Proverbs Chapter 23 verse 32 Holy Bible
At the last it biteth like a serpent, And stingeth like an adder.
read chapter 23 in ASV
In the end, its bite is like that of a snake, its wound like the wound of a poison-snake.
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at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
read chapter 23 in DARBY
At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
read chapter 23 in KJV
read chapter 23 in WBT
In the end, it bites like a snake, And poisons like a viper.
read chapter 23 in WEB
Its latter end -- as a serpent it biteth, And as a basilisk it stingeth.
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 32. - At the last it biteth like a serpent. Wine is like the subtle poison of a serpent, which affects the whole body, and produces the most fatal consequences (comp. Ecclus. 21:2). Nachash is the generic name for any of the larger tribe of snakes (Genesis 3:1, etc.); the poisonous nature of its bite was, of course, well known (Numbers 21:9). Stingeth like an adder. The Hebrew word is tsiphoni, which is usually rendered "cockatrice" in the Authorized Version, but the particular species intended has not been accurately identified. There was some confusion in men's minds as to the organ which inflicted the poisonous wound. Thus a psalmist says, "They have sharpened their tongue like a serpent" (Psalm 140:3). But the verb "sting" is to be taken in the sense of puncturing, making a wound. Vulgate, Sicut regulus venena diffundet, "It will diffuse its poison like a basilisk:" Septuagint, "But at the last he stretches himself like one stricken by a serpent, and the venom is diffused through him as by a horned snake (κεράστου)."