Deuteronomy 22:22 · Bible study
Deuteronomy 22:22 Commentary: Adultery, Death and Divine Mercy
Hebrew · 8 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
How should Christians understand the death penalty for adultery here and Jesus' mercy in John 8? Exegesis, context, and pastoral reflection.
Research Summary
- Meaning: Death penalty for both parties in adultery to preserve community holiness.
- Key words: be‘ulat ba‘al (“married of a husband,” implying ownership/authority); yimatze (“is found,” passive Niphal, caught in the act).
- Main debate: How Jesus’ mercy (John 8) relates to the OT law of execution.
- Theological theme: The marriage covenant as a reflection of God’s covenant with Israel; sin as a violation of covenant that requires purging.
- Best use: Teaching on the grace and holiness of God, the seriousness of sin, and the need for a Redeemer.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
If a man is found lying with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.
WEB World English Bible 2000
If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both die, the man who lay with the woman and the woman. So you shall remove the evil from Israel.
KJV King James Version 1769
If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
If a man be found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both of them die, the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away the evil from Israel.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
`When a man is found lying with a woman, married to a husband, then they have died even both of them, the man who is lying with the woman, also the woman; and thou hast put away the evil thing out of Israel.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
If a man be found lying with a man's wife, they shall both of them die, the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; and thou shalt put away evil from Israel.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
If a man lie with another man's wife, they shall both die, that is to say, the adulterer and the adulteress: and thou shalt take away the evil out of Israel.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Cuando se sorprendiere alguno echado con mujer casada con marido, entrambos morirán, el hombre que se acostó con la mujer, y la mujer: así quitarás el mal de Israel.
Quando se surpreender alguém deitado com mulher casada com marido, ambos morrerão, o homem que se deitou com a mulher, e a mulher: assim tirarás o mal de Israel.
Si l’ on trouve un homme couché avec une femme mariée, ils mourront tous deux, l’ homme qui a couché avec la femme, et la femme aussi. Tu ôteras ainsi le mal du milieu d’ Israël.
Wenn jemand gefunden wird, der bei einem Weibe schläft, die einen Ehemann hat, so sollen sie beide sterben, der Mann und das Weib, bei dem er geschlafen hat; und sollst das Böse von Israel tun.
Wanneer een man gevonden zal worden, liggende bij eens mans getrouwde vrouw, zo zullen zij ook beiden sterven, de man, die bij de vrouw gelegen heeft, en de vrouw; zo zult gij het boze uit Israel wegdoen.
Quando si troverà un uomo a giacere con una donna maritata, ambedue morranno: l’uomo che s’è giaciuto con la donna, e la donna. Così torrai via il male di mezzo ad Israele.
Jeźliby kto znalezion był, obcujący z niewiastą, mającą męża, tedy niech umrą oboje, mąż, który obcował z cudzą żoną, i ona niewiasta; tak odejmiesz złe z Izraela.
Если найден будет кто лежащий с женою замужнею, то должно предать смерти обоих: и мужчину, лежавшего с женщиною, и женщину; и так истреби зло от Израиля.
「若 遇見 人 與 有 丈夫 的婦人 行淫，就要將姦 夫 淫婦 一 併 治死。這樣，就把那惡 從以色列 中除掉。
If a man is taken in the act of going in to a married woman, the two of them, the man as well as the woman, are to be put to death: so you are to put away the evil from Israel.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Deuteronomy 22:22
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree that Deuteronomy 22:22 prescribes the death penalty for both parties in adultery, reflecting the gravity of violating the marriage covenant in ancient Israel’s theocratic community. The verse is a direct application of the seventh commandment and parallels Leviticus 20:10. Keil and Delitzsch note the equality of punishment for both the man and the woman. Calvin emphasizes that marriage is a covenant consecrated by God, and its profanation cannot be tolerated, adultery is an act of horrible perfidiousness that injures the husband, dishonors offspring, and transfers inheritance to strangers. Adam Clarke observes that this death penalty appears already in the most ancient laws. The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges situates the verse within a series of laws on chastity, arguing that these laws represent an advance in social ethics, an upward stage in the struggle against debasing practices. Gill and Matthew Henry similarly anchor the passage in the larger Torah framework. The consensus is that the law served to protect marriage, preserve community holiness, and deter serious sin.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Traditional theocratic application: The law was given to ancient Israel as both church and state; the death penalty was part of civil law that no longer applies directly to the church or modern nations.
- Christological fulfillment reading: Jesus' mercy in John 8 does not abolish the standard but shows that the law can only condemn—forgiveness requires a substitute (the cross).
- Textual/historical caution (John 8): Some scholars note that John 7:53–8:11 is absent from many early manuscripts, raising questions about whether Jesus’ encounter is original to the Gospel.
What is clear: All Christians agree that adultery is a serious sin against God, that marriage is a covenant to be honored, and that the New Testament calls believers to both holiness and forgiveness in Christ.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Applicability of death penalty today | All Christians agree that adultery remains a serious sin against God and the marriage covenant. | Some traditions (e.g., many Reformed) hold that the civil penalty of death is no longer binding, as the church is not a civil government; others (e.g., some theonomists) argue the principle still applies in Christian nations. All agree the moral law forbidding adultery remains. |
| Jesus and the woman caught in adultery (John 8) | Christians agree Jesus did not endorse the stoning but also did not condone sin; He called the woman to 'go and sin no more.' | Some interpret Jesus as setting aside the Mosaic civil penalty for the church age; others see Him as exposing the hypocrisy of the accusers while upholding the law’s standard. A minority question the passage’s textual authenticity. |
| Equality of punishment for both parties | The verse applies the death penalty to both the man and the woman, showing that adultery is not a one-sided offense. | Some historical interpreters (e.g., Calvin) focus on the injury to the husband's rights and lineage; others emphasize the equal culpability of both sexes before God. |
| The role of 'removing evil' in church discipline | The New Testament teaches church discipline for unrepentant sin (1 Corinthians 5). | Churches differ on how strictly to apply the principle of excommunication for sexual sin, and whether restoration is possible after divorce due to adultery. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Deuteronomy 22:22 belongs to a collection of laws addressing sexual conduct in Israel, placed after rules for a bride’s virginity (vv.13-21) and before cases involving betrothed and unbetrothed women (vv.23-29). The law does not stand alone; it is part of the covenant code given to a nation that was both a religious and a political entity. In the Ancient Near East, adultery was widely viewed as a crime against the husband’s property rights and honor. The Hebrew phrase be‘ulat ba‘al (literally “possessed of a husband”) underscores the husband’s legal authority over his wife, adultery was a violation of that ownership. Yet Israel’s law grounds the prohibition not merely in property but in the sanctity of a covenant made before God (cf. Malachi 2:14-16). The death penalty (likely by stoning, as in Leviticus 20 and later tradition) required two witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15) and a formal legal process. The surrounding verses show how the law distinguished between consensual adultery and rape: a betrothed woman who cried for help in the field was innocent (vv.25-27); the same act in the city assumed consent (vv.23-24). These distinctions demonstrate a legal system that valued both evidence and justice.
The clause “So you shall remove the evil from Israel” is a refrain in these laws (cf. 22:21,24; 19:19). It reflects the community’s responsibility to purge serious sin from its midst, sin that could bring God’s judgment on the whole people (Deuteronomy 13:5; 19:13). The law was not merely punitive but protective of the nation’s covenant relationship with YHWH.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for this verse. The Hebrew text is stable across manuscripts, and the Septuagint (LXX) renders it consistently. The only variation is in the closing formula (remove the evil from Israel), which appears in identical form in surrounding verses.
Reception History
In the early church, authors like Augustine saw Deuteronomy 22:22 as affirming the sanctity of marriage and the severity of adultery. The law was often cited in debates about marital ethics, with the death penalty understood as a type of the eternal separation from God that sexual sin incurs. Medieval commentators, including Thomas Aquinas, used the verse to argue that adultery is a mortal sin. During the Reformation, Calvin’s extensive comment (provided above) stressed the law’s function in preserving the integrity of the family and the community. In modern times, the verse has been a source of reflection on the relationship between civil law and divine morality, especially as societies have decriminalized adultery. Many Christians read it as a backdrop for Jesus’ encounter with the woman caught in adultery (John 8), where mercy and truth meet.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The sacredness of marriage: God’s covenant of marriage is inviolable; adultery is a violation of trust, covenant and community.
- The gravity of sin: The death penalty shows that adultery is not a private failing but a public evil that corrupts society and defiles the land.
- Mercy and the new covenant: Jesus’ response to the adulteress (John 8) does not lower the standard but reveals a way of forgiveness that transforms sinners from within.
Five-point outline
- Context: the law as a teacher of God’s holiness and human sinfulness.
- The equal responsibility of both parties in adultery.
- The community’s role in maintaining moral boundaries.
- The tension between justice and mercy in Scripture.
- How the gospel fulfills the law: not by abolishing the standard but by providing atonement and regeneration.
Illustration hooks
- A family discovers a breach of trust, a spouse’s affair, and must decide how to restore what was broken. The emotional weight mirrors the community’s loss in ancient Israel.
- When a society decriminalizes adultery, it does not erase the harm; it often privatizes the pain. The law reminds us that some actions have public consequences.
- The story of a person who was caught in a moral failure but experienced both judgment and grace, and how that changed their life.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Does God still punish adultery with eternal death? (Hebrews 13:4; Revelation 21:8)
- Why did the law command death while Jesus forgave the woman caught in adultery?
- How should the church today treat those who have committed adultery? Is restoration possible?
Leading a Discussion
Deuteronomy 22:22 confronts us with the severity of sexual sin in God’s eyes. The death penalty seems harsh to modern readers, but it underscores the value of marital fidelity and the holiness God expects from His people. As you discuss this passage, remember that the law was given to a theocratic nation, not directly to the church, yet its principles can inform Christian ethics and church discipline.
Discussion questions
- Why does the law punish both the man and the woman equally? What does this say about responsibility in sin?
- What does the phrase “remove the evil from Israel” teach about corporate responsibility for holiness?
- How do the surrounding verses (vv.23, 29) show that the law distinguished between different situations and degrees of guilt?
- Read John 8:1, 11. How does Jesus’ treatment of the adulteress challenge or fulfill the command in Deuteronomy 22:22?
- In what ways does the New Testament uphold the seriousness of adultery while also offering forgiveness? (e.g., 1 Corinthians 6:9, 11)
- How can a church community wisely apply principles from this law today without imposing the death penalty?
- What does this passage teach us about God’s view of marriage and covenant faithfulness?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Leviticus 20:10 | “‘The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, even he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. |
| Numbers 5:22 | and this water that brings a curse will go into your bowels, and make your body swell, and your thigh fall away.” The woman shall say, “Amen, Amen.” |
| Numbers 5:27 | When he has made her drink the water, then it shall happen, if she is defiled and has committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causes the curse will enter into her and become bitter, and her body will swell, and her thigh will fall away; and the woman will be a curse among her people. |
| Ezekiel 16:38 | I will judge you as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of wrath and jealousy. |
| Ezekiel 23:45 | Righteous men will judge them with the judgment of adulteresses and with the judgment of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands. |
| Ezekiel 23:47 | The company will stone them with stones and dispatch them with their swords. They will kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire. |
| John 8:4 | they told him, “Teacher, we found this woman in adultery, in the very act. |
| John 8:5 | Now in our law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What then do you say about her?” |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
7 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke observes that this verse shows how the most ancient law known to humanity punished both the man and the woman with death for adultery. The penalty was equal and capital for both parties, reflecting the high seriousness of the offense from the very beginning.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin argues that God commands the death penalty for adultery because marriage is a sacred covenant, and violating it corrupts the family line by substituting illegitimate heirs for true offspring. He notes that even pagan nations punished adultery this severely, making it shameful that Christians often treat the offense lightly.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
This commentary defends the laws on unchastity as a genuine advance in social ethics for their time, despite their plain language. It argues that the strict religious sanctions were necessary then to combat debasing practices, and only ignorance or ingratitude would dismiss their spirit or form today.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva note stresses that both the man and the married woman are equally guilty and must both be executed. This equal punishment serves to remove evil from the community, not just to penalize individuals.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill notes that this law on adultery carries a specific method of execution: strangling with a napkin, as the Targum of Jonathan describes. He explains that whenever Scripture simply says the offender must die without further detail, this strangling is the understood punishment.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch emphasize that under the law both the man and the married woman were executed equally as adulterers. The punishment fell on both parties, not solely on the woman. This equal treatment underscores the gravity of the offense against the marriage covenant.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry highlights the careful judicial process God prescribed to defend a woman falsely accused