What Does The Bible Say About Adultery And Divorce? (35 Bible Verses)

The relationship between adultery and divorce is a complex and often painful subject. The Bible provides guidance on both topics, offering a path toward understanding and healing. Let’s examine what Scripture says about adultery and divorce, and how these teachings can help navigate difficult circumstances.

What Does The Bible Say About Adultery And Divorce

Genesis 2:24 – The Purpose of Marriage

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

Exodus 20:14 – The Seventh Commandment

“You shall not commit adultery.”

Proverbs 6:32-33 – Consequences of Adultery

“He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself. He will get wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away.”

Matthew 5:27-28 – Thoughts on Adultery

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Matthew 19:4-6 – Divorce and God’s Plan for Marriage

“He answered, ‘Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.’”

Matthew 19:9 – Divorce for Unfaithfulness

“And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”

Malachi 2:16 – God Hates Divorce

“For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

1 Corinthians 6:18 – Flee from Sexual Immorality

“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.”

Hebrews 13:4 – Marriage Bed and Fidelity

“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.”

Proverbs 5:18-19 – Enjoying the Wife of Your Youth

“Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.”

Proverbs 2:16-19 – Deliverance from Adulteress

“To deliver you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words, who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God; for her house sinks down to death, and her paths to the departed; none who go to her come back, nor do they regain the paths of life.”

Proverbs 7:21-23 – Avoiding Adulteress

“With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him. All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.”

Proverbs 30:20 – The Ways of an Adulterous Woman

“This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I have done no wrong.’”

Proverbs 6:25 – Do Not Desire a Woman’s Beauty

“Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes.”

Proverbs 6:26 – Avoiding the Adulteress Trap

“For the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts down a precious life.”

Proverbs 9:13-18 – The Way of Folly

“The woman Folly is loud; she is seductive and knows nothing. She sits at the door of her house; she takes a seat on the highest places of the town, calling to those who pass by, who are going straight on their way, ‘Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!’ And to him who lacks sense she says, ‘Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.’ But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.”

Proverbs 22:14 – Consequences of Adultery

“The mouth of forbidden women is a deep pit; he with whom the Lord is angry will fall into it.”

Proverbs 23:27-28 – Adulterous Woman is a Deep Pit

“For a prostitute is a deep pit; an adulteress is a narrow well. She lies in wait like a robber and increases the traitors among mankind.”

Proverbs 2:16-17 – Warning Against Adulteress

“To deliver you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words, who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God.”

Proverbs 5:3-5 – Avoiding the Seductive Woman

“For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol.”

Proverbs 7:6-27 – The Adulterous Woman

“For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice, and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense, passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness. And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart. She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home; now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait. She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him, ‘I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows; so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you. I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen; I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love. For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey; he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home.’ With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him. All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life. And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths, for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.”

Proverbs 30:20 – The Ways of an Adulterous Woman

“This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I have done no wrong.’”

Proverbs 6:32 – Adultery Destroys

“He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself.”

Jeremiah 3:8 – Unfaithful Israel

“She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore.”

Jeremiah 29:23 – Punishment for Adultery

“Because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, they have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. I am the one who knows, and I am witness, declares the Lord.”

Micah 2:9 – Adulterers and Disinheritance

“The women of my people you drive out from their delightful houses; from their young children you take away my splendor forever. Arise and go, for this is no place to rest, because of uncleanness that destroys with a grievous destruction.”

Malachi 2:14 – God Witnesses the Unfaithfulness

“But you say, ‘Why does he not?’ Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.”

Leviticus 20:10 – Death Penalty for Adultery

“If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.”

Matthew 5:32 – Divorce for Sexual Immorality

“But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

Mark 10:11-12 – Divorcing and Remarrying

“And he said to them, ‘Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Luke 16:18 – Divorce and Remarriage

“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.”

1 Corinthians 7:10-11 – God’s View on Divorce

“To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.”

Ephesians 5:3 – Sexual Immorality Is Sin

“But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.”

Ephesians 5:31-33 – Marriage and Oneness

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”

Hebrews 13:4 – Marriage and Sexual Purity

“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.”

1 Peter 3:7 – Husbands and Wives

“Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.”

Revelation 21:8 – The Fate of the Sexually Immoral

“But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

1 Thessalonians 4:3-7 – Living in Holiness

“For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.”

Galatians 5:19-21 – Sexual Immorality is a Sin

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Colossians 3:5-6 – Put to Death Sexual Immorality

“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.”

Proverbs 5:15-19 – Be Satisfied by Your Wife

“Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well. Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets? Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.”

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 – The Unrighteous Will Not Inherit the Kingdom

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

Mark 7:21-23 – The Things That Defile a Person

“For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Proverbs 6:27 – Avoid the Adulteress

“Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?”