Verses About Drunkenness in the Bible (and the Way Out)
The Bible says drunkenness is a sin, and it’s blunt about what it does: it takes away your understanding, wrecks your judgment, and keeps you coming back for more. But the same Bible says drunkards can be washed clean. These verses show both sides, with a short note on what each means if you’re the one who keeps getting drunk.
“Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things. You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast. “They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink.””
Read the last line slowly. Beaten up, can’t feel it, and the first thought on waking is another drink. That was written thousands of years ago. It still describes a drinking problem better than most modern books do.
What drunkenness does to a person
“…whoredom, wine, and new wine, which take away the understanding.”
Hosea says wine takes away understanding. People make choices drunk that they’d never make sober, and then live with them sober.
“These also reel with wine and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are swallowed by wine, they stagger with strong drink, they reel in vision, they stumble in giving judgment.”
Even priests and prophets stumbled. Being religious doesn’t protect you. Some of the people hiding the hardest drinking problems sit in church every Sunday.
“Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags.”
Heavy drinking costs you. Money, sleep, work, time with your kids. Proverbs counts the cost before you pay it.
Stories the Bible tells honestly
“Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent.”
Noah, the man who walked with God, got drunk and lay exposed in his tent. Good people get drunk. Scripture doesn’t hide it, and you don’t have to hide it either.
“And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until the morning light. In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.”
Nabal was drunk at a party while his household was nearly destroyed. When he heard the truth in the morning, he was crushed. Hearing the morning-after story is one of the worst parts of drinking.
“Awake, you drunkards, and weep, and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth.”
Joel tells drunkards to wake up and weep. Sometimes waking up hurts. But it’s the start of something better than staying asleep.
Why it matters to God
“Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”
Paul says to walk decently, as in the daytime. Then he says how: put on Christ and stop planning ahead for the flesh. In recovery, that means not keeping a bottle “just in case.”
“So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.”
Sober, awake, protected. Paul pictures faith and love as armor. Drunkenness takes the armor off.
“For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.”
Peter says you’ve spent enough time living that way. That’s not a scolding. It’s an invitation to stop wasting more days.
The best news on this page
“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
Drunkards are in Paul’s list. Then come four words that change everything: “Such were some of you.” Some of the first Christians were drunks, and they were washed, made holy, and made right with God. You can be too.
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live selfcontrolled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,”
God’s grace doesn’t just forgive. It trains you, day by day, to live a sober, upright life.
If you’re not sure it’s a problem
Some people read this list and think, I don’t get drunk that often. Maybe not. But if you plan your week around drinking, lie about how much you had, or can’t remember the end of the night, take that seriously. You don’t have to wait for a disaster like Nabal’s. Read Signs of alcoholism and answer the questions honestly.
If you woke up today ashamed of last night, read Feeling ashamed after drinking? If you’re wondering where the line is, see Is getting drunk a sin?
Safety first. If you drink heavily every day, stopping suddenly can be dangerous. Talk to a doctor before you quit.
A prayer after a bad night
“God, I got drunk again. I don’t remember all of it and I’m afraid of what I’ll find out. Wash me the way You washed the people in Corinth. Give me the humility to face what I did, and the strength to make this the last time. Amen.”
One thing to do today
Ask yourself one honest question: how many times in the last month did I drink more than I meant to? Write the number down. Then tell one person the number.
Talk it through with Jimmy or Sarah — first month free
Jimmy and Sarah are AI sponsors who know the Twelve Steps and the Bible. They'll listen, walk the steps with you, and keep pointing you to real people: a meeting, a sponsor, a church.
Free to download · first month free, no card · adults 18+
After the first month, talking with Jimmy or Sarah needs Plus ($9.99/month or $59.99/year).
Common questions
What does the Bible say about drunkenness?
It calls drunkenness a sin, lists it with other works of the flesh, and shows in story after story how it damages families. It also says drunkards can be washed and made new, as some of the first Christians were.
Who got drunk in the Bible?
Noah got drunk after the flood and lay uncovered in his tent, where his son saw him. Lot was made drunk by his daughters. Nabal got drunk at a feast the night before disaster. Elah, a king of Israel, was killed while drunk (1 Kings 16:9-10).
Can God forgive drunkenness?
Yes. 1 Corinthians 6:11 says some of the believers in Corinth used to be drunkards, and they were washed. Read Will God forgive me for drinking? for more.
Talk it through with Jimmy or Sarah — first month free
Jimmy and Sarah are AI sponsors who know the Twelve Steps and the Bible. They'll listen, walk the steps with you, and keep pointing you to real people: a meeting, a sponsor, a church.
Free to download · first month free, no card · adults 18+
After the first month, talking with Jimmy or Sarah needs Plus ($9.99/month or $59.99/year).
Get the daily reading by email
One short reading a day: a verse, a few honest words, one thing to do and a prayer. Unsubscribe any time.
We'll send one email to confirm. We never share your address.