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.
Proverbs 31:3–5
Semantically similar passages
Sirach 31:24–26
24 The city will murmur at him who is a stingy with his food. The testimony of his stinginess will be accurate. (WEB) 25 Don’t show yourself valiant in wine, for wine has destroyed many. (WEB) 26 The furnace tests the temper of steel by dipping; so does wine test hearts in the quar… (WEB)
Sirach 9:8–10
8 Turn your eye away from a beautiful woman, and don’t gaze at another’s beauty. Many have been led astray by the beauty of a woman; and with this, passion is kindled like a fire. (WEB) 9 Don’t dine at all with a woman who has a husband, or revel with her at wine, lest… (WEB) 10 … (WEB)
Proverbs 20:1–2
1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by them is not wise. 2 The terror of a king is like the roar of a lion; whoever provokes him forfeits his own life.
Hosea 4:10–12
10 They will eat but not be satisfied; they will be promiscuous but not multiply. For they have stopped obeying the LORD. 11 Promiscuity, wine, and new wine take away understanding. 12 My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spir…
Isaiah 5:21–23
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. 22 Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and champions in mixing beer, 23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice.
Proverbs 23:19–21
19 Listen, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right course. 20 Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat. 21 For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.
Sirach 19:1–3
1 A worker who is a drunkard will not become rich. He who despises small things will fall little by little. (WEB) 2 Wine and women will make men of understanding go astray. He who joins with prostitutes is reckless. (WEB) 3 Decay and worms will have him as their heritage. A reck… (WEB)
Tobit 4:14–16
14 Don’t let the wages of any man who works for you wait with you, but give it to him out of hand. If you serve God, you will be rewarded. Take heed to yourself, my child, in all your works, and be discreet in all your behavior. (WEB) 15 And what you yourself hate, do to… (WEB) 16 … (WEB)
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