Leviticus 20:10

20:10 If a man ¹  commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, ²  both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.

Exodus 20:14

20:14 “You shall not commit adultery. ³ 

Deuteronomy 5:18

5:18 You must not commit adultery.

Deuteronomy 22:22

22:22 If a man is caught having sexual relations with ⁴  a married woman ⁵  both the man who had relations with the woman and the woman herself must die; in this way you will purge ⁶  evil from Israel.

Deuteronomy 22:25

22:25 But if the man came across ⁷  the engaged woman in the field and overpowered her and raped ⁸  her, then only the rapist ⁹  must die.

Deuteronomy 22:2

22:2 If the owner ¹⁰  does not live ¹¹  near you or you do not know who the owner is, ¹²  then you must corral the animal ¹³  at your house and let it stay with you until the owner looks for it; then you must return it to him.

Deuteronomy 11:3-4

11:3 They did not see ¹⁴  the awesome deeds he performed ¹⁵  in the midst of Egypt against Pharaoh king of Egypt and his whole land, 11:4 or what he did to the army of Egypt, including their horses and chariots, when he made the waters of the Red Sea ¹⁶  overwhelm them while they were pursuing you and he ¹⁷  annihilated them. ¹⁸ 

Deuteronomy 11:27

11:27 the blessing if you take to heart ¹⁹  the commandments of the Lord your God that I am giving you today,

Proverbs 6:25

6:25 Do not lust ²⁰  in your heart for her beauty,

and do not let her captivate you with her alluring eyes; ²¹ 

Proverbs 6:29-33

6:29 So it is with ²²  the one who has sex with ²³  his neighbor’s wife;

no one ²⁴  who touches ²⁵  her will escape ²⁶  punishment. ²⁷ 

6:30 People ²⁸  do not despise a thief when he steals

to fulfill his need ²⁹  when he is hungry.

6:31 Yet ³⁰  if he is caught ³¹  he must repay ³²  seven times over,

he might even have to give ³³  all the wealth of his house.

6:32 A man who commits adultery with a woman lacks wisdom, ³⁴ 

whoever does it destroys his own life. ³⁵ 

6:33 He will be beaten and despised, ³⁶ 

and his reproach will not be wiped away; ³⁷ 

Malachi 3:5

3:5 “I ³⁸  will come to you in judgment. I will be quick to testify against those who practice divination, those who commit adultery, those who break promises, ³⁹  and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans, ⁴⁰  who refuse to help ⁴¹  the immigrant ⁴²  and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Matthew 5:27-28

Adultery

5:27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ ⁴³  5:28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Romans 2:22

2:22 You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor ⁴⁴  idols, do you rob temples?

Romans 2:1

The Condemnation of the Moralist

2:1 ⁴⁵ Therefore ⁴⁶  you are without excuse, ⁴⁷  whoever you are, ⁴⁸  when you judge someone else. ⁴⁹  For on whatever grounds ⁵⁰  you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.

Colossians 1:9

Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, ⁵¹  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ⁵²  to fill ⁵³  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

Galatians 5:19

5:19 Now the works of the flesh ⁵⁴  are obvious: ⁵⁵  sexual immorality, impurity, depravity,

Hebrews 13:4

13:4 Marriage must be honored among all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge sexually immoral people and adulterers.

[20:10]  ¹ tn Heb “And a man who.” The syntax here and at the beginning of the following verses elliptically mirrors that of v. 9, which justifies the rendering as a conditional clause.

[20:10]  ² tc The reading of the LXX minuscule mss has been followed here (see the BHS footnote a-a). The MT has a dittography, repeating “a man who commits adultery with the wife of” (see the explanation in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 328). The duplication found in the MT is reflected in some English versions, e.g., KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV.

[20:14]  ³ sn This is a sin against the marriage of a fellow citizen – it destroys the home. The Law distinguished between adultery (which had a death penalty) and sexual contact with a young woman (which carried a monetary fine and usually marriage if the father was willing). So it distinguished fornication and adultery. Both were sins, but the significance of each was different. In the ancient world this sin is often referred to as “the great sin.”

[22:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “lying with” (so KJV, NASB), a Hebrew idiom for sexual relations.

[22:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “a woman married to a husband.”

[22:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “burn.” See note on the phrase “purge out” in Deut 21:21.

[22:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “found,” also in vv. 27, 28.

[22:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “lay with” here refers to a forced sexual relationship, as the accompanying verb “seized” (חָזַק, khazaq) makes clear.

[22:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “the man who lay with her, only him.”

[22:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “your brother” (also later in this verse).

[22:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “is not.” The idea of “residing” is implied.

[22:2]  ¹² tn Heb “and you do not know him.”

[22:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the ox or sheep mentioned in v. 1) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:3]  ¹⁴ tn In the Hebrew text vv. 2-7 are one long sentence. For stylistic reasons the English translation divides the passage into three sentences. To facilitate this stylistic decision the words “They did not see” are supplied at the beginning of both v. 3 and v. 5, and “I am speaking” at the beginning of v. 7.

[11:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “his signs and his deeds which he did” (NRSV similar). The collocation of “signs” and “deeds” indicates that these acts were intended to make an impression on observers and reveal something about God’s power (cf. v. 2b). The word “awesome” has been employed to bring out the force of the word “signs” in this context.

[11:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Reed Sea.” “Reed Sea” (or “Sea of Reeds”) is a more accurate rendering of the Hebrew expression יָם סוּף (yam suf), traditionally translated “Red Sea.” See note on the term “Red Sea” in Exod 13:18.

[11:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[11:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and the Lord destroyed them to this day” (cf. NRSV); NLT “he has kept them devastated to this very day.” The translation uses the verb “annihilated” to indicate the permanency of the action.

[11:27]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “listen to,” that is, obey.

[6:25]  ²⁰ tn The negated jussive gives the young person an immediate warning. The verb חָמַד (khamad) means “to desire,” and here in the sense of lust. The word is used in the Decalogue of Deut 5:21 for the warning against coveting.

[6:25]  ²¹ tn Heb “her eyelids” (so KJV, NASB); NRSV “eyelashes”; TEV “flirting eyes”). This term is a synecdoche of part (eyelids) for the whole (eyes) or a metonymy of association for painted eyes and the luring glances that are the symptoms of seduction (e.g., 2 Kgs 9:30). The term “alluring” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarification.

[6:29]  ²² tn Heb “thus is the one.”

[6:29]  ²³ tn Heb “who goes in to” (so NAB, NASB). The Hebrew verb בּוֹא (bo’, “to go in; to enter”) is used throughout scripture as a euphemism for the act of sexual intercourse. Cf. NIV, NRSV, NLT “who sleeps with”; NCV “have sexual relations with.”

[6:29]  ²⁴ tn Heb “anyone who touches her will not.”

[6:29]  ²⁵ sn The verb “touches” is intended here to be a euphemism for illegal sexual contact (e.g., Gen 20:6).

[6:29]  ²⁶ tn Heb “will be exempt from”; NASB, NLT “will not go unpunished.”

[6:29]  ²⁷ tn The verb is יִנָּקֶה (yinnaqeh), the Niphal imperfect from נָקָה (naqah, “to be empty; to be clean”). From it we get the adjectives “clean,” “free from guilt,” “innocent.” The Niphal has the meanings (1) “to be cleaned out” (of a plundered city; e.g., Isa 3:26), (2) “to be clean; to be free from guilt; to be innocent” (Ps 19:14), (3) “to be free; to be exempt from punishment” [here], and (4) “to be free; to be exempt from obligation” (Gen 24:8).

[6:30]  ²⁸ tn Heb “they do not despise.”

[6:30]  ²⁹ tn Heb “himself” or “his life.” Since the word נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, traditionally “soul”) refers to the whole person, body and soul, and since it has a basic idea of the bundle of appetites that make up a person, the use here for satisfying his hunger is appropriate.

[6:31]  ³⁰ tn The term “yet” is supplied in the translation.

[6:31]  ³¹ tn Heb “is found out.” The perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive is equivalent to the imperfect nuances. Here it introduces either a conditional or a temporal clause before the imperfect.

[6:31]  ³² tn The imperfect tense has an obligatory nuance. The verb in the Piel means “to repay; to make restitution; to recompense”; cf. NCV, TEV, CEV “must pay back.”

[6:31]  ³³ tn This final clause in the section is somewhat cryptic. The guilty thief must pay back sevenfold what he stole, even if it means he must use the substance of his whole house. The verb functions as an imperfect of possibility: “he might even give.”

[6:32]  ³⁴ tn Heb “heart.” The term “heart” is used as a metonymy of association for discernment, wisdom, good sense. Cf. NAB “is a fool”; NIV “lacks judgment”; NCV, NRSV “has no sense.”

[6:32]  ³⁵ tn Heb “soul.” The noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul”) functions as a metonymy of association for “life” (BDB 659 s.v. 3.c).

[6:33]  ³⁶ tn Heb “He will receive a wound and contempt.”

[6:33]  ³⁷ sn Even though the text has said that the man caught in adultery ruins his life, it does not mean that he was put to death, although that could have happened. He seems to live on in ignominy, destroyed socially and spiritually. He might receive blows and wounds from the husband and shame and disgrace from the spiritual community. D. Kidner observes that in a morally healthy society the adulterer would be a social outcast (Proverbs [TOTC], 75).

[3:5]  ³⁸ tn The first person pronoun (a reference to the Lord) indicates that the Lord himself now speaks (see also v. 1). The prophet speaks in vv. 2-4 (see also 2:17).

[3:5]  ³⁹ tn Heb “those who swear [oaths] falsely.” Cf. NIV “perjurers”; TEV “those who give false testimony”; NLT “liars.”

[3:5]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and against the oppressors of the worker for a wage, [the] widow and orphan.”

[3:5]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “those who turn aside.”

[3:5]  ⁴² tn Or “resident foreigner”; NIV “aliens”; NRSV “the alien.”

[5:27]  ⁴³ sn A quotation from Exod 20:14; Deut 5:17.

[2:22]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “detest.”

[2:1]  ⁴⁵ sn Rom 2:1-29 presents unusual difficulties for the interpreter. There have been several major approaches to the chapter and the group(s) it refers to: (1) Rom 2:14 refers to Gentile Christians, not Gentiles who obey the Jewish law. (2) Paul in Rom 2 is presenting a hypothetical viewpoint: If anyone could obey the law, that person would be justified, but no one can. (3) The reference to “the ones who do the law” in 2:13 are those who “do” the law in the right way, on the basis of faith, not according to Jewish legalism. (4) Rom 2:13 only speaks about Christians being judged in the future, along with such texts as Rom 14:10 and 2 Cor 5:10. (5) Paul’s material in Rom 2 is drawn heavily from Diaspora Judaism, so that the treatment of the law presented here cannot be harmonized with other things Paul says about the law elsewhere (E. P. Sanders, Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People, 123); another who sees Rom 2 as an example of Paul’s inconsistency in his treatment of the law is H. Räisänen, Paul and the Law [WUNT], 101-9. (6) The list of blessings and curses in Deut 27–30 provide the background for Rom 2; the Gentiles of 2:14 are Gentile Christians, but the condemnation of Jews in 2:17-24 addresses the failure of Jews as a nation to keep the law as a whole (A. Ito, “Romans 2: A Deuteronomistic Reading,” JSNT 59 [1995]: 21-37).

[2:1]  ⁴⁶ tn Some interpreters (e.g., C. K. Barrett, Romans [HNTC], 43) connect the inferential Διό (dio, “therefore”) with 1:32a, treating 1:32b as a parenthetical comment by Paul.

[2:1]  ⁴⁷ tn That is, “you have nothing to say in your own defense” (so translated by TCNT).

[2:1]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “O man.”

[2:1]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “Therefore, you are without excuse, O man, everyone [of you] who judges.”

[2:1]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “in/by (that) which.”

[1:9]  ⁵¹ tn Or “heard about it”; Grk “heard.” There is no direct object stated in the Greek (direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context). A direct object is expected by an English reader, however, so most translations supply one. Here, however, it is not entirely clear what the author “heard”: a number of translations supply “it” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV; NAB “this”), but this could refer back either to (1) “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8, or (2) “your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints” (v. 4). In light of this uncertainty, other translations supply “about you” (TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT). This is preferred by the present translation since, while it does not resolve the ambiguity entirely, it does make it less easy for the English reader to limit the reference only to “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8.

[1:9]  ⁵² tn The term “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but the following reference to “the knowledge of his will” makes it clear that “God” is in view as the object of the “praying and asking,” and should therefore be included in the English translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ⁵³ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as substantival, indicating the content of the prayer and asking. The idea of purpose may also be present in this clause.

[5:19]  ⁵⁴ tn See the note on the word “flesh” in Gal 5:13.

[5:19]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “clear,” “evident.”