| Easton's Bible Dictionary Conjugal infidelity. An adulterer was a man who had illicit intercourse with a married or a betrothed woman, and such a woman was an adulteress. Intercourse between a married man and an unmarried woman was fornication. Adultery was regarded as a great social wrong, as well as a great sin. The Mosaic law (Numbers 5:11-31) prescribed that the suspected wife should be tried by the ordeal of the "water of jealousy." There is, however, no recorded instance of the application of this law. In subsequent times the Rabbis made various regulations with the view of discovering the guilty party, and of bringing about a divorce. It has been inferred from John 8:1-11 that this sin became very common during the age preceding the destruction of Jerusalem. Idolatry, covetousness, and apostasy are spoken of as adultery spiritually (Jeremiah 3:6, 8, 9; Ezek. 16:32; Hosea 1:2:3; Revelation 2:22). An apostate church is an adulteress (Isaiah 1:21; Ezek. 23:4, 7, 37), and the Jews are styled "an adulterous generation" (Matthew 12:39). (Comp. Revelation 12.) Noah Webster's Dictionary 1. (n.) The unfaithfulness of a married person to the marriage bed; sexual intercourse by a married man with another than his wife, or voluntary sexual intercourse by a married woman with another than her husband. 2. (n.) Adulteration; corruption. 3. (n.) Lewdness or unchastity of thought as well as act, as forbidden by the seventh commandment. 4. (n.) Faithlessness in religion. 5. (n.) The fine and penalty imposed for the offense of adultery. 6. (n.) The intrusion of a person into a bishopric during the life of the bishop. 7. (n.) Injury; degradation; ruin. Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia ADULTERY a-dul'-ter-i: In Scripture designates sexual intercourse of a man, whether married or unmarried, with a married woman.
1. Its Punishment:
It is categorically prohibited in the Decalogue (seventh commandment, Exodus 20:14 Deuteronomy 5:18): "Thou shalt not commit adultery." In more specific language we read: "And thou shalt not he carnally with thy neighbor's wife, to defile thyself with her" (Leviticus 18:20). The penalty is death for both guilty parties: "And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death" (Leviticus 20:10). The manner of death is not particularized; according to the rabbis (Siphra' at the place; Sanhedhrin 52b) it is strangulation. It would seem that in the days of Jesus the manner of death was interpreted to mean stoning ("Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such," John 8:5, said of the woman taken in adultery). Nevertheless, it may be said that in the case in question the woman may have been a virgin betrothed unto a husband, the law (in Deuteronomy 22:23) providing that such a person together with her paramour be stoned to death (contrast Deuteronomy 22:22, where a woman married to a husband is spoken of and the manner of death is again left general). Ezekiel 16:40 (compare 23:47) equally mentions stoning as the penalty of the adulteress; but it couples to her sin also that of shedding blood; hence, the rabbinic interpretation is not necessarily disputed by the prophet. Of course it may also be assumed that a difference of custom may have obtained at different times and that the progress was in the line of leniency, strangulation being regarded as a more humane form of execution than stoning.
2. Trial by Ordeal:
The guilty persons become amenable to the death penalty only when taken "in the very act" (John 8:4). The difficulty of obtaining direct legal evidence is adverted to by the rabbis (see Makkoth 7a). In the case of a mere suspicion on the part of the husband, not substantiated by legal evidence, the woman is compelled by the law (Numbers 5:11-30) to submit to an ordeal, or God's judgment, which consists in her drinking the water of bitterness, that is, water from the holy basin mingled with dust from the floor of the sanctuary and with the washed-off ink of a writing containing the oath which the woman has been made to repeat. The water is named bitter with reference to its effects in the case of the woman's guilt; on the other hand, when no ill effects follow, the woman is proved innocent and the husband's jealousy unsubstantiated. According to the Mishna (SoTah 9) this ordeal of the woman suspected of adultery was abolished by Johanan ben Zaccai (after 70 A.D.), on the ground that the men of his generation were not above the suspicion of impurity.
See article BITTER, BITTERNESS.
3. A Heinous Crime:
Adultery was regarded as a heinous crime (Job 31:11). The prophets and teachers in Israel repeatedly upbraid the men and women of their generations for their looseness in morals which did not shrink from adulterous connections. Naturally where luxurious habits of life were indulged in, particularly in the large cities, a tone of levity set in: in the dark of the evening, men, with their features masked, waited at their neighbors' doors (Job 24:15; Job 31:9; compare Proverbs 7), and women forgetful of their God's covenant broke faith with the husbands of their youth (Proverbs 2:17). The prophet Nathan confronted David after his sin with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, with his stern rebuke ("Thou art the man," 2 Samuel 12:7); the penitential psalm (Psalm 51)-"Miserere"-was sung by the royal bard as a prayer for divine pardon. Promiscuous intercourse with their neighbors' wives is laid by Jeremiah at the door of the false prophets of his day (Jeremiah 23:10, 14; Jeremiah 29:23).
4. Penal and Moral Distinctions:
While penal law takes only cognizance of adulterous relations, it is needless to say that the moral law discountenances all manner of illicit intercourse and all manner of unchastity in man and woman. While the phrases "harlotry," "commit harlotry," in Scripture denote the breach of wedlock (on the part of a woman), in the rabbinical writings a clear distinction is made on the legal side between adultery and fornication. The latter is condemned morally in no uncertain terms; the seventh commandment is made to include all manner of fornication. The eye and the heart are the two intermediaries of sin (Palestinian Talmud, Berakhoth 6b). A sinful thought is as wicked as a sinful act (Niddah 13b and elsewhere). Job makes a covenant with his eyes lest he look upon a virgin (31:1). And so Jesus who came "not to destroy, but to fulfill" (Matthew 5:17), in full agreement with the ethical and religious teaching of Judaism, makes the intent of the seventh commandment explicit when he declares that "every one that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already In his heart" (Matthew 5:28). And in the spirit of Hosea (Hosea 4:15) and Johanan ben Zaccai (see above) Jesus has but scorn for those that are ready judicially to condemn though they be themselves not free from sin! "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her" (John 8:7). Whereas society is in need of the death penalty to secure the inviolability of the home life, Jesus bids the erring woman go her way and sin no more. How readily His word might be taken by the unspiritual to imply the condoning of woman's peccability is evidenced by the fact that the whole section (John 7:53-8:11) is omitted by "most ancient authorities" (see Augustine's remark).
5. A Ground of Divorce:
Adultery as a ground of divorce. -The meaning of the expression "some unseemly thing" (Deuteronomy 24:1) being unclear, there was great variety of opinion among the rabbis as to the grounds upon which a husband may divorce his wife. While the school of Hillel legally at least allowed any trivial reason as a ground for divorce, the stricter interpretation which limited it to adultery alone obtained in the school of Shammai. Jesus coincided with the stricter view (see Matthew 5:32; Matthew 19:9, and commentaries). From a moral point of view, divorce was discountenanced by the rabbis likewise, save of course for that one ground which indeed makes the continued relations between husband and wife a moral impossibility.
See also CRIMES; DIVORCE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT; DIVORCE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.
Max L. Margolis |  | Multi-Version Concordance Adultery (49 Occurrences) Matthew 5:27 "You have heard that it was said,'You shall not commit adultery;' (WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Matthew 5:28 but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. (WEB KJV ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Matthew 5:32 but I tell you that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery. (WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart proceed wicked thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, perjury, impiety of speech. (WEY RSV NIV) Matthew 19:9 I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries her when she is divorced commits adultery." (WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Matthew 19:18 He said to him, "Which ones?" Jesus said, "'You shall not murder.''You shall not commit adultery.''You shall not steal.''You shall not offer false testimony.' (WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Mark 7:21 For from within, out of men's hearts, their evil purposes proceed--fornication, theft, murder, adultery, (WEY RSV NIV) Mark 10:11 He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife, and marries another, commits adultery against her. (WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Mark 10:12 If a woman herself divorces her husband, and marries another, she commits adultery." (WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Mark 10:19 You know the commandments:'Do not murder,''Do not commit adultery,''Do not steal,''Do not give false testimony,''Do not defraud,''Honor your father and mother.'" (WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Luke 16:18 Everyone who divorces his wife, and marries another, commits adultery. He who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery. (WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Luke 18:20 You know the commandments:'Don't commit adultery,''Don't murder,''Don't steal,''Don't give false testimony,''Honor your father and your mother.'" (WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) John 8:3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman taken in adultery. Having set her in the midst, (WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) John 8:4 they told him, "Teacher, we found this woman in adultery, in the very act. (WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Romans 2:22 You who say a man shouldn't commit adultery. Do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? (WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Romans 13:9 For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not give false testimony," "You shall not covet," and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Galatians 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, (WEB KJV WBS YLT) James 2:11 For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not commit murder." Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. (WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) 2 Peter 2:14 having eyes full of adultery, and who can't cease from sin; enticing unsettled souls; having a heart trained in greed; children of cursing; (WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Revelation 2:22 Behold, I will throw her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great oppression, unless they repent of her works. (WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Revelation 17:2 with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality, and those who dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine of her sexual immorality." (See NIV) Revelation 18:3 For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality, the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from the abundance of her luxury." (See NIV) Revelation 18:9 The kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived wantonly with her, will weep and wail over her, when they look at the smoke of her burning, (See NIV) Exodus 20:14 "You shall not commit adultery. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Leviticus 20:10 "'The man who commits adultery with another man's wife, even he who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Deuteronomy 5:18 "Neither shall you commit adultery. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Psalms 51:1 For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. (See NIV) Proverbs 6:32 He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. He who does it destroys his own soul. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Jeremiah 3:6 And the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen what Israel, turning away from me, has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every branching tree, acting like a loose woman there. (See NIV) Jeremiah 3:8 I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce, yet treacherous Judah, her sister, didn't fear; but she also went and played the prostitute. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NIV) Jeremiah 3:9 It happened through the lightness of her prostitution, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS NAS RSV NIV) Jeremiah 5:7 How can I pardon you? your children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the prostitutes' houses. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Jeremiah 7:9 Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known, (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Jeremiah 23:14 In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies; and they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that none does return from his wickedness: they are all of them become to me as Sodom, and its inhabitants as Gomorrah. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Jeremiah 29:23 because they have worked folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I didn't command them; and I am he who knows, and am witness, says Yahweh. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Ezekiel 16:32 A wife who commits adultery! who takes strangers instead of her husband! (WEB KJV JPS ASV WBS YLT) Ezekiel 16:38 And I will judge thee with the judgments of women that commit adultery and shed blood; and I will give thee up to the blood of fury and jealousy; (DBY NAS NIV) Ezekiel 23:27 Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy adultery brought from the land of Egypt: so that thou shalt not lift up thy eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more. (WBS) Ezekiel 23:37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands; and with their idols have they committed adultery; and they have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass through the fire to them to be devoured. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Ezekiel 23:43 And I say of the worn-out one in adulteries, Now they commit her whoredoms -- she also! (See NAS RSV NIV) Ezekiel 23:45 As to righteous men, they judge them with the judgment of adulteresses, And the judgment of women shedding blood, For they 'are' adulteresses, And blood 'is' in their hands. (See NIV) Hosea 1:2 When Yahweh spoke at first by Hosea, Yahweh said to Hosea, "Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and children of unfaithfulness; for the land commits great adultery, forsaking Yahweh." (WEB NIV) Hosea 2:2 Plead ye with your mother -- plead, (For she 'is' not My wife, and I 'am' not her husband,) And she turneth her whoredoms from before her, And her adulteries from between her breasts, (See NAS RSV) Hosea 2:4 Indeed, on her children I will have no mercy; for they are children of unfaithfulness; (See NIV) Hosea 4:2 There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Hosea 4:13 They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute, and your brides commit adultery. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS NAS RSV NIV) Hosea 4:14 I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute, nor your brides when they commit adultery; because the men consort with prostitutes, and they sacrifice with the shrine prostitutes; so the people without understanding will come to ruin. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Hosea 4:15 "Though you, Israel, play the prostitute, yet don't let Judah offend; and don't come to Gilgal, neither go up to Beth Aven, nor swear,'As Yahweh lives.' (See NIV) Hosea 7:4 They all practise adultery, as an oven heated by the baker: he ceaseth from stirring the fire after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened. (DBY) |
