Thematic Bible
Thematic Bible
Adultery » Adulterers and adulteresses
‘The man who commits adultery with another’s wife, even his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall most certainly be put to death.
“If a man is intimate with a woman who is another man’s wife, they shall both be put to death, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall remove the evil from Israel.
To keep you from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a loose woman. Lust not after her beauty in your heart, neither let her capture you with her eyelids. For on account of a harlot a man is brought to a piece of bread, and the adulteress stalks and snares [as with a hook] the precious life [of a man]. read more.
Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burned? So he who cohabits with his neighbor's wife [will be tortured with evil consequences and just retribution]; he who touches her shall not be innocent or go unpunished. Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry; But if he is found out, he must restore seven times [what he stole]; he must give the whole substance of his house [if necessary -- "to meet his fine]. But whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks heart and understanding (moral principle and prudence); he who does it is destroying his own life. Wounds and disgrace will he get, and his reproach will not be wiped away. For jealousy makes [the wronged] man furious; therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance [upon the detected one].
Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burned? So he who cohabits with his neighbor's wife [will be tortured with evil consequences and just retribution]; he who touches her shall not be innocent or go unpunished. Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry; But if he is found out, he must restore seven times [what he stole]; he must give the whole substance of his house [if necessary -- "to meet his fine]. But whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks heart and understanding (moral principle and prudence); he who does it is destroying his own life. Wounds and disgrace will he get, and his reproach will not be wiped away. For jealousy makes [the wronged] man furious; therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance [upon the detected one].
There are three things which are too wonderful for me, yes, four which I do not understand: The way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent upon a rock, the way of a ship in the midst of the sea, and the way of a man with a maid. This is the way of an adulterous woman: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, I have done no wickedness.
When the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery. They made her stand in the middle of the court and put the case before Him. Teacher, they said, This woman has been caught in the very act of adultery. Now Moses in the Law commanded us that such [women -- "offenders] shall be stoned to death. But what do You say [to do with her -- "what is Your sentence]?
Marriage is to be held in honor among all [that is, regarded as something of great value], and the marriage bed undefiled [by immorality or by any sexual sin]; for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
Verse Concepts
AdulterersAdultery and DivorceFaithfulness, In Human RelationshipsAdultery, Consequences OfAdultery, Results OfBeing A HusbandImmorality, Nature Of SexualLaw, Ten CommandmentsLove, In RelationshipsSex Within MarriageMotives, Importance OfPurity, Moral And SpiritualSeductionSexualitySexual Sin, Nature OfSleep, PhysicalMarriageBedsSexual ChastityDesign Of MarriageImpurityCohabitationSexual Relationships
PornographyCourtingHealthy MarriagesHonour The HonourableReasons To Wait For MarriageAbusive RelationshipsAdultery In The ChurchSexual Immorality Brings PunishmentDefilementsexSexual ImmoralityBeing GayGay MarriageSex Before MarriageInfidelitySame Sex MarriageSexual Puritycouplesmarraigeadultrymatrimonyjournaling
You adulteresses [disloyal sinners—flirting with the world and breaking your vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world’s friend [that is, loving the things of the world] is being God’s enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Verse Concepts
Adultery, SpiritualAdulterersBad InfluenceCommitment, to the worldBeing A FriendChoicesdouble mindednessAttitudes, Of Christians To The WorldCompromise, ForbiddenGospel, Responses ToHatredHoliness, Worldly SeparationLove, Abuse OfReconciliation, Of The World To GodRiches, Dangers OfSociety, Positive Aspects OfSpiritual Warfare, Enemies In
And to the angel (messenger) of the assembly (church) in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, Who has eyes that flash like a flame of fire, and Whose feet glow like bright and burnished and white-hot bronze: I know your record and what you are doing, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your recent works are more numerous and greater than your first ones. But I have this against you: that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess [claiming to be inspired], and who is teaching and leading astray my servants and beguiling them into practicing sexual vice and eating food sacrificed to idols. read more.
I gave her time to repent, but she has no desire to repent of her immorality [symbolic of idolatry] and refuses to do so. Take note: I will throw her on a bed [ of anguish], and those who commit adultery with her [her paramours] I will bring down to pressing distress and severe affliction, unless they turn away their minds from conduct [such as] hers and repent of their doings.
I gave her time to repent, but she has no desire to repent of her immorality [symbolic of idolatry] and refuses to do so. Take note: I will throw her on a bed [ of anguish], and those who commit adultery with her [her paramours] I will bring down to pressing distress and severe affliction, unless they turn away their minds from conduct [such as] hers and repent of their doings.
Destruction » Who destroys their own soul
But whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks common sense and sound judgment and an understanding [of moral principles];
He who would destroy his soul does it.
Understanding » Who is void of understanding
So this I say and solemnly testify in [the name of] the Lord [as in His presence], that you must no longer live as the heathen (the Gentiles) do in their perverseness [in the folly, vanity, and emptiness of their souls and the futility] of their minds. Their moral understanding is darkened and their reasoning is beclouded. [They are] alienated (estranged, self-banished) from the life of God [with no share in it; this is] because of the ignorance (the want of knowledge and perception, the willful blindness) that is deep-seated in them, due to their hardness of heart [to the insensitiveness of their moral nature]. In their spiritual apathy they have become callous and past feeling and reckless and have abandoned themselves [a prey] to unbridled sensuality, eager and greedy to indulge in every form of impurity [that their depraved desires may suggest and demand].
He who tills his land will have plenty of bread,
But he who follows worthless things lacks common sense and good judgment.
But whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks common sense and sound judgment and an understanding [of moral principles];
He who would destroy his soul does it.
Because when they knew and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks. But instead they became futile and godless in their thinking [with vain imaginings, foolish reasoning, and stupid speculations] and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools [professing to be smart, they made simpletons of themselves]. And by them the glory and majesty and excellence of the immortal God were exchanged for and represented by images, resembling mortal man and birds and beasts and reptiles.
All who make graven idols are confusion, chaos, and worthlessness. Their objects (idols) in which they delight do not profit them, and their own witnesses (worshipers) do not see or know, so that they are put to shame. Who is [such a fool as] to fashion a god or cast a graven image that is profitable for nothing? Behold, all his fellows shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen, [how can they make a god?] they are but men. Let them all be gathered together, let them stand forth; they shall be terrified, they shall be put to shame together. read more.
The ironsmith sharpens and uses a chisel and works it over the coals; he shapes [the core of the idol] with hammers and forges it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. The carpenter stretches out a line, he marks it out with a pencil or red ocher; he fashions [an idol] with planes and marks it out with the compasses; and he shapes it to have the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, that it may dwell in a house. He hews for himself cedars, and takes the holm tree and the oak and lets them grow strong for himself among the trees of the forest; he plants a fir tree or an ash, and the rain nourishes it. Then it becomes fuel for a man to burn; a part of it he takes and warms himself, yes, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. [Then out of the remainder, the leavings] he also makes a god and worships it! He [with his own hands] makes it into a graven image and falls down and worships it! He burns part of the wood in the fire; with part of it he [cooks and] eats flesh, he roasts meat and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire! And from what is left [of the log] he makes a god, his graven idol. He falls down to it, he worships it and prays to it and says, Deliver me, for you are my god! They do not know or understand, for their eyes God has let become besmeared so that they cannot see, and their minds as well so that they cannot understand. And no one considers in his mind, nor has he knowledge and understanding [enough] to say [to himself], I have burned part of this log in the fire, and also I have baked bread on its coals and have roasted meat and eaten it. And shall I make the remainder of it into an abomination [the very essence of what is disgusting, detestable, and shamefully vile in the eyes of a jealous God]? Shall I fall down and worship the stock of a tree [a block of wood without consciousness or life]?
The ironsmith sharpens and uses a chisel and works it over the coals; he shapes [the core of the idol] with hammers and forges it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. The carpenter stretches out a line, he marks it out with a pencil or red ocher; he fashions [an idol] with planes and marks it out with the compasses; and he shapes it to have the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, that it may dwell in a house. He hews for himself cedars, and takes the holm tree and the oak and lets them grow strong for himself among the trees of the forest; he plants a fir tree or an ash, and the rain nourishes it. Then it becomes fuel for a man to burn; a part of it he takes and warms himself, yes, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. [Then out of the remainder, the leavings] he also makes a god and worships it! He [with his own hands] makes it into a graven image and falls down and worships it! He burns part of the wood in the fire; with part of it he [cooks and] eats flesh, he roasts meat and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire! And from what is left [of the log] he makes a god, his graven idol. He falls down to it, he worships it and prays to it and says, Deliver me, for you are my god! They do not know or understand, for their eyes God has let become besmeared so that they cannot see, and their minds as well so that they cannot understand. And no one considers in his mind, nor has he knowledge and understanding [enough] to say [to himself], I have burned part of this log in the fire, and also I have baked bread on its coals and have roasted meat and eaten it. And shall I make the remainder of it into an abomination [the very essence of what is disgusting, detestable, and shamefully vile in the eyes of a jealous God]? Shall I fall down and worship the stock of a tree [a block of wood without consciousness or life]?
Evil men do not understand justice,
But they who long for and seek the Lord understand it fully.
Many will be purged, purified (made white) and refined, but the wicked will behave wickedly. None of the wicked shall understand, but those who are [spiritually] wise will understand.
Women » Wicked » Full of deceit and licentiousness
And I discovered that [of all irrational sins none has been so destructive in beguiling one away from God as immoral women for] more bitter than death is the woman whose heart is [composed of] snares and nets, and whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases God will escape from her, but the sinner will be taken captive by her [evil].
For the lips of a loose woman drip honey as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil; But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged and devouring sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold of Sheol (Hades, the place of the dead). read more.
She loses sight of and walks not in the path of life; her ways wind about aimlessly, and you cannot know them. Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, and depart not from the words of my mouth. Let your way in life be far from her, and come not near the door of her house [avoid the very scenes of temptation], Lest you give your honor to others and your years to those without mercy, Lest strangers [and false teachings] take their fill of your strength and wealth and your labors go to the house of an alien [from God] -- " And you groan and mourn when your end comes, when your flesh and body are consumed, And you say, How I hated instruction and discipline, and my heart despised reproof! I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers nor submitted and consented to those who instructed me. [The extent and boldness of] my sin involved almost all evil [in the estimation] of the congregation and the community. Drink waters out of your own cistern [of a pure marriage relationship], and fresh running waters out of your own well. Should your offspring be dispersed abroad as water brooks in the streets? [Confine yourself to your own wife] let your children be for you alone, and not the children of strangers with you. Let your fountain [of human life] be blessed [with the rewards of fidelity], and rejoice in the wife of your youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant doe [tender, gentle, attractive] -- "let her bosom satisfy you at all times, and always be transported with delight in her love. Why should you, my son, be infatuated with a loose woman, embrace the bosom of an outsider, and go astray?
She loses sight of and walks not in the path of life; her ways wind about aimlessly, and you cannot know them. Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, and depart not from the words of my mouth. Let your way in life be far from her, and come not near the door of her house [avoid the very scenes of temptation], Lest you give your honor to others and your years to those without mercy, Lest strangers [and false teachings] take their fill of your strength and wealth and your labors go to the house of an alien [from God] -- " And you groan and mourn when your end comes, when your flesh and body are consumed, And you say, How I hated instruction and discipline, and my heart despised reproof! I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers nor submitted and consented to those who instructed me. [The extent and boldness of] my sin involved almost all evil [in the estimation] of the congregation and the community. Drink waters out of your own cistern [of a pure marriage relationship], and fresh running waters out of your own well. Should your offspring be dispersed abroad as water brooks in the streets? [Confine yourself to your own wife] let your children be for you alone, and not the children of strangers with you. Let your fountain [of human life] be blessed [with the rewards of fidelity], and rejoice in the wife of your youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant doe [tender, gentle, attractive] -- "let her bosom satisfy you at all times, and always be transported with delight in her love. Why should you, my son, be infatuated with a loose woman, embrace the bosom of an outsider, and go astray?
[Discretion shall watch over you, understanding shall keep you] to deliver you from the alien woman, from the outsider with her flattering words, Who forsakes the husband and guide of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God. For her house sinks down to death and her paths to the spirits [of the dead]. read more.
None who go to her return again, neither do they attain or regain the paths of life.
None who go to her return again, neither do they attain or regain the paths of life.
To keep you from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a loose woman. Lust not after her beauty in your heart, neither let her capture you with her eyelids. For on account of a harlot a man is brought to a piece of bread, and the adulteress stalks and snares [as with a hook] the precious life [of a man]. read more.
Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burned? So he who cohabits with his neighbor's wife [will be tortured with evil consequences and just retribution]; he who touches her shall not be innocent or go unpunished.
Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burned? So he who cohabits with his neighbor's wife [will be tortured with evil consequences and just retribution]; he who touches her shall not be innocent or go unpunished.
But whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks heart and understanding (moral principle and prudence); he who does it is destroying his own life. Wounds and disgrace will he get, and his reproach will not be wiped away. For jealousy makes [the wronged] man furious; therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance [upon the detected one]. read more.
He will not consider any ransom [offered to buy him off from demanding full punishment]; neither will he be satisfied, though you offer him many gifts and bribes.
He will not consider any ransom [offered to buy him off from demanding full punishment]; neither will he be satisfied, though you offer him many gifts and bribes.
For at the window of my house I looked out through my lattice. And among the simple (empty-headed and emptyhearted) ones, I perceived among the youths a young man void of good sense, Sauntering through the street near the [loose woman's] corner; and he went the way to her house read more.
In the twilight, in the evening; night black and dense was falling [over the young man's life]. And behold, there met him a woman, dressed as a harlot and sly and cunning of heart. She is turbulent and willful; her feet stay not in her house; Now in the streets, now in the marketplaces, she sets her ambush at every corner. So she caught him and kissed him and with impudent face she said to him, Sacrifices of peace offerings were due from me; this day I paid my vows. So I came forth to meet you [that you might share with me the feast from my offering]; diligently I sought your face, and I have found you. I have spread my couch with rugs and cushions of tapestry, with striped sheets of fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until morning; let us console and delight ourselves with love. For the man is not at home; he is gone on a long journey; He has taken a bag of money with him and will come home at the day appointed [at the full moon]. With much justifying and enticing argument she persuades him, with the allurements of her lips she leads him [to overcome his conscience and his fears] and forces him along. Suddenly he [yields and] follows her reluctantly like an ox moving to the slaughter, like one in fetters going to the correction [to be given] to a fool or like a dog enticed by food to the muzzle Till a dart [of passion] pierces and inflames his vitals; then like a bird fluttering straight into the net [he hastens], not knowing that it will cost him his life. Listen to me now therefore, O you sons, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. Let not your heart incline toward her ways, do not stray into her paths. For she has cast down many wounded; indeed, all her slain are a mighty host. Her house is the way to Sheol (Hades, the place of the dead), going down to the chambers of death.
In the twilight, in the evening; night black and dense was falling [over the young man's life]. And behold, there met him a woman, dressed as a harlot and sly and cunning of heart. She is turbulent and willful; her feet stay not in her house; Now in the streets, now in the marketplaces, she sets her ambush at every corner. So she caught him and kissed him and with impudent face she said to him, Sacrifices of peace offerings were due from me; this day I paid my vows. So I came forth to meet you [that you might share with me the feast from my offering]; diligently I sought your face, and I have found you. I have spread my couch with rugs and cushions of tapestry, with striped sheets of fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until morning; let us console and delight ourselves with love. For the man is not at home; he is gone on a long journey; He has taken a bag of money with him and will come home at the day appointed [at the full moon]. With much justifying and enticing argument she persuades him, with the allurements of her lips she leads him [to overcome his conscience and his fears] and forces him along. Suddenly he [yields and] follows her reluctantly like an ox moving to the slaughter, like one in fetters going to the correction [to be given] to a fool or like a dog enticed by food to the muzzle Till a dart [of passion] pierces and inflames his vitals; then like a bird fluttering straight into the net [he hastens], not knowing that it will cost him his life. Listen to me now therefore, O you sons, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. Let not your heart incline toward her ways, do not stray into her paths. For she has cast down many wounded; indeed, all her slain are a mighty host. Her house is the way to Sheol (Hades, the place of the dead), going down to the chambers of death.
You adulterous wife, who welcomes and receives strangers instead of her husband!
Women » Subtle and deceitful
And I discovered that [of all irrational sins none has been so destructive in beguiling one away from God as immoral women for] more bitter than death is the woman whose heart is [composed of] snares and nets, and whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases God will escape from her, but the sinner will be taken captive by her [evil].
To keep you from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a loose woman. Lust not after her beauty in your heart, neither let her capture you with her eyelids. For on account of a harlot a man is brought to a piece of bread, and the adulteress stalks and snares [as with a hook] the precious life [of a man]. read more.
Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burned? So he who cohabits with his neighbor's wife [will be tortured with evil consequences and just retribution]; he who touches her shall not be innocent or go unpunished.
Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burned? So he who cohabits with his neighbor's wife [will be tortured with evil consequences and just retribution]; he who touches her shall not be innocent or go unpunished.
But whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks heart and understanding (moral principle and prudence); he who does it is destroying his own life. Wounds and disgrace will he get, and his reproach will not be wiped away. For jealousy makes [the wronged] man furious; therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance [upon the detected one]. read more.
He will not consider any ransom [offered to buy him off from demanding full punishment]; neither will he be satisfied, though you offer him many gifts and bribes.
He will not consider any ransom [offered to buy him off from demanding full punishment]; neither will he be satisfied, though you offer him many gifts and bribes.
For at the window of my house I looked out through my lattice. And among the simple (empty-headed and emptyhearted) ones, I perceived among the youths a young man void of good sense, Sauntering through the street near the [loose woman's] corner; and he went the way to her house read more.
In the twilight, in the evening; night black and dense was falling [over the young man's life]. And behold, there met him a woman, dressed as a harlot and sly and cunning of heart. She is turbulent and willful; her feet stay not in her house; Now in the streets, now in the marketplaces, she sets her ambush at every corner. So she caught him and kissed him and with impudent face she said to him, Sacrifices of peace offerings were due from me; this day I paid my vows. So I came forth to meet you [that you might share with me the feast from my offering]; diligently I sought your face, and I have found you. I have spread my couch with rugs and cushions of tapestry, with striped sheets of fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until morning; let us console and delight ourselves with love. For the man is not at home; he is gone on a long journey; He has taken a bag of money with him and will come home at the day appointed [at the full moon]. With much justifying and enticing argument she persuades him, with the allurements of her lips she leads him [to overcome his conscience and his fears] and forces him along. Suddenly he [yields and] follows her reluctantly like an ox moving to the slaughter, like one in fetters going to the correction [to be given] to a fool or like a dog enticed by food to the muzzle Till a dart [of passion] pierces and inflames his vitals; then like a bird fluttering straight into the net [he hastens], not knowing that it will cost him his life. Listen to me now therefore, O you sons, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. Let not your heart incline toward her ways, do not stray into her paths. For she has cast down many wounded; indeed, all her slain are a mighty host. Her house is the way to Sheol (Hades, the place of the dead), going down to the chambers of death.
In the twilight, in the evening; night black and dense was falling [over the young man's life]. And behold, there met him a woman, dressed as a harlot and sly and cunning of heart. She is turbulent and willful; her feet stay not in her house; Now in the streets, now in the marketplaces, she sets her ambush at every corner. So she caught him and kissed him and with impudent face she said to him, Sacrifices of peace offerings were due from me; this day I paid my vows. So I came forth to meet you [that you might share with me the feast from my offering]; diligently I sought your face, and I have found you. I have spread my couch with rugs and cushions of tapestry, with striped sheets of fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until morning; let us console and delight ourselves with love. For the man is not at home; he is gone on a long journey; He has taken a bag of money with him and will come home at the day appointed [at the full moon]. With much justifying and enticing argument she persuades him, with the allurements of her lips she leads him [to overcome his conscience and his fears] and forces him along. Suddenly he [yields and] follows her reluctantly like an ox moving to the slaughter, like one in fetters going to the correction [to be given] to a fool or like a dog enticed by food to the muzzle Till a dart [of passion] pierces and inflames his vitals; then like a bird fluttering straight into the net [he hastens], not knowing that it will cost him his life. Listen to me now therefore, O you sons, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. Let not your heart incline toward her ways, do not stray into her paths. For she has cast down many wounded; indeed, all her slain are a mighty host. Her house is the way to Sheol (Hades, the place of the dead), going down to the chambers of death.