Quick answer
Hosea does not treat wine as a moral neutral in these texts. He shows wine joined to the taking away of the heart and to the corruption of rulers.
Hosea 4:11 (KJV)
“Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.”
Hosea 7:5 (KJV)
“In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners.”
In the wider Bible-wine survey, these passages belong on the warning side.
What these passages show
The phrase “take away the heart” matters because it speaks to judgment, perception, and moral steadiness. That language belongs naturally with the Bible’s sober-minded warnings.
Read them alongside is drinking a sin, is drinking alcohol biblical, and wine in the Bible.
Keep these texts together
Read Hosea with Isaiah’s woe passages, with Proverbs 20 and 23, and with the New Testament calls to be vigilant and not ruled by appetites.
Frequently asked questions
What does “take away the heart” contribute to the argument?
It makes the issue larger than outward intoxication. The point reaches into discernment, desire, and spiritual steadiness.
Do these passages fit a two-wines reading?
Yes. They show that Scripture itself has a curse-side stream of wine language that must be kept visible alongside blessing texts.
Key answers connected to this page
- Two wines in the Bible — Read the two-wines case and why blessing passages and warning passages should not be flattened together.