Biblical Question

What does the Bible say about adultery?

Q: What does the Bible say about adultery?

Short answer for What does the Bible say about adultery?: retrieved texts are reported directly; where claims exceed cited passages, state INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE.

Retrieved texts include Galatians 5:19, Colossians 3:5, Hosea 1:2, Exodus 20:14.

The texts do not directly address broader modern formulations; NO DIRECT REFERENCE IN SOURCE TEXTS and INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE apply beyond retrieved passages.

THEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

1. QUESTION

What does the Bible say about adultery?

2. PRIMARY TEXTUAL EVIDENCE

The retrieved texts provide direct statements concerning adultery:

Prohibitive Command:

"Thou shalt not commit adultery." — Exodus 20:14 (KJV)

Prescribed Penalty in Mosaic Law:

"And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death." — Leviticus 20:10 (KJV)

Definition Involving Remarriage:

"Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery." — Luke 16:18 (KJV)

Adultery as a "Work of the Flesh":

"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness" — Galatians 5:19 (KJV)

Prophetic Condemnation (Metaphorical and Literal):

"I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, and thine abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean?" — Jeremiah 13:27 (KJV)

Procedural Law Concerning Suspected Adultery:

"This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled" — Numbers 5:29 (KJV)

2. LINGUISTIC/HISTORICAL DATA (From Texts Provided)

Leviticus 20:10 specifies adultery as sexual relations with "another man's wife" or "neighbour's wife," indicating the texts define adultery in relation to the marital status of the woman involved.
Luke 16:18 expands the definition to include remarriage after divorce, treating it as equivalent to adultery.
Jeremiah 13:27 and Hosea 1:2 employ adultery/whoredom language metaphorically to describe Israel's spiritual unfaithfulness to the LORD, suggesting the term carries both literal and covenantal/theological dimensions in the prophetic literature.

3. SCHOLARLY POSITIONS (As Suggested by the Texts)

The retrieved passages suggest at minimum two dimensions of adultery within the biblical corpus:

Literal/Sexual: Violation of the marriage covenant through extramarital sexual relations (Exodus 20:14; Leviticus 20:10; Luke 16:18).
Metaphorical/Covenantal: Israel's idolatry and unfaithfulness to God described as spiritual adultery or whoredom (Jeremiah 13:27; Hosea 1:2).

The texts do not provide explicit scholarly commentary; these categories emerge directly from the textual evidence.

4. SOURCES

Exodus 20:14 (KJV)
Leviticus 20:10 (KJV)
Numbers 5:12 (KJV)
Numbers 5:29 (KJV)
Deuteronomy 23:18 (KJV)
Jeremiah 13:27 (KJV)
Hosea 1:2 (KJV)
Ezekiel 16:26 (KJV)
Mark 7:22 (KJV)
Luke 16:18 (KJV)
1 Corinthians 5:1 (KJV)
1 Corinthians 6:18 (KJV)
Galatians 5:19 (KJV)
Colossians 3:5 (KJV)
1 Timothy 1:10 (KJV)

5. CONSENSUS INDICATOR

Clear. The retrieved texts consistently present adultery as:

Explicitly prohibited (Exodus 20:14)
A capital offense under Mosaic law (Lev

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE: retrieved texts do not resolve this question explicitly.

Sources

Galatians 5:19 (KJV) — score 0.576

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

Colossians 3:5 (KJV) — score 0.557

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

Hosea 1:2 (KJV) — score 0.547

The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.

Exodus 20:14 (KJV) — score 0.544

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Jeremiah 13:27 (KJV) — score 0.542

I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, and thine abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be?

Luke 16:18 (KJV) — score 0.541

Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.

Mark 7:22 (KJV) — score 0.541

Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:

Deuteronomy 23:18 (KJV) — score 0.539

Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.

Ezekiel 16:26 (KJV) — score 0.539

Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.

1 Corinthians 6:18 (KJV) — score 0.535

Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

1 Timothy 1:10 (KJV) — score 0.530

For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

Leviticus 20:10 (KJV) — score 0.529

¶ And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

Numbers 5:12 (KJV) — score 0.529

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him,

1 Corinthians 5:1 (KJV) — score 0.528

It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.

Numbers 5:29 (KJV) — score 0.527

This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled;

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