Topical Bible: Drunken

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Topical Encyclopedia

The term "drunken" in the Bible refers to the state of intoxication resulting from the excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages. This condition is frequently addressed in Scripture, often with warnings and admonitions against its dangers and moral implications.

Old Testament References

In the Old Testament, drunkenness is depicted as a vice that leads to moral decay and social disorder. The account of Noah is one of the earliest accounts, where Noah becomes drunk and lies uncovered in his tent (Genesis 9:21). This incident leads to familial discord and serves as a cautionary tale about the loss of dignity and self-control associated with drunkenness.

Proverbs offers several warnings about the perils of excessive drinking. Proverbs 20:1 states, "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by them is not wise." This verse highlights the deceptive nature of alcohol and its potential to lead individuals away from wisdom and righteousness. Similarly, Proverbs 23:29-35 vividly describes the woes and consequences of drunkenness, painting a picture of physical and emotional turmoil.

New Testament References

In the New Testament, drunkenness is consistently condemned as incompatible with the Christian life. The Apostle Paul, in his epistles, frequently warns against it. In Ephesians 5:18, he instructs, "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit." Here, Paul contrasts the loss of control associated with drunkenness with the spiritual fullness and self-control that come from being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 5:19-21 lists drunkenness among the "acts of the flesh," warning that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. This underscores the seriousness with which the early church viewed the issue, associating it with a lifestyle contrary to the values of the Kingdom.

Moral and Social Implications

Drunkenness is often linked with other sinful behaviors and social ills. Isaiah 5:11-12 criticizes those who rise early to pursue strong drink, neglecting the deeds of the Lord. This passage highlights how drunkenness can lead to a neglect of spiritual responsibilities and a focus on temporal pleasures.

The Bible also addresses the social consequences of drunkenness. In Habakkuk 2:15, the prophet pronounces woe upon those who give their neighbors drink to gaze upon their nakedness, illustrating how drunkenness can lead to exploitation and shame.

Christian Conduct and Sobriety

The call to sobriety is a recurring theme in the New Testament, where believers are urged to live lives marked by self-control and vigilance. 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8 exhorts Christians to be sober and alert, as those who belong to the day, contrasting with those who are drunk and belong to the night.

The pastoral epistles also emphasize the importance of sobriety, particularly for leaders within the church. In 1 Timothy 3:2-3, Paul lists being "not given to drunkenness" as a qualification for overseers, indicating that self-control and a clear mind are essential for spiritual leadership.

Conclusion

Throughout Scripture, drunkenness is portrayed as a destructive force that undermines personal integrity, spiritual devotion, and social harmony. The Bible consistently calls believers to a life of sobriety, self-control, and spiritual alertness, reflecting the transformative power of the Holy Spirit in contrast to the debilitating effects of alcohol.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

1. (p. p.) of Drink.

2. (v. i.) Overcome by strong drink; intoxicated by, or as by, spirituous liquor; inebriated.

3. (v. i.) Saturated with liquid or moisture; drenched.

4. (v. i.) Pertaining to, or proceeding from, intoxication.

Greek

2897. kraipale -- drunken nausea
... drunken nausea. Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine Transliteration: kraipale Phonetic
Spelling: (krahee-pal'-ay) Short Definition: drunken dissipation Definition ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2897.htm - 6k

3943. paroinos -- given to wine, drunken
... given to wine, drunken. Part of Speech: Adjective Transliteration: paroinos Phonetic
Spelling: (par'-oy-nos) Short Definition: given to wine, drunken Definition ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3943.htm - 6k

3184. methuo -- to be drunken
... to be drunken. Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration: methuo Phonetic Spelling:
(meth-oo'-o) Short Definition: I am drunk Definition: I am intoxicated with wine ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3184.htm - 6k

3183. methusos -- drunken
... drunken. Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine Transliteration: methusos Phonetic Spelling:
(meth'-oo-sos) Short Definition: a drunkard Definition: a drunkard. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3183.htm - 6k

2970. komos -- a village festival, revel
... 2970 (originally, village-merrymaking that took place at the gathering of the grapes,
Souter) -- a riotous party (drunken feast) which hosted unbridled sexual ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2970.htm - 7k

Strong's Hebrew

7910. shikkor -- drunken
... 7909b, 7910. shikkor or shikkor. 7911 . drunken. Transliteration: shikkor or
shikkor Phonetic Spelling: (shik-kore') Short Definition: drunk. ...
/hebrew/7910.htm - 6k

7937. shakar -- to be or become drunk or drunken
... shakar. 7938 . to be or become drunk or drunken. Transliteration: shakar Phonetic
Spelling: (shaw-kar') Short Definition: drunk. Word Origin a prim. ...
/hebrew/7937.htm - 6k

5435. sobe -- a drink, liquor
... drink, drunken, wine. From caba'; potation, concretely (wine), or abstractly (carousal)
-- drink, drunken, wine. see HEBREW caba'. 5434, 5435. sobe. 5436 . ...
/hebrew/5435.htm - 6k

5433a. saba -- to imbibe, drink largely
... root Definition to imbibe, drink largely NASB Word Usage drink heavily (1), drunkard
(1), drunken (1), heavy drinker (1), heavy drinkers (1). 5433, 5433a. ...
/hebrew/5433a.htm - 5k

7943. shikkaron -- drunkenness
... be drunkenness. From shakar; intoxication -- (be) drunken(-ness). see HEBREW
shakar. 7942, 7943. shikkaron. 7944 . Strong's Numbers.
/hebrew/7943.htm - 6k

Library

The Dying Girl's Prayer for Her Drunken Father
... THE DYING GIRL'S PRAYER FOR HER DRUNKEN FATHER. A child from a poor family had an
intemperate father, who often used to abuse his wife and children. ...
/.../the dying girls prayer for.htm

Labors in a New Field
... whom he labored supported him quite liberally; but he used the money they gave him
in buying whiskey, and spent a good share of his time in a drunken, or semi ...
/.../cole/trials and triumphs of faith/chapter xi labors in a.htm

Questions and Answers--Sorrowful Cases--Testimonies from those who ...
... contaminated. A policeman brings one sometimes, having found it in a low
lodging-house, forsaken by its worthless, drunken parents. ...
/.../lowe/gods answers/chapter ix questions and answerssorrowful.htm

A Woman on a Scarlet-Colored Beast.
... And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of
the witnesses of Jesus; and when I saw her I wondered greatly." Rev.17:3-6. ...
/.../bliss/a brief commentary on the apocalypse/a woman on a scarlet-colored.htm

Exposition of the Prophecy of Isaiah Quoted by Jesus.
... The passage in Isaiah from the beginning is thus, "Be ye faint, and be maddened:
be ye drunken, but not with strong drink nor with wine: for the Lord hath ...
/.../origens commentary on the gospel of matthew/11 exposition of the prophecy.htm

A Man Expects to Reap the Same Kind as He Sows.
... Every man who sells liquor has a drunken son or a drunken brother or some
drunken relative. Where are the sons of liquor dealers? ...
//christianbookshelf.org/moody/sowing and reaping/chapter iv a man expects.htm

Sunday after Ascension Day
... to assume the obligations of this calling and contest, they must not give way to
drowsy indolence; much less may they become foolish, drunken sots, indifferent ...
/.../luther/epistle sermons vol ii/sunday after ascension day.htm

Letter xxix. (AD 395. )
... I myself also read this chapter, and added to it an argument to prove with how much
greater anger and vehemence our Lord would cast forth drunken revels, which ...
/.../augustine/the confessions and letters of st/letter xxix a d 395.htm

The Judgment of Drunkards and Mockers
... The picture of the city passes into that of the drunken debauch, where the chief
men of Samaria sprawl, 'smitten down' by wine, and with the innocent flowers ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture h/the judgment of drunkards and.htm

Reform
... He is a god that is worshipped with reeling to and fro, and staggering.
Men become drunken in his presence, and so do him homage. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 5 1859/reform.htm

Thesaurus

Drunken (38 Occurrences)
...Drunken (38 Occurrences). Matthew 24:49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants,
and to eat and drink with the drunken; (KJV ASV DBY WBS YLT RSV). ...
/d/drunken.htm - 18k

Stagger (20 Occurrences)
... movement of the body in walking or standing, as if one were about to fall; a reeling
motion; vertigo; -- often in the plural; as, the stagger of a drunken man. ...
/s/stagger.htm - 13k

Drunk (84 Occurrences)
... 3. (a.) Intoxicated with, or as with, strong drink; inebriated; drunken; -- never
used attributively, but always predicatively; as, the man is drunk (not, a ...
/d/drunk.htm - 34k

Drunkenness (10 Occurrences)
... 1. (n.) The state of being drunken with, or as with, alcoholic liquor; intoxication;
inebriety; -- used of the casual state or the habit. ...
/d/drunkenness.htm - 24k

Vomit (12 Occurrences)
... 19:14 Yahweh has mixed a spirit of perverseness in the midst of her; and they have
caused Egypt to go astray in all of its works, like a drunken man staggers ...
/v/vomit.htm - 10k

Orgies (4 Occurrences)
... revelry. 2. (n. pl.) Drunken revelry; a carouse. 3. (n.) Plural of Orgy.
Multi-Version Concordance Orgies (4 Occurrences). Romans ...
/o/orgies.htm - 8k

Freely (101 Occurrences)
... 7; Revelation 17:2, where the same word is translated the King James Version "made
drunk," the Revised Version (British and American) "made drunken" (Matthew 24 ...
/f/freely.htm - 39k

Drunkards (10 Occurrences)
... (WEB KJV ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV). Job 12:25 They grope in the dark without
light, and He maketh them to stagger like a drunken man. (See NIV). ...
/d/drunkards.htm - 9k

Carouse (3 Occurrences)
... 1. (v.) To engage in drunken merrymaking. ... 3. (vi) To drink deeply or freely in
compliment; to take part in a carousal; to engage in drunken revels. ...
/c/carouse.htm - 7k

Swoon (3 Occurrences)
... Jeremiah 51:39 When they are heated, I will make their feast, and I will make them
drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake ...
/s/swoon.htm - 7k

Resources

Who was Vashti in the Bible? | GotQuestions.org

Is being drunk in the Spirit a biblical experience? | GotQuestions.org

Is “eat, drink, and be merry” a biblical concept? | GotQuestions.org

Drunken: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.com

Bible Concordance • Bible Dictionary • Bible Encyclopedia • Topical Bible • Bible Thesuarus

Concordance

Drunken (38 Occurrences)

Matthew 24:49
And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
(KJV ASV DBY WBS YLT RSV)

Luke 12:45
But if that servant says in his heart,'My lord delays his coming,' and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken,
(WEB KJV ASV DBY WBS YLT)

Luke 17:8
And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?
(KJV ASV)

Acts 2:15
For these aren't drunken, as you suppose, seeing it is only the third hour of the day.
(WEB KJV ASV WBS YLT)

1 Corinthians 11:21
For in your eating each one takes his own supper first. One is hungry, and another is drunken.
(WEB KJV ASV WBS)

1 Corinthians 15:34
Wake from this drunken fit; live righteous lives, and cease to sin; for some have no knowledge of God: I speak thus in order to move you to shame.
(WEY)

Ephesians 5:18
Don't be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,
(WEB ASV)

1 Thessalonians 5:7
For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
(KJV ASV WBS YLT)

1 Peter 4:3
For we have spent enough of our past time doing the desire of the Gentiles, and having walked in lewdness, lusts, drunken binges, orgies, carousings, and abominable idolatries.
(WEB WEY NAS RSV NIV)

Revelation 17:2
with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality, and those who dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine of her sexual immorality."
(WEB ASV)

Revelation 17:6
I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered with great amazement.
(WEB KJV ASV WBS YLT)

Genesis 9:21
And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
(KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT)

1 Samuel 1:13
Now Hannah spoke in her heart. Only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she had been drunken.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT RSV)

1 Samuel 1:14
Eli said to her, "How long will you be drunken? Put away your wine from you."
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT RSV)

1 Samuel 25:36
Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken. Therefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS)

Job 12:25
They grope in the dark without light. He makes them stagger like a drunken man.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV WBS NAS RSV)

Psalms 107:27
They reel back and forth, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS NAS RSV NIV)

Isaiah 19:14
Yahweh has mixed a spirit of perverseness in the midst of her; and they have caused Egypt to go astray in all of its works, like a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV WBS NAS RSV)

Isaiah 24:20
The earth will stagger like a drunken man, and will sway back and forth like a hammock. Its disobedience will be heavy on it, and it will fall and not rise again.
(WEB JPS ASV RSV)

Isaiah 29:9
Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS)

Isaiah 34:7
The wild oxen will come down with them, and the young bulls with the mighty bulls; and their land will be drunken with blood, and their dust made greasy with fat.
(WEB JPS ASV)

Isaiah 49:26
I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I, Yahweh, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS)

Isaiah 51:17
Awake, awake, stand up, Jerusalem, that have drunk at the hand of Yahweh the cup of his wrath; you have drunken the bowl of the cup of staggering, and drained it.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV)

Isaiah 51:21
Therefore hear now this, you afflicted, and drunken, but now with wine:
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT)

Jeremiah 23:9
Concerning the prophets. My heart within me is broken, all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of Yahweh, and because of his holy words.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS NAS RSV NIV)

Jeremiah 25:27
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.
(KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS)

Jeremiah 48:26
Make him drunken; for he magnified himself against Yahweh: and Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS)

Jeremiah 49:12
For thus saith the LORD; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it.
(KJV)

Jeremiah 51:7
Babylon has been a golden cup in Yahweh's hand, who made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS RSV)

Jeremiah 51:39
When they are heated, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, says Yahweh.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS)

Lamentations 3:15
He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.
(KJV WBS)

Lamentations 4:21
Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom, that dwell in the land of Uz: The cup shall pass through to you also; you shall be drunken, and shall make yourself naked.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS)

Lamentations 5:4
We have drunken our water for money; Our wood is sold to us.
(WEB KJV ASV)

Ezekiel 23:42
And the voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with men of the common sort were brought drunkards from the wilderness; and they put bracelets upon the hands of them twain, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.
(See JPS)

Ezekiel 39:19
And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
(KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT)

Nahum 1:10
For entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed utterly like dry stubble.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV WBS YLT NAS)

Nahum 3:11
You also will be drunken. You will be hidden. You also will seek a stronghold because of the enemy.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT RSV)

Habakkuk 2:15
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!
(KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS)

Subtopics

Drunken

Related Terms

Carousing (4 Occurrences)

Orgies (4 Occurrences)

Licentiousness (10 Occurrences)

Revellings (2 Occurrences)

Envying (8 Occurrences)

Debauchery (9 Occurrences)

Satiety (12 Occurrences)

Drink (414 Occurrences)

Strong (736 Occurrences)