So then if, while the husband lives, she is joined to another man, she would be called an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she is joined to another man.
Parallel Translations
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So then if, while the husband lives, she is joined to another man, she would be called an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she is joined to another man.
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So then yf whill the man liveth she couple her selfe with another man she shalbe counted a wedlocke breaker. But yf the man be deed she is fre from the lawe: so that she is no wedlocke breaker though she couple her selfe with another man.
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So then, if while the man liueth, she taketh another man, she shalbe called an adulteresse: but if the man be dead, she is free from the Law, so that shee is not an adulteresse, though shee take another man.
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to Romans 7:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 20:14 “You shall not commit adultery.
- Matthew 5:32 but I tell you that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery.
- Mark 10:6-12 But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. For this cause a man will leave his father and mother, and will join to his wife, and the two will become one flesh, so that they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” In the house, his disciples asked him again about the same matter. He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife, and marries another, commits adultery against her. If a woman herself divorces her husband, and marries another, she commits adultery.”
- 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.
- Deuteronomy 22:22-24 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. If there is a young lady who is a virgin pledged to be married to a husband, and a man finds her in the city, and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones; the lady, because she didn’t cry, being in the city; and the man, because he has humbled his neighbor’s wife. So you shall remove the evil from among you.
- John 8:3-5 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman taken in adultery. Having set her in the middle, they told him, “Teacher, we found this woman in adultery, in the very act. Now in our law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What then do you say about her?”
- 1 Timothy 5:11-14 But refuse younger widows, for when they have grown wanton against Christ, they desire to marry, having condemnation, because they have rejected their first pledge. Besides, they also learn to be idle, going about from house to house. Not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not. I desire therefore that the younger widows marry, bear children, rule the household, and give no occasion to the adversary for insulting.
- Numbers 5:13-31 and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and this is kept concealed, and she is defiled, there is no witness against her, and she isn’t taken in the act; and the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife and she is defiled; or if the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife and she isn’t defiled; then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring her offering for her: one tenth of an ephah of barley meal. He shall pour no oil on it, nor put frankincense on it, for it is a meal offering of jealousy, a meal offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to memory. The priest shall bring her near, and set her before Yahweh. The priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and the priest shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. The priest shall set the woman before Yahweh, and let the hair of the woman’s head go loose, and put the meal offering of memorial in her hands, which is the meal offering of jealousy. The priest shall have in his hand the water of bitterness that brings a curse. The priest shall cause her to take an oath and shall tell the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you haven’t gone aside to uncleanness, being under your husband’s authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings a curse. But if you have gone astray, being under your husband’s authority, and if you are defiled, and some man has lain with you besides your husband—” then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall tell the woman, “May Yahweh make you a curse and an oath among your people, when Yahweh allows your thigh to fall away, and your body to swell; 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.” “ ‘The priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall wipe them into the water of bitterness. He shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that causes the curse; and the water that causes the curse shall enter into her and become bitter. The priest shall take the meal offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand, and shall wave the meal offering before Yahweh, and bring it to the altar. The priest shall take a handful of the meal offering, as its memorial portion, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water. 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. If the woman isn’t defiled, but is clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive offspring. “ ‘This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goes astray, and is defiled, or when the spirit of jealousy comes on a man, and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall set the woman before Yahweh, and the priest shall execute on her all this law. The man shall be free from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity.’ ”
- Ruth 2:13 Then she said, “Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, because you have comforted me, and because you have spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not as one of your servants.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (9 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, she shall be an adulteress, by the…
That is, she shall be an adulteress, by the consent and judgment of all men.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she…
3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
Ver. 3. So then if] The sects then are out that say today, that if they have husbands and wives that will not turn saints, that is, sects, they may leave them, and marry others.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Ye also are become dead to the law; i.e.…
Ye also are become dead to the law; i.e. ye are taken off from all hopes of justification by it, and from your confidence in obedience to it, Gal 2:19. The opposition seems to require that he should have said, the law is dead to us; but these two phrases are much the same.
Question. What law does he mean?
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Answer. Not only the ceremonial, but the moral law, for in that he instances, Rom 7:7. The moral law is in force still; Christ came to confirm, and not to destroy it; but believers are freed from the malediction, from the rigid exaction, and from the irritation thereof. Of this last he speaks, Rom 7:8,9, and from it we are freed but in part.
By the body of Christ; i.e. by the sacrifice of Christ’s body upon the cross; thereby he delivered us from the law, in the sense before mentioned.
Fruit unto God; i.e. fruits of holiness and good works, to the glory and praise of God.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain So then if while her husband liveth,.... True indeed…
So then if while her husband liveth,.... True indeed it is, that whilst her husband is alive, if
she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; she will be noted and accounted of as such everybody, except in the above mentioned cases:
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but if her husband be dead; then there can be no exception to her marriage:
she is free from the law; of marriage, by which she was before bound:
so that she is no adulteress; nor will any reckon her such; she is clear from any such imputation:
though she be married to another man; hence it appears that second marriages are lawful.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. So then, if, while her husband liveth]…
Verse 3. So then, if, while her husband liveth] The object of the apostle's similitude is to show that each party is equally bound to the other; but that the death of either dissolves the engagement.
So - she is no adulteress, though she be married to another] And do not imagine that this change would argue any disloyalty in you to your Maker; for, as he has determined that this law of ordinances shall cease, you are no more bound to it than a woman is to a deceased husband, and are as free to receive the Gospel of Christ as a woman in such circumstances would be to remarry.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain So then if ... - compare Mat 5:32.
So then if ... - compare Mat 5:32.
She shall be called - She will be. The word used here χρηματίσει chrēmatisei is often used to denote being called by an oracle or by divine revelation. But it is here employed in the simple sense of being commonly called, or of being so regarded.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain she be married--"joined." So Rom 7:4.
she be married--"joined." So Rom 7:4.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 3. she shall be called] The Gr. verb indicates…
3. she shall be called] The Gr. verb indicates a deliberate “calling;” the winning of a title. Same word as Act_11:26.
that law] Lit. the law; i.e. of her husband.
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married] Lit., in this ver. and 4, the verb is merely be, or become: if she be [joined] to another husband—lawfully or not.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain So then if, while the husband liveth, she be…
So then if, while the husband liveth, she be joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if the husband die, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be joined to another man . [If such freedom is accorded to the survivor, an equal liberty must be accorded to the deceased. But this liberty can not be enjoyed by him unless, by some means, he be raised from the dead.]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.