Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding; He who does so destroys his own soul.
Parallel translations
- WEB He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. He who does it destroys his own soul.
- KJV But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
- BSB He who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself.
- NASB One who commits adultery with a woman is lacking sense; He who would destroy himself commits it.
- NLT But the man who commits adultery is an utter fool, for he destroys himself.
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
The adulterer lacks all sense and destroys his own life. Sexual sin is self-ruinous folly.
Overview
Unlike the thief who can repay, the adulterer commits an irreparable act that destroys himself. He is called void of understanding, for he trades lasting ruin for fleeting pleasure. The verse exposes sexual sin as profound folly that wounds the sinner's own soul.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Prov 7:7I saw among the simple ones. I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding,
- 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.
- Prov 7:22–23He followed her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, as a fool stepping into a noose.
- Rom 1:22–24Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
- Prov 2:18–19for her house leads down to death, her paths to the departed spirits.
- Eccl 7:25–26I turned around, and my heart sought to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity, and that foolishness is madness.
- Gen 39:9–10No one is greater in this house than I am, and he has not kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”
- Exod 20:14“You shall not commit adultery.
- Gen 41:39Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Because God has shown you all of this, there is no one so discreet and wise as you.
- Prov 8:36But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death.”
- Hos 4:11–12Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away understanding.
- Prov 9:4“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” As for him who is void of understanding, she says to him,
- Ezek 18:31Cast away from you all your transgressions, in which you have transgressed; and make yourself a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, house of Israel?
- Prov 9:16–18“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here.” as for him who is void of understanding, she says to him,
- Prov 5:22–23The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.
- Jer 5:21‘Hear now this, foolish people, and without understanding; who have eyes, and don’t see; who have ears, and don’t hear:
- Jer 5:8They were as fed horses roaming at large: everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
- Hos 13:9You are destroyed, Israel, because you are against me, against your help.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 6:32 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.