Dictionary Definition: Adultery

Main Entry: adul·tery
Pronunciation: &-'d&l-t&-rE
Function: noun
: voluntary sexual activity (as sexual intercourse) between a married man and someone other than his wife or between a married woman and someone other than her husband; also : the crime of adultery ——adul·ter·er /&-'d&l-t&-r&r/ noun —adul·ter·ess /-t&-r&s/ noun

[Middle English, from Old French adultere, from Latin adulterium, from adulter, adulterer. See adulterate.]

International Standard Bible Dictionary

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, Ex 20:14; Dt 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" (Lev 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" (Lev 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," Jn 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 Dt 22:23 f) providing that such a person together with her paramour be stoned to death (contrast Dt 22:22, where a woman married to a husband is spoken of and the manner of death is again left general). Ezek 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" (Jn 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 (Nu 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 AD), 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; 31:9; compare Prov 7), and women forgetful of their God's covenant broke faith with the husbands of their youth (Prov 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 Sam 12:7); the penitential psalm (Ps 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 (Jer 23:10,14; 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" (Mt 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" (Mt 5:28).

And in the spirit of 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" (Jn 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 (Jn 7:53 through 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" (Dt 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 Mt 5:32; 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

Hebrew word for Adultery and its meaning

5003. na'aph, naw-af'; a prim. root; to commit adultery; fig. to apostatize:--adulterer (-ess), commit (-ing) adultery, woman that breaketh wedlock.

Greek word for Adultery and its meaning

3431. moicheuo, moy-khyoo'-o; from G3432; to commit adultery:--commit adultery.

Does the bible speak about Adultery

(Exo 20:14 KJV) Thou shalt not commit adultery.

(Lev 20:10 KJV) 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.

(Deu 5:18 KJV) Neither shalt thou commit adultery.

(Prov 6:32 KJV) But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.

(Jer 3:8 KJV) And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.

(Jer 3:9 KJV) And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.

(Jer 5:7 KJV) How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.

(Jer 7:9 KJV) Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;

(Jer 23:14 KJV) I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

(Jer 29:23 KJV) Because they have committed villany in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours' wives, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them; even I know, and am a witness, saith the LORD.

(Ezek 16:32 KJV) But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband!

(Ezek 23:37 KJV) That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them.

(Hosea 4:2 KJV) By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.

(Hosea 4:13 KJV) They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.

(Hosea 4:14 KJV) I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall.

(Mat 5:27 KJV) Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:

(Mat 5:28 KJV) But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

(Mat 5:32 KJV) But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

(Mat 19:9 KJV) And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

(Mat 19:18 KJV) He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,

(Mark 10:11 KJV) And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.

(Mark 10:12 KJV) And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.

(Mark 10:19 KJV) Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.

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

(Luke 18:20 KJV) Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.

(John 8:3 KJV) And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,

(John 8:4 KJV) They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

(Rom 2:22 KJV) Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?

(Rom 13:9 KJV) For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

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

(James 2:11 KJV) For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.

(2 Pet 2:14 KJV) Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:

(Rev 2:22 KJV) Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.