(Middle voice) to commit adultery
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moichao means to commit adultery or to cause adultery, and every direct New Testament witness appears in Jesus' teaching on divorce and remarriage. Matthew 5 warns that wrongful divorce brings adultery upon the wife and that marrying a divorced woman commits adultery.
Reader summary
Full entry for μοιχάω (G3429) · Open the biblical lexicon
moichao means to commit adultery or to cause adultery, and every direct New Testament witness appears in Jesus' teaching on divorce and remarriage. Matthew 5 warns that wrongful divorce brings adultery upon the wife and that marrying a divorced woman commits adultery.
The BSB source-word alignment has 4 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include commits adultery (3), she commits adultery (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 5:32. Its strongest book concentrations include Mark (2), Matthew (2).
Moichao means to commit adultery or to cause adultery, and every direct New Testament witness appears in Jesus' teaching on divorce and remarriage. Matthew 5 warns that wrongful divorce brings adultery upon the wife and that marrying a divorced woman commits adultery. Matthew 19 and Mark 10 repeat the gravity of divorcing one spouse and marrying another, with Mark naming adultery against her and also addressing the woman's action.
The word therefore belongs to covenant faithfulness, not casual moralizing. Pastorally, moichao must be taught with Jesus' seriousness about marriage and with wise care for wounded people. It should guard covenant vows, expose selfish abandonment, and avoid simplistic applications that ignore the surrounding biblical witness and real pastoral harm.
Moichao occurs in four direct New Testament witnesses, all in Jesus' teaching on divorce and remarriage. The anchors show adultery language used to guard marital covenant faithfulness and expose the moral weight of wrongful divorce.
But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, brings adultery upon her. And he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Jesus intensifies covenant faithfulness in the Sermon on the Mount. moichao names adultery in connection with wrongful divorce and remarriage.
Now I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
In a dispute about divorce, Jesus returns to the seriousness of marriage and warns against remarriage after wrongful divorce.
So He told them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her.
Mark records Jesus saying the man commits adultery against his wife. The wording protects the wife from being erased by male privilege.
And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”
Jesus' warning extends moral responsibility to the woman who divorces and remarries. Covenant faithfulness applies across parties.
μοιχάω translates the same Hebrew root as μοιχεύω, נָאַף (na'ap), but appears primarily in the LXX of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, where it describes both Israel's literal moral collapse and her spiritual adultery against God. The LXX uses the middle voice, which is also how the NT employs this verb: always in the middle, always with the sense that the subject is acting in their own interest against the covenant bond.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. Violation of marital fidelity; applies equally to men and women, contrary to some cultural assumptions.
Violation of marital fidelity; applies equally to men and women, contrary to some cultural assumptions.
(= cl. μοιχεύω), [in LXX (mid., absol. and with accusative, with party of either sex as subj.) : Jer.3:8 5:7 7:9 9:2 23:14 29:23, Eze.16:32 23:37, 43 (נָאַף) * ;] to commit adultery with: with accusative, fem. In NT always mid, in same sense; of the man : absol., Mat.5:32 19:9 (WH, txt., R, mg., om.); before ἐπ᾽ αὐτήν, Mrk.10:11; of the woman: Mrk.10:12.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I commit adultery
Read verseI commit adultery
Read verseI commit adultery
Read verseI commit adultery
Read verseI commit adultery
Read verseI commit adultery
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this verb appears across 5 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Representative Scripture witnesses for this entry: passage, original form, and sense in context.
μοιχάω is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Moichao is concentrated in a difficult and necessary part of Jesus' teaching. He speaks of adultery not to trap the wounded but to protect the covenant from selfish disposal. Matthew's witnesses include the exception related to sexual immorality and warn that wrongful divorce creates adultery. Mark's wording is especially important because it says the man commits adultery against her, refusing to let a wife be treated as disposable property.
Mark also names the woman's responsibility in a parallel case. The preacher should uphold Jesus' authority, protect the vulnerable, and avoid shallow case law. This word calls churches to honor marriage, tell the truth about betrayal, and shepherd complex situations with Scripture, patience, and courage.
Mark.10.11
Moichao is the verb for committing adultery or bringing adultery into a situation. In these witnesses it is bound to Jesus' divorce-and-remarriage teaching rather than general sexual ethics alone.
The command against adultery and the covenant meaning of marriage stand behind Jesus' teaching. He deepens rather than discards that moral vision.
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain