Scripture Passages that Speak Against Alcohol
The following Scripture passages can be used as Biblical support when teaching teach the dangers of alcohol. Quotations are from the English Standard Version.
Ephesians 5:18
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.
Proverbs 20:1
Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.
Proverbs 23:29-35
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine.
Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder.
Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things.
You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast.
“They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink.”
Isaiah 5:22-23
Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!
Leviticus 10:9
Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.
Romans 14:21
It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.
1 Timothy 3:8
Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain.
Ezekiel 44:21
No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court.
Hosea 4:10-11
They shall eat, but not be satisfied; they shall play the whore, but not multiply, because they have forsaken the Lord to cherish whoredom, wine, and new wine, which take away the understanding.
Isaiah 5:11
Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink,
who tarry late into the evening as wine inflames them!
Proverbs 31:4-7
It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more.
Luke 21:34
But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.
Proverbs 21:17
Whoever loves pleasure will be a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not be rich.
Titus 2:3
Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good.
Proverbs 23:20-21
Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags.
Isaiah 28:7
These also reel with wine and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are swallowed by wine, they stagger with strong drink, they reel in vision, they stumble in giving judgment.
1 Corinthians 5:11
But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler —- not even to eat with such a one.
Deuteronomy 29:6
You have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.