Overview
The Bible addresses drunkenness across 52 verses, drawn from both the Old and New Testaments. These passages cluster most in Proverbs, Isaiah and Jeremiah. Closely related themes include Wine, Young Men, Sin (1) and Impenitence. Figures whose stories touch this theme include Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar.
Key Bible verses about drunkenness
Old Testament
Deuteronomy
And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.
And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: imagination: or, stubbornness drunkenness: Heb. the drunken to the thirsty
The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven.
And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law: are: Heb. is
Proverbs
Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: of flesh: Heb. of their flesh
For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.
At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. an: or, a cockatrice
Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.
Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. the midst: Heb. the heart of the sea
They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again. I felt: Heb. I knew it not
It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink:
Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. prevert: Heb. alter of any: Heb. of all the sons of affliction
Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. of: Heb. bitter of soul
Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
Isaiah
Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! inflame: of, pursue
And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.
Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine! overcome: Heb. broken
Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet: under: Heb. with feet
But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
Thus saith thy Lord the LORD, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again:
But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.
Jeremiah
For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.
Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.
And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.
Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD'S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.
Ezekiel
Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I give her cup into thine hand.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou shalt drink of thy sister's cup deep and large: thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it containeth much.
Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.
Thou shalt even drink it and suck it out, and thou shalt break the sherds thereof, and pluck off thine own breasts: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
Daniel
Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.
Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein. father: or, grandfather taken: Cald. brought forth
Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them.
They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
Habakkuk
Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!
Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the LORD'S right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory. with: or, more with shame than with glory
For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid, because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.
New Testament
Matthew
And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. cut: or, cut him off
Galatians
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
People in the Bible and drunkenness
Biblical figures whose stories intersect with this theme.
In the Bible dictionary
Studying drunkenness for yourself
- Begin with Deuteronomy 21:20, then read the passages below in canonical order.
- Compare how Proverbs, Isaiah and Jeremiah each treat the theme.
- Consider the lives of Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar and how their stories intersect with it.
- Widen the study to related themes: Wine, Young Men, Sin (1) and Impenitence.
Frequently asked questions
What does the Bible say about drunkenness?
The Bible addresses drunkenness across 52 verses, drawn from both the Old and New Testaments. These passages cluster most in Proverbs, Isaiah and Jeremiah. Closely related themes include Wine, Young Men, Sin (1) and Impenitence. Figures whose stories touch this theme include Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar.
How many Bible verses are about drunkenness?
The Bible references drunkenness in 52 verses (King James Version).
Where does the Bible first mention drunkenness?
In canonical order, the first of these passages is Deuteronomy 21:20: “And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.”
Which people in the Bible are associated with drunkenness?
Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar.
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