Quick answer
This verse is figurative, but the figure itself matters. Wine appears here as a staggering instrument of distress and judgment, not as a simple gift to be enjoyed.
Psalms 60:3 (KJV)
“Thou hast shewed thy people hard things: thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment.”
This verse falls into the warning-coloured imagery group because context matters more than a quick word lookup.
How we read this verse
Difficult passages should be read carefully, neither erased nor forced into proving more than they actually say. The safest method is to read them beside the clearest blessing texts, the clearest warning texts, and the broader definition studies.
That is why we pair this verse with Wine as a curse in the Bible, Psalm 75:8, and Is drinking a sin?.
Frequently asked questions
Why include figurative passages?
Because they still show what qualities wine could symbolise in the biblical imagination.
Does a figure prove ordinary drinking is sinful?
Not by itself. It strengthens the wider warning stream and shows that wine imagery is not uniformly positive.