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100 Bible Verses about Abstaining From Meat

1 Timothy 4:1-16 ESV / 69 helpful votes

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. ...

Leviticus 11:1-47 ESV / 59 helpful votes

And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth. Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. Nevertheless, among those that chew the cud or part the hoof, you shall not eat these: The camel, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. And the rock badger, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. ...

Acts 15:29 ESV / 58 helpful votes

That you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”

1 Timothy 4:3 ESV / 50 helpful votes

Who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

Romans 14:21 ESV / 49 helpful votes

It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.

Genesis 9:3 ESV / 46 helpful votes

Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.

Romans 14:1-23 ESV / 45 helpful votes

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. ...

Colossians 2:16 ESV / 25 helpful votes

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.

Genesis 1:29 ESV / 25 helpful votes

And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV / 24 helpful votes

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 8:13 ESV / 23 helpful votes

Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

Romans 14:3 ESV / 23 helpful votes

Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.

Mark 7:19 ESV / 22 helpful votes

Since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)

1 Timothy 4:4 ESV / 21 helpful votes

For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,

1 Corinthians 8:8 ESV / 21 helpful votes

Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.

Isaiah 65:25 ESV / 21 helpful votes

The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.

John 14:6 ESV / 19 helpful votes

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Daniel 1:12 ESV / 19 helpful votes

“Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink.

Romans 14:2 ESV / 18 helpful votes

One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.

Acts 15:20 ESV / 18 helpful votes

But should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.

Hebrews 13:4 ESV / 16 helpful votes

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

2 Timothy 1:7 ESV / 16 helpful votes

For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

1 Timothy 4:3-5 ESV / 16 helpful votes

Who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

1 Timothy 4:1 ESV / 16 helpful votes

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,

Acts 15:1-41 ESV / 16 helpful votes

But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.” ...

Luke 24:42-43 ESV / 16 helpful votes

They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.

1 Peter 2:11 ESV / 15 helpful votes

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

Colossians 2:20-23 ESV / 15 helpful votes

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Luke 1:37 ESV / 15 helpful votes

For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Proverbs 3:5 ESV / 15 helpful votes

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

1 Peter 5:7 ESV / 14 helpful votes

Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Romans 14:17 ESV / 14 helpful votes

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Romans 14:6 ESV / 14 helpful votes

The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.

Isaiah 41:10 ESV / 14 helpful votes

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Leviticus 11:7 ESV / 14 helpful votes

And the pig, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you.

Genesis 1:29-30 ESV / 14 helpful votes

And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 ESV / 13 helpful votes

Abstain from every form of evil.

1 Corinthians 10:25 ESV / 13 helpful votes

Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience.

Luke 22:19 ESV / 13 helpful votes

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

1 Timothy 4:5 ESV / 12 helpful votes

For it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

Philippians 4:13 ESV / 12 helpful votes

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

1 Corinthians 6:19 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

1 Corinthians 6:12 ESV / 12 helpful votes

“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.

Matthew 15:11 ESV / 12 helpful votes

It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”

Isaiah 11:6-9 ESV / 12 helpful votes

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 ESV / 11 helpful votes

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;

Galatians 2:20 ESV / 11 helpful votes

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Romans 14:15 ESV / 11 helpful votes

For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.

Romans 14:14 ESV / 11 helpful votes

I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean.

Romans 12:2 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:1 ESV / 11 helpful votes

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

John 1:1 ESV / 11 helpful votes

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Jeremiah 7:22-23 ESV / 11 helpful votes

For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’

Hebrews 13:9 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.

1 Timothy 4:6 ESV / 10 helpful votes

If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.

1 Timothy 4:2 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,

Ephesians 5:3 ESV / 10 helpful votes

But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.

Galatians 6:7 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.

Luke 7:33 ESV / 10 helpful votes

For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’

Hosea 6:6 ESV / 10 helpful votes

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Deuteronomy 14:1-29 ESV / 10 helpful votes

“You are the sons of the Lord your God. You shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. “You shall not eat any abomination. These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. ...

Genesis 1:1 ESV / 10 helpful votes

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

2 Timothy 2:22 ESV / 9 helpful votes

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

1 Timothy 5:23 ESV / 9 helpful votes

(No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.)

1 Timothy 4:8 ESV / 9 helpful votes

For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

1 Timothy 3:8 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 ESV / 9 helpful votes

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,

Colossians 2:1-23 ESV / 9 helpful votes

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. ...

Galatians 5:22 ESV / 9 helpful votes

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

1 Corinthians 8:9 ESV / 9 helpful votes

But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.

Romans 14:23 ESV / 9 helpful votes

But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

Romans 14:2-3 ESV / 9 helpful votes

One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.

Acts 17:10-11 ESV / 9 helpful votes

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

Ecclesiastes 5:18 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.

Proverbs 23:2 ESV / 9 helpful votes

And put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite.

Exodus 3:14 ESV / 9 helpful votes

God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

Revelation 3:20 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Revelation 1:1-20 ESV / 8 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood ...

1 Timothy 4:11 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Command and teach these things.

Colossians 3:5 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Philippians 4:8 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Philippians 4:6 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Ephesians 3:20 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,

Galatians 5:19-21 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Acts 15:12 ESV / 8 helpful votes

And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

Acts 10:1-48 ESV / 8 helpful votes

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. ...

Luke 24:30 ESV / 8 helpful votes

When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them.

Daniel 1:1-21 ESV / 8 helpful votes

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. ...

Psalm 23:1-6 ESV / 8 helpful votes

A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ...

Colossians 4:1-18 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven. Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. ...

Colossians 3:1-25 ESV / 7 helpful votes

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. ...

Colossians 1:1-29 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, ...

Ephesians 5:18 ESV / 7 helpful votes

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,

Ephesians 2:10 ESV / 7 helpful votes

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:8 ESV / 7 helpful votes

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

2 Corinthians 13:14 ESV / 7 helpful votes

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Romans 14:5 ESV / 7 helpful votes

One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

Matthew 14:17-21 ESV / 7 helpful votes

They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Numbers 22:21-33 ESV / 7 helpful votes

So Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab. But God's anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. And the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand. And the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. And Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the road. Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam's foot against the wall. So he struck her again. ...

Genesis 9:1-29 ESV / 7 helpful votes

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. ...

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