Exodus 20:14 Meaning and Explanation
“Thou shalt not commit adultery.”
King James Version (KJV)
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Read Full Chapter →Brevity is the striking feature. Where other laws in the Torah run to paragraphs with conditions and remedies, this one arrives with no qualifications attached at all. Nothing is said about circumstances, provocation, or the state of a marriage. The silence has a purpose, since a command this short leaves nothing available for negotiation.
Four words place the marriage bond under God's direct protection. Sexual unfaithfulness by a married person is named as sin, wronging both the covenant partner and the God who spoke this word.
The Context of Exodus 20:14
This is the seventh of the ten words God speaks at Sinai in Exodus 20. It stands in the second group, among the commands concerning other people, sitting between the prohibition of killing in verse thirteen and the prohibition of stealing in verse fifteen. Verse sixteen guards a neighbour's reputation and verse seventeen reaches into desire. The setting is public and overwhelming, with thunder, lightning, a trumpet, and a smoking mountain described in verse eighteen, and the people withdrawing to a distance while Moses draws near.
What Does Exodus 20:14 Mean?
The Hebrew is even shorter than the English, two words carrying an absolute prohibition. The verb names a specific act, the violation of a marriage through sexual union with someone outside it. The command comes in the second person singular, so each Israelite hears it addressed personally even in a crowd. What the sentence assumes is as important as what it says. Marriage is treated as a real bond with an existence of its own, something that can be broken by an outsider and betrayed from within. No penalty appears in this verse, and no exception is listed either, which leaves the statement standing bare and unconditional.
Its neighbours in the list tell us how the command was weighed. Life comes first, marriage second, property third, reputation fourth. Placing the marriage bond immediately after the protection of life ranks it among the goods a society cannot lose without unravelling. Later legislation fills in the consequences, as in Leviticus 20:10, and the wisdom writers describe the ruin that follows, notably in Proverbs 6:32. The prophets then take the word further, using adultery as their steady image for Israel abandoning the LORD, an image that runs through Jeremiah 3 and the whole of Hosea. Covenant faithfulness between people and toward God is being described with one vocabulary.
Jesus quotes this commandment in the Sermon on the Mount and extends its reach inward, saying in Matthew 5:28 that looking with lust has already committed adultery in the heart. He treats the command as fully in force and locates its true boundary further back than the act. In Matthew 19 he grounds marriage in the creation account and warns against putting asunder what God has joined. His encounter with the woman accused in John 8 shows the same seriousness held together with mercy, since he neither dismisses the sin nor abandons the sinner. The command protects something God made good and continues to defend.
Exodus 20:14 in the Original Language
na'aph (נָאַף), 'commit adultery' -- to break a marriage through sexual unfaithfulness. Prophets later apply the same verb to Israel's turning aside to other gods, which shows how closely the two kinds of betrayal were felt to resemble each other.
Bible Verses Related to Exodus 20:14
“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:”
- Matthew 5:27
“And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.”
- Leviticus 20:10
“But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.”
- Proverbs 6:32
“Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”
- Hebrews 13:4
Where Exodus 20:14 Echoes in Scripture
Matthew 5:27 quotes this commandment word for word before Jesus extends it: ye have heard that it was said by them of old time. The quotation confirms that the seventh word was common knowledge in first-century Israel, and the extension that follows relocates the danger zone from the deed to the desire that precedes it. Read alongside Exodus 20:14, the Sermon on the Mount shows a command whose plain surface was always meant to reach the heart underneath.
How to Apply Exodus 20:14 Today
Faithfulness is mostly built long before it is tested. It grows in small habits: attention given to a spouse rather than to a screen, friendships kept transparent, honesty about where our thoughts drift and to whom. For those who are married, this verse invites regular and unglamorous investment in the bond itself. For those who are single, it invites respect for other people's marriages, including the ones that look strained. All of us can be careful with what we feed our imagination. Guarding a covenant is ordinary work, done in daylight, and it protects people we may never meet.
Reflection & Prayer
What small loyalty could I strengthen this week before anything is ever at risk? Lord, you take our promises more seriously than we do. Keep our eyes and our affections where we have given our word, teach us to honour the marriages around us, and be merciful to those already carrying the wreckage of broken trust.