It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to crave strong drink,
Parallel translations
- WEB It is not for kings, Lemuel; it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes to say, ‘Where is strong drink?’
- KJV It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink:
- NKJV It is not for kings, O Lemuel, It is not for kings to drink wine, Nor for princes intoxicating drink;
- NASB It is not for kings, Lemuel, It is not for kings to drink wine, Or for rulers to desire intoxicating drink,
- NLT It is not for kings, O Lemuel, to guzzle wine. Rulers should not crave alcohol.
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
It is not fitting for kings to crave wine and strong drink.
Overview
The mother warns that those who govern must keep clear heads, for intoxication is unbecoming and dangerous in a ruler. Leadership carries responsibility that drunkenness compromises. The principle commends sobriety and self-mastery for all in authority, reflecting the watchfulness and clear-eyed devotion to which God calls His servants.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Prov 20:1Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
- Isa 5:22Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and champions in mixing strong drink,
- Eccl 10:17Blessed are you, O land whose king is a son of nobles, and whose princes feast at the proper time—for strength and not for drunkenness.
- Hos 4:11–12Promiscuity, wine, and new wine take away understanding.
- Hab 2:5and wealth indeed betrays him. He is an arrogant man never at rest. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, and like Death, he is never satisfied. He gathers all the nations to himself and collects all the peoples as his own.
- 1 Kgs 20:16–20They marched out at noon while Ben-hadad and the 32 kings allied with him were in their tents getting drunk.
- Dan 5:2–4Under the influence of the wine, Belshazzar gave orders to bring in the gold and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king could drink from them, along with his nobles, his wives, and his concubines.
- Isa 28:7–8These also stagger from wine and stumble from strong drink: Priests and prophets reel from strong drink and are befuddled by wine. They stumble because of strong drink, muddled in their visions and stumbling in their judgments.
- Mark 6:21–28On Herod’s birthday, her opportunity arose. Herod held a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee.
- Lev 10:9–10“You and your sons are not to drink wine or strong drink when you enter the Tent of Meeting, or else you will die; this is a permanent statute for the generations to come.
- Esth 3:15The couriers left, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. Then the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was in confusion.
- Hos 7:3–5They delight the king with their evil, and the princes with their lies.
- 1 Kgs 20:12Ben-hadad received this message while he and the kings were drinking in their tents, and he said to his servants, “Take your positions.” So they stationed themselves against the city.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 31:4 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.