Moses — "You shall not commit adultery."
You shall not commit adultery.
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More from Moses
"O Lord, I have not spoken to the people since I was a baby."
"You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one."
"What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?"
"And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God."
Details
Exodus 20:14, one of the Ten Commandments given to Moses.
Date: c. 13th-15th century BCE (traditional dating)
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Understanding this quote
What it means
This commandment prohibits sexual relations with someone who is married to another person. It treats marriage as a binding commitment that outsiders must respect and that spouses must not betray. The rule protects the trust between husband and wife, the stability of families, and the clarity of parentage. Breaking it is framed not as a private lapse but as a serious wrong against another household and the wider community.
Relevance to Moses
Moses delivered this as one of the Ten Commandments received at Mount Sinai, according to the Exodus account. As the lawgiver who shaped Israelite identity after the flight from Egypt, he tied moral conduct directly to covenant with God. Raised in Pharaoh's court yet committed to his people, Moses built a legal code where family fidelity sat alongside prohibitions on murder and theft, treating personal ethics as inseparable from national holiness.
The era
In the Late Bronze Age Near East, roughly the 13th century BCE, households were the basic economic and political unit, and lineage determined inheritance, tribal belonging, and land rights. Adultery threatened property transfer and clan alliances, so surrounding cultures like the Hittites and Babylonians punished it harshly under codes such as Hammurabi's. Moses's version stood out by binding the rule to divine covenant rather than royal decree, applying equally across social ranks.
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