⁶ But they answered, “We will drink no wine, for ^(A)Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, ‘You shall not drink wine, neither you nor your sons forever.

⁵⁵ The clans also of the scribes who lived at Jabez: the Tirathites, the Shimeathites and the Sucathites. These are the ^(A)Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of ^(B)the house of Rechab.

¹⁵ for he will be ^(A)great before the Lord. And ^(B)he must not drink wine or strong ^(C)drink, and ^(D)he will be ^(E)filled with the Holy Spirit, ^(F)even from his mother's womb.

¹⁵ And when he departed from there, he met ^(A)Jehonadab the son of ^(B)Rechab coming to meet him. And he greeted him and said to him, “Is your heart true to my heart as mine is to yours?” And Jehonadab answered, “It is.” Jehu said,^[a] “If it is, ^(C)give me your hand.” So he gave him his hand. And Jehu took him up with him into the chariot.

¹⁴ She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, ^(A)neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe.”

⁷ but he said to me, ^(A)‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”

^9 (A)“Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.

¹¹ Beloved, I urge you ^(A)as sojourners and exiles ^(B)to abstain from the passions of the flesh, ^(C)which wage war against your soul.

^2 (A)“Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), ³ “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

²⁶ I think that in view of the present^[a] distress ^(A)it is good for a person to remain as he is. ²⁷ Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. ²⁸ But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman^[b] marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. ²⁹ This is what I mean, brothers: ^(B)the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, ³⁰ and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy ^(C)as though they had no goods, ³¹ and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For ^(D)the present form of this world is passing away.