Leviticus 10:9
in Leviticus 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.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Drink no wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tent of meeting, that ye die not: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations:
KJV
Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations:
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This verse in Leviticus 10
Commentary
10 notes on this versePriests given to wine are both condemned by the apostle and forbidden by the old law. Those who serve the altar, we are told, must drink neither wine nor shechar. Now every intoxicating drink is in Hebrew called shechar, whether it is made of corn or of the juice of apples, whether you distil from the honeycomb a rude kind of mead or make a liquor by squeezing dates or strain a thick syrup from a decoction of corn. Whatever intoxicates and disturbs the balance of the mind avoid as you would wine.
This site's exposition
the LORD spake unto Aaron
on Leviticus 10:8-9
Leviticus opens thirty-three passages with the LORD speaking to Moses, and this is the one place in the book where he speaks to Aaron directly. The rule bans wine and strong drink while the priests are in the tent and makes it a statute for ever. Its position immediately after the funeral is the ground on which Jamieson, Fausset and Brown report that many have read drink into verse 1, and the chapter itself never joins the two.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Septem Donis, Collation 4 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Gratuitous knowledge is called the knowledge of the Saints, because it has nothing of vice mixed in, nothing of carnality, nothing of curiosity, and nothing of vanity. Whence in Leviticus: "The Lord also said to Aaron: You and your sons shall not drink wine or …
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
At other times they were allowed it (it was not expected that every priest should be a Nazarite), but during the time of their ministration they were forbidden it. This was one of the laws in Ezekiel's temple ( Ezek. xliv. 21 ), and so it is required of gospel ministers that they be not given to wine, 1 Tim. iii.
Drink not wine - it is not improbable, that the sin of Nadab and Abihu was owing to this very thing. But if not, yet drunkenness is so odious a sin in itself, especially in a minister, and most of all in the time of his administration of sacred things, that God saw fit to prevent all occasions of it.
Do not drink wine or strong drink,....
For (as bishop Hall well observes here) "It is a dangerous thing, in the service of God, to decline from his own institutions; we have to do with a God who is wise to prescribe his own worship, just to require what he has prescribed, and powerful to revenge what he has not prescribed." 3.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
When the priest was on duty he was to abstain from wine and strong drink, lest he should commit excess (see Lev 10:1), and so become disqualified for carrying out the precepts of the ceremonial Law. Lev 10:9 Strong drink - The Hebrew word is employed here to denote strong drinks of any kind except wine made from the grape. Lev 10:10 Unholy ... unclean - Common, as not consecrated; and what would occasion defilement by being touched or eaten. Compare Act 10:
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Do not drink wine nor strong drink--This prohibition, and the accompanying admonitions, following immediately the occurrence of so fatal a catastrophe [Le 10:1, 2], has given rise to an opinion entertained by many, that the two disobedient priests were under the influence of intoxication when they committed the offense which was expiated only by their lives.
Do not drink wine nor strong drink - The cabalistical commentator, Baal Hatturim, and others, have supposed, from the introduction of this command here, that Aaron’s sons had sinned through excess of wine, and that they had attempted to celebrate the Divine service in a state of inebriation. Strong drink - The word שכר shechar, from shachar, to inebriate, signifies any kind of fermented liquors. This is exactly the same prohibition that was given in the case of John Baptist, Luk 1:15: Οινον και σικερα ου μη πιῃ· Wine and sikera he shall not drink. Any inebriating liquor, says St. Jerome, (Epist. ad nepot)., is called sicera, whether made of corn, apples, honey, dates, or other fruit. One of the four prohibited drinks among the Mohammedans in India is called sakar, (see the Hedaya, vol. iv., p. 158), which signifies inebriating drink in general, but especially date wine or arrack. From the original word probably we have borrowed our term cider or sider, which among us exclusively signifies the fermented juice of apples. See on Luk 1:15 (note).
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
ולהבדיל AND TO DISTINGUISH [BETWEEN THE HOLY AND THE UNHOLY] — i. e., Observe this law in order that ye may be able to distinguish between a holy (valid) sacrificial act and one which has become profane (invalid). Thus you may learn that if one performed a sacrificial rite in a state of intoxication his ministry was invalid (Sifra, Shemini, Section 1; Zevachim 17b).
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
[So that you may] distinguish between what is sacred and what is mundane, between what is impure and what is pure.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
16 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יַ֣יִן | yayin | wine | H3196 → | |
| וְשֵׁכָ֞ר | veshekhar | and strong drink | H7941 → | |
| אַל־ | ʾal- | may not | H408 → | 724 times |
| תֵּ֣שְׁתְּ׀ | teshet | you drink | H8354 → | |
| אַתָּ֣ה׀ | ʾatah | you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| וּבָנֶ֣יךָ | uvaneikha | and sons your | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| אִתָּ֗ךְ | ʾitakh | with you | H854 → | 929 times |
| בְּבֹאֲכֶ֛ם | bevoakhem | when go you | H935 → | 2568 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | into | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אֹ֥הֶל | ʾohel | [the] tent of | H168 → | 345 times |
| מוֹעֵ֖ד | moed | meeting | H4150 → | 223 times |
| וְלֹ֣א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תָמֻ֑תוּ | tamutu | you will die | H4191 → | 839 times |
| חֻקַּ֥ת | chukat | a statute of | H2708 → | 104 times |
| עוֹלָ֖ם | olam | perpetuity | H5769 → | 438 times |
| לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶֽם׃ | ledoroteikhem | to generations your | H1755 → | 167 times |
יַ֣יִןwine
yayinH3196 →
וְשֵׁכָ֞רand strong drink
veshekharH7941 →
אַל־may not
ʾal-H408 →724 times
תֵּ֣שְׁתְּ׀you drink
teshetH8354 →
אַתָּ֣ה׀you
ʾatahH859 →1094 times
וּבָנֶ֣יךָand sons your
uvaneikhaH1121 →4930 times
אִתָּ֗ךְwith you
ʾitakhH854 →929 times
בְּבֹאֲכֶ֛םwhen go you
bevoakhemH935 →2568 times
אֶל־into
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
אֹ֥הֶל[the] tent of
ʾohelH168 →345 times
מוֹעֵ֖דmeeting
moedH4150 →223 times
וְלֹ֣אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
תָמֻ֑תוּyou will die
tamutuH4191 →839 times
חֻקַּ֥תa statute of
chukatH2708 →104 times
עוֹלָ֖םperpetuity
olamH5769 →438 times
לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶֽם׃to generations your
ledoroteikhemH1755 →167 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ephesians 5:18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
it leads to
- Proverbs 20:1
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Luke 1:15
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.
- Romans 13:13
Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
- Galatians 5:21–25
and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
- Acts 11:24
Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.
- Proverbs 20:1
Through
Luke 1:15for 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.
it leads to
- Ephesians 5:18
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 1:5
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
- Numbers 6:2–4
“Speak to the Israelites and tell them that if a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the LORD,
- Ephesians 5:18
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Leviticus
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Andrew Bonar, A Commentary on Leviticus; Bonaventure, Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 4; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, LETTER 52.11; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.