Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 5:18
You shall not commit adultery.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the assembled Israelites on the plains of Moab, restating the covenant stipulations before they enter the land. He places this prohibition sequentially between the commands against murder and stealing, framing it as a foundational boundary for communal order.
The words — The text supplies לֹא (lo) for "not" and תִּנְאָף (tine'af) for "you shall commit adultery," forming a direct negative imperative. This grammatical structure issues an unqualified prohibition rather than a conditional warning.
The thread — The exact prohibition appears in Exodus 20:14 as the original Sinai decree and resurfaces in Luke 18:20 during a recitation of the commandments. Leviticus 20:10 extends the rule by stipulating capital punishment for both parties involved.
Why it lands — The text demands the reader treat marital fidelity as a fixed covenant boundary that admits no exceptions. It requires immediate compliance with a clear prohibition before any discussion of justification or circumstance.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Neither shalt thou commit adultery.
Cross-references
- Exodus 20:14 You shall not commit adultery.
- Luke 18:20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother.’”
- 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 must surely be put to death.
- Matthew 5:27 You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’
- Proverbs 6:32 He who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself.
- James 2:10 Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.