Bible Verses About Total Abstinence: General references

Then the LORD said to Aaron,

“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.

You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the clean and the unclean,

he is to abstain from wine and strong drink. He must not drink vinegar made from wine or strong drink, and he must not drink any grape juice or eat fresh grapes or raisins.

All the days of his separation, he is not to eat anything that comes from the grapevine, not even the seeds or skins.

Now please be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, and not to eat anything unclean.

So the angel of the LORD answered Manoah, “Your wife is to do everything I told her.

She 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.”

By order of the king, no limit was placed on the drinking, and every official of his household was to serve each man whatever he desired.

Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat.

Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.

In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.

It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to crave strong drink,

“We do not drink wine,” they replied, “for our forefather Jonadab son of Rechab commanded us, ‘Neither you nor your descendants are ever to drink wine.

Nor are you ever to build a house or sow seed or plant a vineyard. Those things are not for you. Instead, you must live in tents all your lives, so that you may live a long time in the land where you wander.’

And we have obeyed the voice of our forefather Jonadab son of Rechab in all he commanded us. So we have not drunk wine all our lives—neither we nor our wives nor our sons and daughters.

The words of Jonadab son of Rechab have been carried out. He commanded his sons not to drink wine, and they have not drunk it to this very day because they have obeyed the command of their forefather. But I have spoken to you again and again, and you have not obeyed Me!

for 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.