| Scripture |
Expanded Comments |
| 1 Wine is a scorner, strong drink is raging; and whoso erreth thereby is not wise. |
Wine is a mocker – Wine personifies alcohol. R3270:2
Intemperance is one of the most dreadful curses afflicting humanity. R2873:1
The cost of intemperance is not merely of the liquor, but of the crimes and diseases attendant. R3859:6
There is also an intoxication of pleasure, of fashion, of pride and fond desire, which seeks to stupify the new mind. R2873:5
The intemperate use of spiritous liquors is an apt illustration of the course and effect of sin in general. R1631:2
A clear knowledge of the divine plan should lead us more diligently to bring every power and talent of mind and body into full subjection to the divine will. R2873:5
The "royal priests" are in more danger from symbolic wine than from natural. R4031:5
If others are drunk with wine, let us be filled with a different kind of wine--the holy Spirit. R5038:6
We desire to express our full sympathy with the temperance cause. R3859:6
While the wise man does not say that a moderate use of alcohol brings woe and sorrow, most who tarry long at wine reached that condition through habit after beginning with the intention of being only moderate drinkers. R3271:2
Drink is raging – A warning against a foe so subtle and destructive to peace and righteousness. R1444:4
The amount spent in the United States for liquor is nearly four times that spent to conduct the government. (1894) R1631:5
Statistics of 1899 show that 72% of all criminals were made so by strong drink. R3055:1
The devil is for the saloon, God is against it; vice is for it, virtue is against it; the brothel is for it, the home is against it; the anarchist is for it, the statesman is against it; poverty is for it, plenty is against it; misery is for it, happiness is against it; disease is for it, health is against it; death is for it, life is against it. R4007:3*
Not wise Though the advocacy of total abstinence is radical and unscriptural, whoever trifles with this mocker is in danger of being deceived by it. R2533:2
Who permit themselves to be deceived by sin in any of its forms, for the pleasures of sin are brief and unsatisfying. R1631:5
Circumstances and climate here, as well as the purity of the liquors, differ much from those of Jesus and the apostles. R509:5
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| 2 The terror of a king is as the roaring of a lion: he that provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul. |
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| 3 It is an honour for a man to cease from strife; but every fool rusheth into it. |
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| 4 The sluggard will not plough by reason of the winter; he shall beg in harvest, and have nothing. |
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| 5 Counsel in the heart of man is deep water, and a man of understanding draweth it out. |
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| 6 Most men will proclaim every one his own kindness; but a faithful man who shall find? |
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| 7 The righteous walketh in his integrity: blessed are his children after him! |
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| 8 A king sitting on the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes. |
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| 9 Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? |
Made my heart clean – "In my flesh dwelleth no good thing" (Rom. 7:18) --no perfection, and all imperfection is un-right, and all unrighteousness is sin. R2721:3
I am pure – "If we say (speaking of our flesh and ignoring the justification provided in Christ to cover its blemishes) that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (1 John 1:8) R2721:3
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| 10 Divers weights, divers measures, even both of them are abomination to Jehovah. |
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| 11 Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right. |
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| 12 The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, Jehovah hath made even both of them. |
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| 13 Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread. |
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| 14 Bad! bad! saith the buyer; but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth. |
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| 15 There is gold, and a multitude of rubies; but the lips of knowledge are a precious Jewel. |
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| 16 Take his garment that is become surety for another, and hold him in pledge for strangers. |
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| 17 Bread of falsehood is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel. |
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| 18 Plans are established by counsel; and with good advice make war. |
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| 19 He that goeth about talebearing revealeth secrets; therefore meddle not with him that openeth his lips. |
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| 20 Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in the blackest darkness. |
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| 21 An inheritance obtained hastily at the beginning will not be blessed in the end. |
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| 22 Say not, I will recompense evil: wait on Jehovah, and he shall save thee. |
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| 23 Divers weights are an abomination unto Jehovah; and a false balance is not good. |
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| 24 The steps of a man are from Jehovah; and how can a man understand his own way? |
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| 25 It is a snare to a man rashly to say, It is hallowed, and after vows to make inquiry. |
It is a snare – Leeser translates this verse: "It is a snare to a man to sanctify things hastily and to make inquiry only after having made vows." R2081:1
To make inquiry – In the sense of reconsidering the cost and, in view of the cost, whether or not we shall keep it. R2081:1
But it is a blessing to make thorough inquiry, and register afresh, our consecration vow. R4265:6
If, after vowing, inquiry finds it greater and more comprehensive than first supposed, let one not break it, but, as in Psa. 50:14, "I will pay my vows unto the Most High." R4265:6
"When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it. Better it is that thou shouldest not vow than that thou shouldest vow and not pay." (Eccl. 5:4, 5) R4265:6, R2154:5
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| 26 A wise king scattereth the wicked, and bringeth the wheel over them. |
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| 27 Man's spirit is the lamp of Jehovah, searching all the inner parts of the belly. |
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| 28 Mercy and truth preserve the king; and he upholdeth his throne by mercy. |
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| 29 The glory of young men is their strength; and the beauty of old men is the grey head. |
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| 30 Wounding stripes purge away evil, and strokes purge the inner parts of the belly. |
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