But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
This verse comes from the book of Proverbs, a collection of ancient wisdom literature traditionally associated with King Solomon. The passage sits within a broader warning about sexual immorality. Adultery refers to a married person pursuing a sexual relationship outside their marriage. What is striking is how the verse frames it — not primarily as a religious offense, but as an act of staggering foolishness. The phrase 'lacks judgment' literally means 'lacks heart' in Hebrew, pointing to a fundamental failure of wisdom and self-awareness. The warning is blunt and unsentimental: this is a choice that destroys the person making it, not just their relationships.
Lord, give me the wisdom to see past what I want right now to what I actually need. Help me recognize the moments when desire is fogging my judgment before the cost becomes something I carry for years. Protect me from choices that feel small and turn out not to be. Amen.
There is something almost counterintuitive about the way Proverbs handles this. It does not thunder with divine wrath — it simply says the person doing it lacks sense. Like someone who holds a hand over a flame and acts surprised by the burn. The ancient writer understood something modern psychology keeps rediscovering: certain choices carry their own destruction built into them. The wound is not only to a spouse or a family — it is to the person who believed desire was worth the cost. This is not a verse for pointing fingers at others. It is an invitation to honest self-examination. What choices are you making right now that you know — if you get quiet enough to admit it — are slowly costing you more than you are acknowledging? Proverbs is remarkably unsentimental about this: some doors, once opened, do not close easily. The real wisdom is not in recovering from the wreckage after the fact. It is in pausing before the decision and asking whether what you want in this moment is worth the person you will have to live with afterward.
Why do you think Proverbs frames adultery as a failure of judgment rather than primarily as a sin against God or a spouse — what does that framing reveal about how wisdom literature thinks about moral choices?
Have you ever made a decision that felt fully justified in the moment but later realized it was quietly costing you something far more valuable than you anticipated?
Does framing moral failure as self-destruction make warnings like this more or less compelling to you personally — and does that shift how you talk about ethics with others?
How does the betrayal of a marriage covenant ripple outward beyond the two people directly involved — who else gets shaped by that damage, and in what ways?
Is there an area of your life right now where you need to honestly assess the long-term cost of a current pattern or choice before it becomes a crisis you cannot reverse?
Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
1 Corinthians 6:18
And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.
Ecclesiastes 7:26
Therefore hearken unto me, ye men of understanding: far be it from God, that he should do wickedness; and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity.
Job 34:10
Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
Hebrews 13:4
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
Romans 1:22
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Exodus 20:14
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
Matthew 5:27
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Romans 1:24
But whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks common sense and sound judgment and an understanding [of moral principles]; He who would destroy his soul does it.
AMP
He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself.
ESV
The one who commits adultery with a woman is lacking sense; He who would destroy himself does it.
NASB
But a man who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself.
NIV
Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding; He who does so destroys his own soul.
NKJV
But the man who commits adultery is an utter fool, for he destroys himself.
NLT
Adultery is a brainless act, soul-destroying, self-destructive;
MSG