Exodus 20:14 is the seventh of the Ten Commandments, and it forbids sexual unfaithfulness within marriage. God gives it as a boundary that protects a covenant between a husband and a wife, and by extension the trust, family and community that depend on that covenant. It is spoken by God to the whole people of Israel at Mount Sinai, as part of the law given after their deliverance from Egypt.
“You shall not commit adultery.
Exodus 20:14 (WEB)
What Exodus 20:14 Means
The verb “commit adultery” refers to sexual intercourse between a married person and someone who is not their spouse. The commandment is short and direct, so it names a clear act rather than leaving room for vague interpretation. Its focus is on faithfulness: a married person has bound themselves to one partner, and this command guards that promise.
The command is written in the negative, “you shall not,” which tells us it sets a line rather than describing every detail of a good marriage. It does not, on its own, spell out how spouses should love and serve one another, though the wider Scriptures do. It also does not address every form of sexual sin, which later biblical teaching develops at length. What it does is establish a firm, unambiguous limit that the whole community can understand.
The Context of Exodus 20:14
Exodus is traditionally attributed to Moses and tells the story of Israel’s escape from slavery in Egypt and their formation as God’s covenant people. The Ten Commandments appear in chapter 20, immediately after God has delivered them from Pharaoh and led them to Sinai. The law is given as a response to rescue: the people are free, and now they are shown how a free people belonging to God should live.
The verse sits in a list of five commands about how people relate to one another. The commandment just before it concerns murder, which protects life, and the one just after concerns stealing, which protects property. Read in that company, adultery is placed among the offenses that tear apart the basic bonds of human community. This helps explain why the commandment matters to the whole people, not merely to the individuals involved.
Key Phrases in Exodus 20:14
Matthew 5:27-28
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery;’ 28 but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.
(WEB)
Jesus takes this commandment deeper, showing that adultery begins in the heart as well as in the body. His teaching helps us see that the command concerns the inner life of desire as well as outward action, which makes faithfulness a matter of the whole person.
Hebrews 13:4
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
(WEB)
This verse affirms marriage as honorable and calls for its protection from sexual sin. It echoes the heart of the seventh commandment and shows that the New Testament writers continued to treat marital faithfulness as something God holds dear.
A Short Prayer From Exodus 20:14
Lord, you know the desires I carry and the places where I am tempted to wander. Give me a faithful heart toward the people you have placed in my life, especially the one I have promised to love. Strengthen me to turn away from what would harm them and what would harm me. Help me bring my loneliness, my longings and my weakness honestly to you, and make my marriage and my life reflect your steady faithfulness. Amen.
