Scripture · Old Testament
Proverbs 31:4
Proverbs 31:4 is verse 4 of Proverbs chapter 31, shown here in the Berean Standard Bible.
Berean Standard Bible
It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to crave strong drink,
King James Version
It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink:
World English Bible
It is not for kings, Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes to say, ‘Where is strong drink?’
Read in context
Proverbs 31:2–6 · Berean Standard Bible
2 What shall I say, O my son? What, O son of my womb? What, O son of my vows?
3 Do not spend your strength on women or your vigor on those who ruin kings.
4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to crave strong drink,
5 lest they drink and forget what is decreed, depriving all the oppressed of justice.
6 Give strong drink to one who is perishing, and wine to the bitter in soul.
Read all of Proverbs 31Hebrew words
Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Study Proverbs 31:4
Cross-references
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.
Leviticus 10:9“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.
Leviticus 10:10You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the clean and the unclean,
1 Kings 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.
1 Kings 20:16They marched out at noon while Ben-hadad and the 32 kings allied with him were in their tents getting drunk.
1 Kings 20:17And the young officers of the district governors marched out first. Now Ben-hadad had sent out scouts, who reported to him, “Men are marching out of Samaria.”
1 Kings 20:18“If they have marched out in peace,” he said, “take them alive. Even if they have marched out for war, take them alive.”
1 Kings 20:19Meanwhile, these young officers of the district governors marched out of the city, with the army behind them,
1 Kings 20:20and each one struck down his opponent. So the Arameans fled, with the Israelites in pursuit. But Ben-hadad king of Aram escaped on horseback with the cavalry.
Esther 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.
Ecclesiastes 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.
Isaiah 28:7These 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.
Isaiah 28:8For all their tables are covered with vomit; there is not a place without filth.
Daniel 5:2Under 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.
Daniel 5:3Thus they brought in the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king drank from them, along with his nobles, his wives, and his concubines.
Daniel 5:4As they drank the wine, they praised their gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.
Hosea 4:11Promiscuity, wine, and new wine take away understanding.
Hosea 4:12My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray and they have played the harlot against their God.
Hosea 7:3They delight the king with their evil, and the princes with their lies.
Hosea 7:4They are all adulterers, like an oven heated by a baker who needs not stoke the fire from the kneading to the rising of the dough.
Hosea 7:5The princes are inflamed with wine on the day of our king; so he joins hands with those who mock him.
Habakkuk 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.
Mark 6:21On Herod’s birthday, her opportunity arose. Herod held a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee.
Mark 6:22When the daughter of Herodias came and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests, and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.”
Mark 6:23And he swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give you, up to half my kingdom!”
Mark 6:24Then she went out and asked her mother, “What should I request?” And her mother answered, “The head of John the Baptist.”
Mark 6:25At once the girl hurried back to the king with her request: “I want you to give me the head of John the Baptist on a platter immediately.”
Mark 6:26The king was consumed with sorrow, but because of his oaths and his guests, he did not want to refuse her.
Mark 6:27So without delay, the king commanded that John’s head be brought in. He sent an executioner, who went and beheaded him in the prison.
Mark 6:28The man brought John’s head on a platter and presented it to the girl, who gave it to her mother.