Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.
Parallel translations
- WEB Be no longer a drinker of water only, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities.
- BSB Stop drinking only water and use a little wine instead, because of your stomach and your frequent ailments.
- NKJV No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities.
- NASB Do not go on drinking only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.
- NLT Don’t drink only water. You ought to drink a little wine for the sake of your stomach because you are sick so often.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul advises Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach and frequent ailments rather than drinking only water. The counsel shows pastoral concern for Timothy's bodily health.
Overview
Amid weighty instruction, Paul offers a personal, practical note about Timothy's physical health, recommending moderate use of wine for his ailments. This balances his call to purity in the previous verse, clarifying that bodily care is not unspiritual. It reflects a sane, non-ascetic view of the body and the apostle's tender concern for his younger colleague.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 104:15And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.
- Prov 31:4–7It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink:
- 1 Tim 4:4For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
- 1 Tim 3:3Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
- 1 Tim 3:8Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;
- Titus 1:7For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
- Ezek 44:21Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.
- Eph 5:18And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
- Titus 2:3The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
- Lev 10:9–11Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
There is 'one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all' — the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh.
How 1 Timothy 5:23 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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