And you shall not have sexual intercourse with your neighbor’s wife, to be defiled with her.
Parallel translations
- WEB “‘You shall not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife, and defile yourself with her.
- KJV Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour’s wife, to defile thyself with her.
- BSB You must not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife and thus defile yourself with her.
- NKJV Moreover you shall not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife, to defile yourself with her.
- NLT “Do not defile yourself by having sexual intercourse with your neighbor’s wife.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Adultery with a neighbor's wife defiles and is forbidden.
Overview
This restates the prohibition of adultery, emphasizing that it defiles both parties. It protects the sacred bond of marriage and the trust of the community. Jesus deepened this command by addressing lustful intent, showing that God desires purity of heart and not merely outward restraint.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Exod 20:14“You shall not commit adultery.
- 1 Cor 6:9Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals,
- Lev 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.
- Heb 13:4Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
- Matt 5:27–28“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery;’
- 2 Sam 11:3–4David sent and inquired after the woman. One said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, Uriah the Hittite’s wife?”
- Prov 6:25Don’t lust after her beauty in your heart, neither let her captivate you with her eyelids.
- Deut 5:18“You shall not commit adultery.
- Gal 5:19Now the deeds of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness,
- Deut 22:22If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both die, the man who lay with the woman and the woman. So you shall remove the evil from Israel.
- 2 Sam 11:27When the mourning was past, David sent and took her home to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased Yahweh.
- Rom 2:22You who say a man shouldn’t commit adultery. Do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
- Deut 22:25But if the man finds the lady who is pledged to be married in the field, and the man forces her, and lies with her; then only the man who lay with her shall die;
- Mal 3:5I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says Yahweh of Armies.
- Prov 6:29–33So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife. Whoever touches her will not be unpunished.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 18:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.