Bible Verses About Adultery
A collection of key passages from Scripture that speak about adultery, faithfulness, and the consequences of unfaithfulness. Verses are shown in modern English (primarily NIV or similar wording).
Core Commandments
Exodus 20:14
“You shall not commit adultery.”
Deuteronomy 5:18
“You shall not commit adultery.”
Leviticus 18:20
“Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor’s wife and defile yourself with her.”
Leviticus 20:10
“If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.”
Deuteronomy 22:22
“If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.”
Wisdom and Consequences
Proverbs 6:32 (NIV)
“But a man who commits adultery has no sense; whoever does so destroys himself.”
Proverbs 6:33
“Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away.”
Proverbs 5:3–5
“For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave.”
Proverbs 5:8–9
“Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house, lest you lose your honor to others and your dignity to one who is cruel.”
Job 24:15
“The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk; he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’ and he keeps his face concealed.”
Job 31:11–12
“For that would have been shameful, a sin to be judged. It is a fire that burns to Destruction; it would have uprooted my harvest.”
Jesus on Adultery and the Heart
Matthew 5:27–28
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Matthew 15:19
“For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.”
Mark 7:21
“For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery…”
Matthew 19:9
“I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
New Testament Teaching and Judgment
Hebrews 13:4
“Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.”
1 Corinthians 6:9–10
“Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”
James 4:4
“You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”
Malachi 3:5
“So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the LORD Almighty.
Spiritual Adultery (Unfaithfulness to God)
Hosea 3:1
“The LORD said to me, ‘Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.’”
Jeremiah 3:8–9
“I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery. Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.”
Ezekiel 16:32
“You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband!”