1 Timothy 5:23

1 Timothy 5:23 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.
• New International Version (NIV)Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.
• English Standard Version (ESV)(No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.)
• New King James Version (NKJV)No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities.

Context of 1 Timothy 5:23

21I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels to observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing out of favoritism. 22Don’t be too quick to appoint anyone as an elder, and don’t share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure. Don’t continue drinking only water, but use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses. 24Some people’s sins are obvious, preceding them to judgment, but the sins of others surface later. 25Likewise, good works are obvious, and those that are not obvious cannot remain hidden.

1 Timothy 5:23 word by word

μηκέτι ὑδροπότει, ἀλλ᾽ οἴνῳ ὀλίγῳ χρῶ διὰ τὸν στόμαχον καὶ τὰς πυκνάς σου ἀσθενείας.Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• Drinkὑδροποτέωhudropoteō · to drink waterG5202
• no longerμηκέτιmēketi · never againG3371
• butἀλλάalla · butG235
• useχράωchraomai · to useG5530
• a littleὀλίγοςoligos · little/fewG3641
• wineοἶνοςoinos · wineG3631
• forδιάdia · through/because ofG1223
• thyσύsu · youG4771
• stomach’sστόμαχοςstomachos · stomachG4751
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• oftenπυκνόςpuknos · oftenG4437
• infirmitiesἀσθένειαastheneia · weakness: illG769

Cross-references for 1 Timothy 5:23

• 1 Timothy 3:3not an excessive drinker, not a bully but gentle, not quarrelsome, not greedy.
• 1 Timothy 4:4For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,
• Leviticus 10:9“You and your sons are not to drink wine or beer when you enter the tent of meeting, or else you will die; this is a permanent statute throughout your generations.
• Psalms 104:15wine that makes human hearts glad — making his face shine with oil — and bread that sustains human hearts.
• Proverbs 31:4It is not for kings, Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine or for rulers to desire beer.
• Ezekiel 44:21No priest may drink wine before he enters the inner court.
• Ephesians 5:18And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit:

Commentaries on 1 Timothy 5:23

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 23Drink no longer water, but use a little wine - The whole of this verse seems, to several learned critics and divines, strangely inserted in this place; it might have been, according to them, a note which the apostle inserted in the margin of his letter, on recollecting the precarious state of Timothy's health, and his great abstemiousness and self-denial. I believe the verse to be in its proper place; and, for reasons which I shall adduce, not less…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 23Drink no longer water - There has been much difficulty felt in regard to the connection which this advice has with what precedes and what follows. Many have considered the difficulty to be so great that they have supposed that this verse has been displaced, and that it should be introduced in some other connection. The true connection, and the reason for the introduction of the counsel here, seems to me to be this: Paul appears to have been suddenly…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 17-25Verses 17-25 Care must be taken that ministers are maintained. And those who are laborious in this work are worthy of double honour and esteem. It is their just due, as much as the reward of the labourer. The apostle charges Timothy solemnly to guard against partiality. We have great need to watch at all times, that we do not partake of other men's sins. Keep thyself pure, not only from doing the like thyself, but from countenancing it, or any way helping…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 23The concern with being pure might have been excessive regarding wine or food (5:22; see 3:3; Numbers 6:1–21; 1 Corinthians 10:21). People may have considered wine as medicine.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2323. no longer--as a habit. This injunction to drink wine occasionally is a modification of the preceding "keep thyself pure." The presbyter and deacon were enjoined to be "not given to wine" (1Ti 3:3, 8). Timothy seems to have had a tendency to undue ascetical strictness on this point (compare Note, see on 1Ti 4:8; compare the Nazarene vow, Nu 6:1-4; John the Baptist, Lu 1:15; Ro 14). Paul therefore modifies the preceding words, "keep thyself pure,"…Read the comment

Topics related to 1 Timothy 5:23

• Dyspepsia
• Wine

In the dictionaries

• Beforehand
• Deny
• Guide
• Marry
• Reproachfully
• Requite
• Reward
• Infirmity
• Often
• Stomach

Commentaries on 1 Timothy 5

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings