27 Bible Verses about Adultery

And {you must not have sex} with your fellow citizen's wife, becoming unclean with her.

But they did not listen to their leaders, but lusted after other gods and bowed down to them. They turned away quickly from the way that their ancestors went, who had obeyed the commandment of Yahweh; they did not do [as their ancestors].

Gideon made an ephod [out of] it, and he put it in his town in Ophrah, and all Israel prostituted [themselves] to it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.

But they transgressed against the God of their ancestors and prostituted themselves after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.

And they became unclean by their works, and were unfaithful in their deeds.

And your fugitives will remember me among the nations [to] which they were taken captive, that I was shattered by {their adulterous heart} which departed from me, and by {their adulterous eyes} which [went] after their idols, and they will feel loathing {for themselves}, for the evil that they did, for all of their detestable things.

" 'As for a man who commits adultery with a man's wife, who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, [both] the man who commits adultery and the woman who commits adultery shall surely be put to death.

"If a man is found lying {with a married woman}, then they shall both die; {both of them}, the man who lay with the woman and the woman [also], so you shall purge the evil from Israel.

[in order] to preserve you from an evil woman, from the smoothness of [the] tongue of {an adulteress}. Do not desire her beauty in your heart; may she not capture you with her eyelashes. For [the] price of a woman, a prostitute, [is the] price of a loaf of bread, but the {woman belonging to a man} hunts precious life. read more.
Can a man carry fire in his lap, and his clothes not burn? If a man walks upon the hot coals, will his feet not be burned? Thus, he who goes to the wife of his neighbor, any who touches her shall not go unpunished. [People] do not despise a thief when he steals to fill himself when he is hungry. But [if] he is found, he will pay sevenfold, every possession of his house he shall give. He who commits adultery [with] a woman lacks {sense}, he destroys himself who does it. A wound and dishonor he will find, and his disgrace will not be wiped out. For jealousy [is the] fury of a husband, and he will not show restraint on the day of revenge.

Three of these are [too] wonderful for me, and four, I do not understand them: the way of the eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship in the heart of the sea, and the way of a man with a young woman. This is the way of a woman committing adultery: she eats and wipes her mouth, and says "I have not done wrong."

Now the scribes and the Pharisees brought to him a woman caught in adultery. And standing her in [their] midst, they said to him, testing [him], "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery! Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?"

" 'As for a man who commits adultery with a man's wife, who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, [both] the man who commits adultery and the woman who commits adultery shall surely be put to death.

"You shall not commit adultery.

And [the] eye of [the] adulterer waits for dusk, saying, {'No eye will see me,'} and he places a covering [on his] face.

"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.'

Now I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except on the basis of sexual immorality, and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery."

And {you must not have sex} with your fellow citizen's wife, becoming unclean with her.

"You shall not commit adultery.

'And you shall not commit adultery.

He said to him, "Which [ones]?" And Jesus said, "Do not commit murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony,

Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another, for the one who loves someone else has fulfilled the law. For the [commandments], "You shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet," and if [there is] any other commandment, are summed up in this statement: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Now I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except on the basis of sexual immorality, and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery."

"And it was said, 'Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for a matter of sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

And he said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband [and] marries another, she commits adultery."

"Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and the one who marries a woman divorced from [her] husband commits adultery.

Or do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is master of a person for as long a time [as] he lives? For the married woman is bound by law to [her] husband while he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of the husband. Therefore as a result, if she belongs to another man [while] her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress [if she] belongs to another man.

And they started early the next day, and they offered burnt offerings, and they presented fellowship offerings, and the people sat to eat and drink, and they rose up to revel.

And Moses saw the people, that they [were] running wild because Aaron had allowed them to run wild, for a laughingstock among {their enemies}.

because they have done a disgraceful thing in Israel, and they have committed adultery with the wives of their neighbors, and they have spoken words in my name, lies that I have not commanded them, and I [am] he who knows, and [I am] a witness,' {declares} Yahweh."

Slanderous men are {among you} to shed blood, and they, {among you}, eat upon the mountains; they do wickedness in the midst of you. They uncover [the] nakedness of father among you; they violate [a woman] unclean of menstruation among you. And a man does a detestable thing [with] the wife of his neighbor, and a man defiles his daughter-in-law in wickedness, and a man sexually violates among you his sister, the daughter of his father.

You rely on your sword, you do a detestable thing, and {each man defiles} the wife of his neighbor, and [yet] you want to take possession of the land?" '

For Herod, [after] arresting John, bound him and put [him] in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because John had been saying to him, "It is not permitted for you to have her."

For Herod himself had sent [and] arrested John and bound him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of Philip his brother, because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, "It is not permitted for you to have your brother's wife."

But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him concerning Herodias, his brother's wife, and concerning all the evil deeds that Herod had done,

"Lift up your eyes at [the] barren heights, and see where you have not been ravished. Beside the roads you sat for them like an Arab in the desert, and you have defiled [the] land with your fornication and with your wickedness.

'And you trusted in your beauty, and you prostituted on account of your name, and you poured out your fornication on every [one] passing by, [saying], "Let it be his." And you took from your clothes and you made for yourself colorful shrines, and you prostituted on them; {this had not happened before}, and it {will not continue to happen}.

In those days there was no king in Israel; there was a man, a Levite, who dwelled as a foreigner in the remote areas of the hill country of Ephraim. And he took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. But his concubine felt repugnance toward him, and she left him and went to her father's house, to Bethlehem in Judah; she was there some four months. So her husband set out, and he went after her to speak {tenderly to her}, to bring her back. He took with him his servant and a pair of donkeys. And she brought him [to] her father's house, and the father of the young woman saw him and was glad to meet him. read more.
His father-in-law, the young woman's father, urged him to stay with him three days; and they ate and drank, and they spent the night there.

So Jesus, straightening up and seeing no one except the woman, said to her, "Where are those accusers of yours? Does no one condemn you?" And she said, "No one, Lord." So Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more."]]

This therefore I say and testify in the Lord, [that] you no longer walk as the Gentiles walk: in the futility of their mind, being darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance [that] is in them, because of the hardness of their heart, who, becoming callous, gave themselves over to licentiousness, for the pursuit of all uncleanness in greediness.

For the time that has passed [was] sufficient {to do what the Gentiles desire to do}, having lived in licentiousness, [evil] desires, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and wanton idolatries,

But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

For the married woman is bound by law to [her] husband while he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of the husband. Therefore as a result, if she belongs to another man [while] her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress [if she] belongs to another man.

The woman answered and said to him, "I do not have a husband." Jesus said to her, "You have said rightly, 'I do not have a husband,' for you have had five husbands, and [the one] whom you have now is not your husband; this you have said truthfully!"

While {they were enjoying themselves}, behold, the men of the city, {the perverse lot}, surrounded the house, pounding on the door. And they said to the old man, the owner of the house, "Bring out the man who came to your house so that {we may have sex with him}." So the man, the owner of the house, went out to them and said to them, "No, my brothers, do not act wickedly; since this man has come into my house, do not do this disgraceful thing. Here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. Please, let me bring them out; do violence to them, and do to them {whatever you please}. Do not do this disgraceful thing to this man." read more.
But the men were not willing to listen to him, and the man seized his concubine and brought [her] out to them; and they had intercourse with her, and they abused her all night until the morning; they let her go at the approach of dawn.

It happened afterwards that Absalom the son of David had a beautiful sister whose name [was] Tamar, and Amnon the son of David fell in love with her. And Amnon {was so frustrated that he felt ill} because of Tamar his sister, because she [was] a virgin, and it [was] too difficult in Amnon's eyes to do anything with her. Now Amnon had a friend whose name [was] Jonadab the son of Shimeah, the brother of David. (Now Jonadab [was] a very crafty man.) read more.
And he said to him, "Why [are] you so sullen {every morning}, O son of the king? Will you not tell me?" And Amnon said to him, "I [am] in love with Tamar, the sister of my brother Absalom." Then Jonadab said to him, "Lie down on your bed and appear ill. If your father comes to see you, you shall say to him, 'Please let Tamar my sister come and give me food to eat, and let her prepare the food before my eyes, in order that I may see it and eat from her hand.'" So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill, and the king came to see him. Amnon said to the king, "Please let Tamar my sister come, and let her bake two cakes before my eyes that I may eat from her hand." So David sent to the house for Tamar, saying, "Please go to the house of Amnon your brother and prepare food for him." Tamar went to the house of Amnon her brother. Now he [was] lying down, and she took the dough and kneaded [it] and made cakes before his eyes, and she baked the cakes. Then she took the pan and poured it out before him, but he refused to eat. Then Amnon said, "Let all [the] men go out from me." So all [the] men went out from him. Then Amnon said to Tamar, "Bring the food [to] the private room that I may eat from your hand." So Tamar took the cakes which she had made and brought them to Amnon her brother in the private room. When she brought them near to him to eat, he took hold of her and said to her, "Come, lie with me, my sister!" Then Tamar said to him, "No, my brother! Do not force me, for such a thing has not been done in Israel. Do not do this disgraceful thing! As for me, where should I take my disgrace? You will be as one of the fools in Israel. So please, speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you." But he [was] not willing to listen to her voice. He [was] stronger than she, and he forced her and lay with her. Then Amnon hated her {very deeply}, for the hatred with which he hated her [was] greater than [the] love with which he had loved her. So Amnon said to her, "Get up [and] go." She said to him, "No, because this evil in sending me away [is] greater than the other you have done to me." But he [was] not willing to listen to her. Then he called his young man who [was] serving him and said, "Please send this woman from me to the outside, and bolt the door behind her!" Now there [was] a long-sleeved robe on her, for so they clothed the daughters of the king who [were] virgins, in robes. His servant put her outside, and he bolted the door behind her. Tamar put ashes on her head, and she tore the long-sleeved robe which [was] on her. She put her hand on her head, and {she went away, crying out as she went}. Absalom her brother said to her, "[Was] Amnon your brother with you? But now, my sister, be quiet; he [is] your brother. {Do not take this matter to heart}." So Tamar remained a desolate woman in the house of Absalom her brother.

And the firstborn [daughter] said to the younger one, "Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to come in to us according to the manner of all the land. Come, let us give our father wine to drink and let us lie with him that {we may secure descendants through our father}." And they gave their father wine to drink that night, and the firstborn went and lay with her father, but he did not know when she lay down or when she got up. read more.
And it happened [that], the next day the firstborn said to the younger one, "Look, I laid with my father last night. Let us give him wine to drink also tonight, then go and lie with him that {we may secure descendants through our father}." And they gave their father wine to drink again that night, and the younger got up and lay with him, but he did not know when she lay down or when she got up. And the two daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. The firstborn gave birth to a son, and she called his name Moab. He [is] the father of Moab until this day. And the younger, she also gave birth to a son, and she called his name Ben-Ammi. He [is] the father of the {Ammonites} until this day.

Hear the word of Yahweh, children of Israel, for Yahweh has an indictment against the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or loyalty, there is no knowledge of God in the land. Swearing and lying, murdering and stealing, and adultery break out, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the land mourns, and all [those] living in it languish with the animals of the field, and the birds of the heaven, and even the fish of the sea are being swept away.

they said to him, testing [him], "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery! Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" (Now they were saying this to test him, so that they would have [an occasion] to bring charges against him.) But Jesus, bending down, began to write with [his] finger on the ground, taking no notice. read more.
And when they persisted in asking him, straightening up he said to them, "The [one] of you without sin, let him throw the first stone at her!" And bending down again, he wrote on the ground. Now [when they] heard [it], being convicted by their conscience, they began to depart, one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone--and the woman who was in [their] midst. So Jesus, straightening up and seeing no one except the woman, said to her, "Where are those accusers of yours? Does no one condemn you?" And she said, "No one, Lord." So Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more."]]

And it happened [that] after these things his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph, and she said, "Lie with me." But he refused and said to his master's wife, "Look, my master {does not worry about} what [is] in the house, and everything he owns he has put in my hand. He has no greater [authority] in this house than me, and he has not withheld anything from me except you, since you [are] his wife. Now how could I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" read more.
And it happened [that] as she spoke to Joseph {day after day}, he did not heed her to lie beside her or to be with her. {But one particular day} he came into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house were there in the house, she seized him by his garment [and] said, "Lie with me!" And he left his garment in her hand and fled, and he went outside.

{It came about in the spring}, at the time {kings} go out, David sent Joab and his servants with him and all of Israel. They ravaged all of the {Ammonites} and besieged Rabbah, but David [was] remaining in Jerusalem. It happened {late one afternoon} [that] David got up from his bed and walked about on the roof of the king's house, and he saw a woman bathing on her roof. Now the woman {was very beautiful}. David sent and inquired about the woman, and [someone] said, "[Is] this not Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" read more.
Then David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) And she returned to her house. The woman became pregnant, and she sent and told David, and she said, "I [am] pregnant."

And it happened [that] at that time Judah went down from his brothers and pitched his tent near a certain Adullamite, whose name [was] Hirah. And Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite there whose name [was] Shua. And he took her and went in to her. And she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er. read more.
And she conceived again and bore a son, and he called his name Onan. And once again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah. And he was in Chezib when she bore him. And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name [was] Tamar. And Er, the firstborn of Judah, was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and Yahweh killed him. Then Judah said to Onan, "Go in to the wife of your brother and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother." But Onan knew that the offspring would not be for him, so whenever he went in to the wife of his brother he would waste [it] on the ground so as not to give offspring to his brother. And what he did was evil in the sight of Yahweh, so he killed him also. Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, "Stay a widow in your father's house until Shelah my son grows up," for {he feared he would also die} like his brother. So Tamar went and stayed in the house of her father. {And in the course of time} the daughter of Shua, the wife of Judah, died. When Judah was consoled he went up to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite, to Timnah. And it was told to Tamar, saying, "Look, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep." So she removed the clothes of her widowhood and covered [herself] with the veil and disguised herself. And she sat at the entrance to Eynayim, which [is] on the way to Timnah, for she saw that Shelah was grown but she had not been given to him as a wife. And Judah saw her and reckoned her to [be] a prostitute, for she had covered her face. And he turned aside to her at the roadside and said, "Please come, let me come in to you," for he did not know that she [was] his daughter-in-law. And she said, "What will you give to me that you may come in to me?" And he said, "I will send a kid from the goats of the flock." And she said, "[Only] if you give a pledge until you send [it]." And he said, "What [is] the pledge that I must give to you?" And she said, "your seal, your cord, and your staff that [is] in your hand." And he gave [them] to her and went in to her. And she conceived by him. And she arose and left, and she removed her veil from herself and put on the garments of her widowhood. And Judah sent the kid from the goats by the hand of his friend the Adullamite to take [back] the pledge from the hand of the woman, but he could not find her. So he asked the men of her place, saying, "Where [is] that cult prostitute [that was] at Eynayim by the roadside?" And they said, "There is no cult prostitute here." Then he returned to Judah and said, "I could not find her. Morever, the men of the place said, 'There is no cult prostitute here.'" And Judah said, "Let her take [them] for herself, lest we be {laughed at}. Behold, I sent this kid, but you could not find her." And {about three months later} it was told to Judah, "Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the whore, and now, behold, she has conceived by prostitution." And Judah said, "Bring her out and let her be burned."

It is reported everywhere [that there] is sexual immorality among you, and sexual immorality of such a kind which [does] not [even exist] among the Gentiles, so that someone has the wife of [his] father. And you are inflated with pride, and should you not rather have mourned, so that the one who has done this deed would be removed from your midst? For [although I] am absent in body but present in spirit, I have already passed judgment on the one who has done this in this way, as [if I] were present. read more.
In the name of our Lord Jesus, [when] you are assembled, and my spirit, together with the power of our Lord Jesus, [I have decided] to hand over such a person to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, in order that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

And they called to Lot and said to him, "Where [are] the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we may know them." But Lot went out to them at the entrance, and he shut the door behind him. And he said, "No, my brothers, please do not do [such a] wrong [thing]. read more.
Behold, I have two daughters who have not known a man. Please, let me bring them out to you; then do to them as [it seems] good in your eyes. Only to these men do not do [this] thing, since they came under{ my roof} for protection."

Then they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he went [in] to the concubines of his father before the eyes of all Israel.

Now Eli was very old, and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel and that they [were] having sexual relations with the women who [were] serving [at] the entrance of [the] tent of assembly.

And while Israel was living in that land Reuben went and had sexual relations with Bilhah, his father's concubine. And Israel heard [about it].

But his concubine felt repugnance toward him, and she left him and went to her father's house, to Bethlehem in Judah; she was there some four months.

And Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. And he took her and lay with her and raped her.

Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior; he was the son of a prostitute, and {Gilead was his father}.

Samson went down to Gaza; there he saw a prostitute and {had sex with her}.

Now I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except on the basis of sexual immorality, and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery."

But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for a matter of sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

" 'As for a man who commits adultery with a man's wife, who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, [both] the man who commits adultery and the woman who commits adultery shall surely be put to death.

"You shall not commit adultery.

And [the] eye of [the] adulterer waits for dusk, saying, {'No eye will see me,'} and he places a covering [on his] face.

"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.'

Now I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except on the basis of sexual immorality, and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery."

" 'As for a man who commits adultery with a man's wife, who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, [both] the man who commits adultery and the woman who commits adultery shall surely be put to death.

"You shall not commit adultery.

And [the] eye of [the] adulterer waits for dusk, saying, {'No eye will see me,'} and he places a covering [on his] face.

"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.'

Now I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except on the basis of sexual immorality, and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery."

" 'As for a man who commits adultery with a man's wife, who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, [both] the man who commits adultery and the woman who commits adultery shall surely be put to death.

then you shall bring out {both of them} to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them with stones so that they shall die, the young woman because she did not cry out in the town, and the man because he violated his neighbor's wife; and so you shall purge the evil from your midst.

But they did not listen to their leaders, but lusted after other gods and bowed down to them. They turned away quickly from the way that their ancestors went, who had obeyed the commandment of Yahweh; they did not do [as their ancestors].

Gideon made an ephod [out of] it, and he put it in his town in Ophrah, and all Israel prostituted [themselves] to it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.

But they transgressed against the God of their ancestors and prostituted themselves after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.

And they became unclean by their works, and were unfaithful in their deeds.

And your fugitives will remember me among the nations [to] which they were taken captive, that I was shattered by {their adulterous heart} which departed from me, and by {their adulterous eyes} which [went] after their idols, and they will feel loathing {for themselves}, for the evil that they did, for all of their detestable things.

It happened {late one afternoon} [that] David got up from his bed and walked about on the roof of the king's house, and he saw a woman bathing on her roof. Now the woman {was very beautiful}. David sent and inquired about the woman, and [someone] said, "[Is] this not Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" Then David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) And she returned to her house. read more.
The woman became pregnant, and she sent and told David, and she said, "I [am] pregnant."