Now please be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, and not to eat anything unclean.
Parallel translations
- WEB Now therefore please beware and drink no wine nor strong drink, and don’t eat any unclean thing:
- KJV Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:
- NKJV Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean.
- NASB And now, be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing.
- NLT So be careful; you must not drink wine or any other alcoholic drink nor eat any forbidden food.
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
The woman is told to avoid wine, strong drink, and unclean food. Her son's special calling begins even before his birth.
Overview
These prohibitions reflect the Nazirite vow (Numbers 6), which the child will live out from the womb. By guarding her own conduct, the mother is set apart for God's purpose in raising this consecrated son. The instructions underscore that this child is dedicated to the Lord from his very beginning.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Luke 1:15for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall never take wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb.
- Judg 13:14She must not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor drink any wine or strong drink, nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.”
- Num 6:2–3“Speak to the Israelites and tell them that if a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the LORD,
- Judg 13:7But he said to me, ‘Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. Now, therefore, do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb until the day of his death.’”
- Acts 10:14“No, Lord!” Peter answered. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
- Lev 11:27All the four-footed animals that walk on their paws are unclean for you; whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean until evening,
- Lev 11:47You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between animals that may be eaten and those that may not.’”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Israel's cycle of sin and rescue through flawed deliverers cries out for a Savior who never fails — the true and final Judge and Deliverer who saves his people not for a season but forever.
How Judges 13:4 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.