13 Bible Verses about Adultery, Examples Of

Most Relevant Verses

Genesis 19:31-38

The firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is aging, and there is not a man on earth [available] to be intimate with us in the customary way [so that we may have children]. Come, let us make our father drunk with wine, and we will lie with him so that we may preserve our family through our father.” So they gave their father wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or when she got up [because he was completely intoxicated]. read more.
Then the next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay with my father last night; let us make him drunk with wine tonight also, and then you go in and lie with him, so that we may preserve our family through our father.” So they gave their father wine that night also, and the younger got up and lay with him; and again he did not know when she lay down or when she got up. Thus both the daughters of Lot conceived by their father. The firstborn gave birth to a son, and named him Moab (from father); he is the father of the Moabites to this day. The younger also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-ammi (son of my people); he is the father of the Ammonites to this day.

Genesis 34:2

When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince (sheik) of the land, saw her, he kidnapped her and lay [intimately] with her by force [humbling and offending her].

Genesis 38:1-24

Now at that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to [stay with] a certain Adullamite named Hirah. There Judah saw a daughter of Shua, a Canaanite, and he took her [as his wife] and lived with her. So she conceived and gave birth to a son and Judah named him Er. read more.
Then she conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan. Again she conceived and gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah. It was at Chezib that she gave birth to him. Now Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn; her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord killed him [in judgment]. Then Judah told Onan, “Go in to your brother’s widow, and perform your duty as a brother-in-law [under the levirate marriage custom]; [be her husband and] raise children for [the name of] your brother.” Onan knew that the child (heir) would not be his [but his dead brother’s]; so whenever he lay with his brother’s widow, he spilled his seed on the ground [to prevent conception], so that he would not give a child to his brother. But what he did was displeasing in the sight of the Lord; therefore He killed him also [in judgment]. Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow at your father’s house until Shelah my [youngest] son is grown”; [but he was deceiving her] for he thought that [if Shelah should marry her] he too might die like his brothers did. So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house. But quite a while later, Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died; and when the time of mourning was ended, he went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah with his friend Hirah the Adullamite. Tamar was told, “Listen, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” So she removed her widow’s clothes and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself up [in disguise], and sat in the gateway of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife [as Judah had promised]. When Judah saw her, he thought she was a [temple] prostitute, for she had covered her face [as such women did]. He turned to her by the road, and said, “Please come, let me lie with you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, “What will you give me, that you may lie with me?” He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “Will you give me a pledge [as a deposit] until you send it?” He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She said, “Your seal and your cord, and the staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and was intimate with her, and she conceived by him. Then she got up and left, and removed her veil and put on her widow’s clothing. When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite, to get his pledge [back] from the woman, he was unable to find her. He asked the men of that place, “Where is the temple prostitute who was by the roadside at Enaim?” They said, “There was no prostitute here.” So he returned to Judah, and said, “I cannot find her; also the local men said, ‘There was no prostitute around here.’” Then Judah said, “Let her keep the things (pledge articles) for herself, otherwise we will be a laughingstock [searching everywhere for her]. After all, I sent this young goat, but you did not find her.” About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the [role of a] prostitute, and she is with child because of her immorality.” So Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned [to death as punishment]!”

1 Samuel 2:22

Now Eli was very old; and he heard about everything that his sons were doing to all [the people of] Israel, and how they were lying with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle).

2 Samuel 11:1-5

Then it happened in the spring, at the time when the kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all [the fighting men of] Israel, and they destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. One evening David got up from his couch and was walking on the [flat] roof of the king’s palace, and from there he saw a woman bathing; and she was very beautiful in appearance. David sent word and inquired about the woman. Someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” read more.
David sent messengers and took her. When she came to him, he lay with her. And when she was purified from her uncleanness, she returned to her house. The woman conceived; and she sent word and told David, “I am pregnant.”

2 Samuel 13:1-20

It happened afterwards that Absalom the son of David had a beautiful sister whose name was Tamar, and Amnon [her half brother] the son of David was in love with her. Amnon was so frustrated because of his [half-] sister Tamar that he made himself sick, for she was a virgin, and Amnon thought it impossible for him to do anything to her. But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab the son of Shimeah, David’s brother; and Jonadab was a very shrewd (cunning) man. read more.
He said to Amnon, “Why are you, the king’s son, so depressed morning after morning? Will you not tell me?” And Amnon said to him, “I am in love with Tamar, my [half-] brother Absalom’s sister.” Jonadab said to him, “Go to bed and pretend you are sick; and when your father [David] comes to see you, say to him, ‘Just let my sister Tamar come and serve me food, and let her prepare it in my sight, so that I may see it and eat it from her hand.’” So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick; and when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, “Please let my sister Tamar come and make me a couple of cakes in my sight, so that I may eat from her hand.” Then David sent word to the house for Tamar, saying, “Go now to your brother Amnon’s house, and prepare some food for him.” So Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house, and he was in bed. And she took dough and kneaded it, and made cakes in his sight, and baked them. She took the pan and dished them out before him, but he refused to eat. And Amnon said, “Have everyone leave me.” So everyone left him [except Tamar]. Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the bedroom, so that I may eat from your hand.” So Tamar took the cakes she had made and brought them into the bedroom to her [half-] brother Amnon. When she brought them to him to eat, he took hold of her and said, “Come, lie with me, my sister.” She replied, “No, my brother! Do not violate me, for such a thing is not done in Israel; do not do this disgraceful thing! As for me, how could I get rid of my shame and disgrace? And you, you will be considered one of the fools in Israel. So now, just speak to the king [about taking me as your wife], for he will not withhold me from you.” But he would not listen to her; and since he was stronger than she, he violated her and lay with her. Then Amnon became extremely hateful toward her, for his hatred toward her was greater than the love which he had for her. And Amnon said to her, “Get up and get out!” But she said, “No, because this wrong of sending me away is worse than the other that you have done to me!” But he would not listen to her. Instead, he called his young man who was his personal servant and said, “Now throw this woman out of my presence and bolt the door behind her.” Now Tamar was wearing a [long-sleeved] robe of various colors; for that is how the virgin daughters of the king dressed themselves in robes. Then Amnon’s personal servant took her out and bolted the door behind her. So Tamar put dust on her head [in grief] and tore the long-sleeved robe which she had on, and she put her hand on her head and went away crying out [for help]. So her brother Absalom said to her, “Has your brother Amnon been with you? But now keep silent, my sister; he is your brother; do not take this matter to heart.” So Tamar remained secluded in her brother Absalom’s house.

John 4:17

The woman answered, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I do not have a husband’;

2 Samuel 11:1-4

Then it happened in the spring, at the time when the kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all [the fighting men of] Israel, and they destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. One evening David got up from his couch and was walking on the [flat] roof of the king’s palace, and from there he saw a woman bathing; and she was very beautiful in appearance. David sent word and inquired about the woman. Someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” read more.
David sent messengers and took her. When she came to him, he lay with her. And when she was purified from her uncleanness, she returned to her house.

Jeremiah 5:7


“Why should I [overlook these offenses and] forgive you?
Your children have abandoned (rejected) Me
And sworn [their oaths] by those who are not gods.
When I had fed them until they were full [and bound them to Me by a promise],
They committed [spiritual] adultery,
Assembling in troops at the houses of prostitutes (idols).

Jeremiah 29:23

because they have acted foolishly in Israel and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and in My Name have spoken false and concocted words, which I did not command them. I am He who knows and I am a witness,” says the Lord.’”

Hosea 3:1-3

Then the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman (Gomer) who is beloved by her husband and yet is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love the raisin cakes [used in the feasts in pagan worship].” So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley [the price of a common slave]. And I said to her, “You shall stay with me for many days. You shall not play the prostitute nor shall you have a man; so I will also be toward you [until you have proved your faithfulness].”

John 8:3

Now the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery. They made her stand in the center of the court,

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