Scripture does not absolutely praise or condemn drinking. It speaks positively
of wine in some passages, but more frequently describes drinking’s negative
results.
Here are the relevant passages. Passages speaking
positively of wine are highlighted green, while passages describing the negative results of drinking are in red.
Any quotes are from the New Jerusalem Bible. The hyperlinks lead to other translations.
The sons of Noah who
came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth-Ham being the father of Canaan. 19These three were Noah's sons, and from these the
whole earth was peopled.
20Noah, a tiller
of the soil, was the first to plant the vine. 21He drank some of
the wine, and while he was drunk, he lay uncovered in his tent.
22Ham, father of Canaan, saw
his father naked and told his two brothers outside. 23Shem and
Japheth took a cloak and they both put it over their shoulders, and walking
backwards, covered their father's nakedness; they kept their faces turned away,
and they did not look at their father naked.24When Noah awoke from his stupor he
learned what his youngest son had done to him, 25and
said: “Accursed be Canaan, he shall be
his brothers' meanest slave.”26 He added: “Blessed be
Yahweh, God of Shem, let Canaan be his slave 27May God make space for Japheth, may he live in the tents
of Shem, and let Canaan be his slave!”
After leaving
Zoar Lot settled in the hill country with his
two daughters, for he dared not stay at Zoar. He lived in a cave, he and his
two daughters. 31The elder said to the younger, 'Our
father is an old man, and there is no one here to marry us in the normal way of
the world. 32Come on, let us ply our father with wine and sleep with
him. In this way we can preserve the race by our father.' 33That night they
made their father drunk, and the elder slept with her father though he was
unaware of her coming to bed or of her leaving. 34The
next day the elder said to the younger, 'Last night, I was the one who slept
with our father. Let us make him drunk again tonight, and you go and sleep with
him. In this way we can preserve the race by our father.' 35They made their
father drunk that night too, and the younger went and slept with him, though he
was unaware of her coming to bed or of her leaving.
36Both Lot's daughters thus became pregnant by their father. 37The elder gave birth to a son whom she named Moab;
and he is the ancestor of the Moabites of our own times. 38The
younger also gave birth to a son whom she named Ben-Ammi; and he is the
ancestor of the Bene-Ammon of our own times.
The vine
replied, 'Must I forgo my wine which cheers gods and
men…?'
In the
twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah son of Baasha became king of
Israel at Tirzah, for two years. 19Zimri, one of his officers,
captain of half his chariotry, plotted against him. While he was at
Tirzah, drinking himself senseless in the house of Arza who was master of the
palace in Tirzah, 10Zimri came in, struck him down
and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and succeeded
him. 11On his accession, as soon as he was seated on
the throne, he butchered Baasha's entire family, not leaving him one manjack of
them alive, neither relative nor friend. 12Zimri
destroyed the whole House of Baasha, in accordance with the word which Yahweh had spoken against Baasha through the prophet Jehu,
Wine to cheer people’s hearts
Wisdom
has built herself a house, she has hewn her seven pillars,2she has
slaughtered her beasts, drawn her wine, she has laid her
table.
3She
has dispatched her maidservants and proclaimed from the heights above the city,4'Who
is simple? Let him come this way.' To the fool she says, 5'Come and
eat my bread, drink the wine which I have drawn!
Wine is reckless, liquor rowdy;
unwise is anyone whom it seduces.
Do not be one of those forever
tippling wine nor one of those who gorge themselves with meat;21for the drunkard and glutton impoverish
themselves,
and sleepiness
is clothed in rags.
For whom is pity, for whom contempt, for whom is strife, for whom complaint, for whom blows struck at random, for whom the clouded eye.
30For
those who linger over wine too long, ever on the look-out for the blended
liquors.
31Do not gaze at wine, how red it
is, how it sparkles in the cup! How smoothly it slips down the throat!
32In the end its bite is like a serpent's, its sting as sharp as an adder's.
33Your eyes will see
peculiar things,
you will talk nonsense from your heart.
34You will be
like someone sleeping in mid-ocean, like one asleep at the mast-head.35”Struck me, have they? But I'm not
hurt. Beaten me? I don't feel anything. When shall I wake up? I'll ask for more of it!”
Not for kings, O Lemuel, not for kings the drinking of wine, not for princes
the love of liquor, 5for fear that in liquor they forget what they have decreed
and pervert the course of justice against all the poor.
Procure strong drink for someone about
to die, wine for him whose heart is heavy:7let him drink and forget his misfortune, and remember his
misery no more.
So, eat your bread in joy, drink
your wine with a glad heart, since God has already approved your actions.
Wine is included
among the description of things that distract from wisdom
Do not play the valiant at your wine,
for wine has been the undoing
of many.
26The furnace proves the temper of steel, and wine proves
hearts in the drinking bouts of
braggarts.
27Wine gives life if
drunk in moderation. What
is life worth without wine? It came into being to make people happy.
29Bitterness of soul comes of wine drunk to excess out of temper or
bravado.
30Drunkenness excites the stupid to a fury to his own harm, it reduces his strength while leading to blows.
Woe to those who get up early to go after
strong drink, and stay up late at night inflamed with wine.
Woe to those whose might lies in wine bibbing, their heroism in
mixing strong drinks …24Yes, as the flame devours the stubble, as
the straw flares up and disappears, their root will be like decay and their shoot be
carried off like dust,
for having rejected the law of Yahweh Sabaoth, for having despised the word
of the Holy One of Israel.
That day the Lord Yahweh Sabaoth called on you to weep and mourn, to
shave your heads, to put on sackcloth.13But instead
there is joy and merriment, killing of oxen, slaughtering of sheep, eating of
meat, drinking of wine, 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall be dead.'
Woe to the haughty crown of Ephraim's
drunkards, to the fading flower of its proud splendor sited at the head of the lush valley,
to those prostrated by wine! 2See, a strong and mighty man in
the Lord's service, like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest, like immense
flood-waters overflowing, with his hand he throws them to the ground.
3They will be trampled underfoot, the haughty
crown of Ephraim's drunkards,4and the faded flower of
its proud splendor sited at
the head of the lush valley. Like a fig ripe before summer comes: whoever spots
it forthwith picks and swallows it.
These too have been confused by wine, have gone astray owing to
liquor. Priest and prophet have become confused by liquor, are sodden with wine,
have strayed owing to liquor, have become confused in their visions, have strayed in their decisions. 8Yes, every table is covered in filthy vomit, not one is clean!
9'Whom does he think he is
lecturing? Whom does he think his message is for? Babies just weaned? Babies
just taken from the breast? 10With his "Sav lasav, sav lasav,
kav lakav, kav lakav, zeer sham, zeer sham!" 11Now, with
stammering lips and in a foreign language, he will talk to this nation.12He
used to say to them, 'Here you can rest! Here you can let the weary rest! Here
all is quiet.' But they refused to listen.
13Now Yahweh is going to say this to them, 'Sav
lasav, sav lasav, kav lakav, kav lakav, zeer sham, zeer sham.' So that when they walk they will fall
over backwards
and so
be broken, trapped and taken captive.
Oh, come to the water all you who are
thirsty; though you have no money, come! Buy and eat; come, buy wine and milk without money, free!2Why
spend money on what cannot nourish and your wages on what fails to satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and you will
have good things to eat and rich food to enjoy.
“[H]aving tasted the wine, Belshazzar gave
orders for” a sacrilege that caused his demise
Listen to this saying, you cows of
Bashan living on the hill of Samaria, exploiting the weak and ill-treating the
poor, saying to your husbands,
'Bring us something to drink!'
2The Lord God has sworn by his holiness: Look, the
days will soon be on you when he will use
hooks to drag you away and
fish-hooks for the very last of you; 3through the breaches in the
wall you will leave, each one straight ahead, and be
herded away towards Hermon -declares Yahweh.
Ephraim will be like a warrior. Their hearts will be cheered as though by wine. Their children will see this and rejoice, their hearts will exult in Yahweh.
On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in
Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there, 2and Jesus and his disciples had also been
invited. 3And they ran out of wine, since the wine provided for the
feast had all been used, and the mother of Jesus said to him, 'They have no wine.'4Jesus
said, 'Woman, what do you want from me? My hour has not come yet.' 5His
mother said to the servants, 'Do whatever he tells you.'
6There were six stone water jars
standing there, meant for the ablutions that are customary among the Jews: each
could hold twenty or thirty gallons. 7Jesus said to the servants,
'Fill the jars with water,' and they filled them to the brim.8Then
he said to them, 'Draw some out now and take it to the president of the feast.'
9They did this; the president tasted the water,
and it had turned into wine. Having no idea where it came from -- though the
servants who had drawn the water knew -- the president of the feast called the
bridegroom 10and said, 'Everyone serves good wine first and the worse wine when the
guests are well wined; but you have kept the best wine till now.'
11This was the first
of Jesus' signs: it was at Cana in Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
“[D]runkards”
will not “inherit the kingdom of God”
“[D]runkenness”
identified as one of the fruits of self-indulgence that makes one unable to
“inherit the kingdom of God”
“Do
not get drunk with wine; this is simply dissipation; be filled with the Spirit”
You should give up drinking
only water and have a little wine for the sake of your digestion and the frequent bouts of
illness that you have.
