Exodus 20:14
in Exodus 20You shall not commit adultery.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
KJV
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
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This verse in Exodus 20
Commentary
16 notes on this verseThis commandment forbids all acts of uncleanness, with all those fleshly lusts which produce those acts and war against the soul, and all those practices which cherish and excite those fleshly lusts, as looking, in order to lust, which, Christ tells us, is forbidden in this commandment, Matt. v. 28 .
This site's exposition
You shall not commit adultery
on Exodus 20:14-15
Adultery and theft guard the two things a household is built on, the marriage and the property. Jesus reads the seventh commandment inward at Matthew 5:27 and 5:28, putting the look under the act.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
A commentator
Augustine of Hippo354–430
A HANDBOOK ON FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE 32.121 · Written before 430.
proposed
Therefore whatsoever things God commands (and one of these is "You shall not commit adultery") and whatsoever things are not positively ordered but are strongly advised as good spiritual counsel (and one of these is, "It is a good thing for a man to not touch a woman")—all of these imperatives are rightly obeyed only when they are measured by the standard of our love of God and our love of our neighbor in God.
A commentator
Augustine of HippoA HANDBOOK ON FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE 32.121 · Written before 430.
proposed
Therefore whatsoever things God commands (and one of these is "You shall not commit adultery") and whatsoever things are not positively ordered but are strongly advised as good spiritual counsel (and one of these is, "It is a good thing for a man to not touch a woman")—all of these imperatives are rightly obeyed only when they are measured by the standard of our love of God and our love of our neighbor in God.
A commentator
Philoxenus of Mabbug13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 6 -- First Discourse on the Fear of God · Written before 523.
proposed
"Thou shalt not commit adultery", and "whosoever committed adultery shall be slain;" and fear keepeth [this] commandment from being held in contempt. For by fear He checked them from doing wickedness to one another, and because He saw that they loved wickedness, He restrained them …
It is written in the law, "You shall not commit fornication." This is required in a beneficial way according to the simple sound of the letter by the person who is still entangled in the passions of fleshly impurity. It is necessarily observed in spiritual fashion, however, by one who has already left behind this filthy behavior and impure disposition, so that he also rejects not only all idolatrous ceremonies but also every superstition of the Gentiles and the observance of auguries and omens and of all signs and days and times. And he is certainly not engaged in the divination of particular words or names, which befouls the wholesomeness of our faith.
The Medieval Church1 voice
After the prohibition of murder, adultery is forbidden. This is fitting, since husband and wife are as one body. "They shall be," says the Lord, "two in one flesh" [Gen 2:24]. Therefore, after an injury inflicted upon a man in his own person, none is …
9 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church6 voices
But because the neighbor is an image of the Trinity, and to him, insofar as he bears the image of the Holy Spirit, benignity is owed: with respect to benignity, to which cupidity and concupiscence are opposed, each of which can be in deed or …
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 1 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
The commandment which pertains to innocence must necessarily be multiplied, because it consists in this: that a man guard against giving offense to his neighbor. Now it happens that one offends his neighbor in three ways, namely in mind, word, and deed. Offense in deed …
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 7 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
The sixth plague was of swelling blisters, by which adulterers are struck, who have swelling blisters, that is, infected flesh. Blisters arise from a humor causing itching, and when a man scratches himself, afterward he suffers pain. Similarly, he who indulges in lust first takes …
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 21 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
And because the lower portion of the soul is informed by the higher and is given to it as a help, it is necessary that the lower have commandments by which it would be conformed to the higher, so that it behave piously, truly and …
Here it is commanded that no one violate the wife of his neighbor. And blessed Augustine says that here is prohibited every illicit use of the generative members, which is done for the pursuit of lust with an assault upon chastity. And this occurs in …
A commentator
Gregory the Dialogist40 Homilies on the Gospels, Homily 40 · Written before 604.
proposed
The law cuts away sins of the flesh, but our Redeemer condemns even unlawful thoughts. If therefore they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if someone rises from the dead, because when will those who neglect to fulfill the lesser precepts of the law grow strong enough to obey the higher commands of our Savior? And indeed it is certain that those who refuse to fulfill his words undoubtedly refuse to believe him.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Thou shall not commit adultery, Which, strictly speaking, is only that sin which is committed with another man's wife, as Jarchi observes; but Aben Ezra thinks the word here used signifies the same as another more commonly used for whoredom and fornication; and no doubt but fornication is here included, which, though it was not reckoned a crime among some Heathens, is within the reach of this law, and forbidden by it, it being an impure action, and against a man's body, as the apostle says, 1Co 6:18 as well as sins of a more enormous kind, as unnatural lusts and copulations, such as incest, sodomy, bestiality, &c. and even all unchaste thoughts, desires, and affections, obscene words, and impure motions and gestures of the body, and whatever is in itself unclean or tends to uncleanness; as it also requires that we should, as much as in us lies, do all we can to preserve our chastity, and the chastity of others, pure and inviolate, see Mat 5:28, this is the seventh commandment.
This commandment forbids all acts of uncleanness, with all those fleshly lusts which produce those acts and war against the soul, and all those practices which cherish and excite those fleshly lusts, as looking, in order to lust, which, Christ tells us, is forbidden in this commandment, Matt. v. 28 .
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Thou shalt not commit adultery - Adultery, as defined by our laws, is of two kinds; double, when between two married persons; single, when one of the parties is married, the other single. One principal part of the criminality of adultery consists in its injustice. 1. It robs a man of his right by taking from him the affection of his wife. 2. It does him a wrong by fathering on him and obliging him to maintain as his own a spurious offspring - a child which is not his.
The words behind it
2 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לֹ֣֖א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תִּֿנְאָֽ֑ף׃ ס | tneaf | you must commit adultery | H5003 → |
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Hebrews 13:4Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
it leads to
- Genesis 2:24
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
- Proverbs 5:15–23
Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well.
- 1 Corinthians 7:2–16
But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.
- Genesis 2:24
Through
Romans 13:9The commandments “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
it leads to
- Exodus 20:12–17
Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
- Matthew 22:39
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
- Mark 12:31
The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
- Luke 10:27
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
- Deuteronomy 5:16–21
Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the…
- Exodus 20:12–17
Where this verse is studied
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About Exodus

This page draws on 14 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, A HANDBOOK ON FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE 32.121; Bonaventure, Breviloquium, Part 5; Bonaventure, Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 1; Bonaventure, Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 7; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 21; Bonaventure, Collationes de decem praeceptis, Collation 6 (Paris, Lent 1267); Gregory the Dialogist, 40 Homilies on the Gospels, Homily 40; John Calvin, Commentary on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony; John Cassian, CONFERENCE 14.11.2; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Philoxenus of Mabbug, 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 6 -- First Discourse on the Fear of God and Thomas Aquinas, Explanation of the Ten Commandments.
