6 Bible Verses about Intemperance

Most Relevant Verses

Proverbs 23:19-21


Listen, my son, and be wise,
And direct your heart in the way [of the Lord].

Do not associate with heavy drinkers of wine,
Or with gluttonous eaters of meat,

For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty,
And the drowsiness [of overindulgence] will clothe one with rags.

Romans 1:26-27

For this reason God gave them over to degrading and vile passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural [a function contrary to nature], and in the same way also the men turned away from the natural function of the woman and were consumed with their desire toward one another, men with men committing shameful acts and in return receiving in their own bodies the inevitable and appropriate penalty for their wrongdoing.

Numbers 11:20

but a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and is disgusting to you—because you have rejected and despised the Lord who is among you, and have wept [in self-pity] before Him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?”’”

1 Samuel 25:36-38

Then Abigail came to Nabal, and he was holding a feast in his house [for the shearers], like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s mood was joyous because he was very drunk; so she told him nothing at all until the morning light. But in the morning, when Nabal was sober, and his wife told him these things, his heart died within him and he became [paralyzed and helpless] like a stone. About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal and he died.

From Thematic Bible


Intemperance » Examples of » Excess, general references to

2 Peter 2:13

suffering wrong [destined for punishment] as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a delight to revel in the daytime [living luxuriously]. They are stains and blemishes [on mankind], reveling in their deceptions even as they feast with you.

Galatians 5:21

envy, drunkenness, riotous behavior, and other things like these. I warn you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Daniel 5:1

Belshazzar the king [who was a descendant of Nebuchadnezzar] gave a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking his wine in the presence of the thousand [guests].

Intemperance » Examples of » Drunkards, general references to

Proverbs 26:9


Like a thorn that goes [without being felt] into the hand of a drunken man,
So is a proverb in the mouth of a fool [who remains unaffected by its wisdom].

Isaiah 28:3


The splendid crown of the drunkards of Ephraim is trampled by [the foreigners’] feet.

Joel 1:5


Awake [from your intoxication], you drunkards, and weep;
Wail, all you drinkers of wine,
Because of the [fresh] sweet wine
That is cut off from your mouth.

Nahum 1:10


Like tangled thorn branches [gathered for fuel],
And like those drowned in drunkenness,
The people of Nineveh are consumed [through fire]
Like stubble completely withered and dry [in the day of the Lord’s wrath].

Intemperance » Examples of » Other examples

Joel 3:3


“They have also cast lots for My people,
And have traded a boy for a prostitute
And have sold a girl for wine that they may drink.

Luke 12:45

But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is taking his time in coming,’ and begins to beat the servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk,

1 Corinthians 11:21

for when you eat, each one hurries to get his own supper first [not waiting for others or the poor]. So one goes hungry while another gets drunk.

Intemperance » Examples of » Nabal

1 Samuel 25:36

Then Abigail came to Nabal, and he was holding a feast in his house [for the shearers], like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s mood was joyous because he was very drunk; so she told him nothing at all until the morning light.

Intemperance » Examples of » Uriah

2 Samuel 11:13

Now David called him [to dinner], and he ate and drank with him, so that he made Uriah drunk; in the evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, and [still] did not go down to his house.

Intemperance » Examples of » benhadad

1 Kings 20:16

They went out at noon, while Ben-hadad was getting drunk in the temporary shelters, he and the thirty-two kings who were helping him.

Intemperance » Examples of » Watchmen of israel

Isaiah 56:12


“Come,” [they say,] “let us get wine, and let us fill ourselves with strong drink;
And tomorrow will be like today, very great indeed.”

Intemperance » Examples of » Elah

1 Kings 16:9

His servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against Elah. Now Elah was in Tirzah, getting drunk in the house of Arza, who was in charge of the [king’s] household in Tirzah.

Intemperance » Examples of » Noah

Intemperance » Examples of » Ahasuerus

Esther 1:10

On the seventh day, when the king’s heart was joyful with wine (in high spirits), he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus [as his attendants],

Intemperance » Examples of » Kings of israel

Hosea 7:5


On the [special] day of our king, the princes became sick with the heat of wine;
The king stretched out his hand [in association] with scoffers (lawless people).

Kings » Specially warned against » Intemperance

Proverbs 31:4-5

It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to desire strong drink, Lest they drink and forget the law and what it decrees, and pervert the justice due any of the afflicted.

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Theasaurus: Intemperance