Proverbs 31:6

Proverbs 31:6, in plain English

Here's the flip side—strong drink isn't forbidden; it can actually be a mercy for someone who's suffering deeply and needs relief from their pain.

Why it's here

She's not a legalist. She recognizes that wine and strong drink have a place—not for kings making decisions, but for the person who's genuinely suffering, desperate, at the end of their rope. It's a compassionate recognition of human pain.

Who's speaking

Lemuel's mother, showing nuance in her teaching

Where it sits in the story

This is the Bible's balanced view on alcohol—not absolute prohibition, but wisdom about when and how. You see similar instruction in 1 Timothy 5:23 and other places. The issue isn't the substance; it's the context and the person's responsibility.

The scholarly reading

The mother creates a striking exception: alcohol is appropriate—even beneficial—for those in extremis, the dying and deeply suffering, where it may provide mercy through temporary escape.

Language and setting

This verse represents what scholars call 'wisdom's contextual ethics'—recognizing that absolute rules sometimes require measured exceptions based on human suffering. The 'perishing' (אׁבׁד, abad) suggests the terminal or desperate; the 'bitter in soul' (מַר נָפֶשׁ, mar nefesh) indicates profound psychological anguish. Ancient physicians recognized alcohol's analgesic properties, and pastoral theology acknowledged its merciful use. This is wisdom tempered with compassion, not rigorous legalism.

Voice

Lemuel's mother, nuancing her prohibition with pastoral care.

Significance

This demonstrates that biblical wisdom is not mechanical rule-following but discerning judgment. It connects to broader biblical recognition of mercy—the recognition that suffering sometimes requires unusual response. Matthew Henry and other Reformation commentators saw this as justifying medical uses of alcohol and cautious compassion toward those in extremity.

4It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to crave strong drink,

5lest they drink and forget what is decreed, depriving all the oppressed of justice.

6Give strong drink to one who is perishing, and wine to the bitter in soul.

7Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

8Open your mouth for those with no voice, for the cause of all the dispossessed.

Read all of Proverbs 31 — Not a checklist but a celebration. Strength, generosity, wisdom, dignity — a life fully and fearlessly lived.