange women in this book (see chs. 2:16; 5:3, 20; 7:5; 22:14) and the well-known connection between immorality and drunkenness make it seem probable that “strange women” are here referred to.

Perverse things. Alcohol affects first the higher centers of the brain, where are seated judgment and discretion. The power of decision is slowed, and the difference between right and wrong is blurred. The drinker says things that he would never think of saying while sober and laughs at the inanities of others as if they were the product of the choicest wit. But the intoxicated brain does not produce inanities alone; evil thoughts and plans spring up and are often carried out by men who would never approve such wickedness when in full possession of their faculties.