Adultery

====Biblical sources====
{{Main|Thou shalt not commit adultery}}
Both Judaism and Christianity base their injunction against adultery on passages in the [[Hebrew Bible]] ([[Old Testament]] in Christianity), which firstly prohibits adultery in the [[Thou shalt not commit adultery|Seventh Commandment]]: "Thou shalt not commit adultery."
({{bibleverse||Exodus|20:12|HE}}). However, Judaism and Christianity differ on what actually constitutes adultery.

{{bibleverse|Leviticus|20:10|HE}} defines what constitutes adultery in the Hebrew Bible, and it also prescribes the punishment as [[capital punishment]]. In this verse, and in the Jewish tradition, adultery consists of sexual intercourse between a man and a ''married'' woman who is not his lawful wife:

<blockquote>And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.</blockquote>

Thus, according to the Hebrew Bible, adultery is not committed if the female participant is unmarried (unless she is [[betrothed]] to be married<ref>{{Bibleverse|Deuteronomy|22:23-27|HE}}</ref>), while the marital status of the male participant is irrelevant (he himself could be married or unmarried to another woman).

If a married woman was raped by a man who is not her husband, only the rapist is punished for adultery. The victim is not punished: as the Bible declares, "this matter is similar to when a man rises up against his fellow and murders him"; just as a murder victim is not guilty of murder, a rape victim is not guilty of adultery.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Deuteronomy|22:26|HE}}</ref>

[[Michael Coogan]] writes that according to the text wives are the property of their husband, marriage meaning transfer of property (from father to husband),<ref name=coogan102>{{cite book|last1=Coogan|first1=Michael|title=God and Sex. What the Bible Really Says|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2_gPKQEACAAJ&q=god+and+sex|access-date=5 May 2011|edition=1st|date=October 2010|publisher=Twelve. Hachette Book Group|location=New York, Boston|isbn=978-0-446-54525-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/godsexwhatbi00coog/page/102 102]-[https://archive.org/details/godsexwhatbi00coog/page/103 103]|chapter=4. Thou Shalt Not: Forbidden Seuxal Relationships in the Bible|url=https://archive.org/details/godsexwhatbi00coog|url-access=registration}}</ref> and adultery is violating the property right of the husband.<ref name=coogan102/> However, in contrast to other ancient Near Eastern law collections which treat adultery as an offense against the husband alone, and allow the husband to waive or mitigate the punishment, Biblical law allows no such mitigation, on the grounds that God as well as the husband is offended by adultery, and an offense against God cannot be forgiven by man.<ref>ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, "Adultery", [[Jeffrey H. Tigay]]</ref> In addition, Coogan's book was criticized by [[Phyllis Trible]], who argues that that [[patriarchy]] was not decreed, but only described by God.<ref name=trible>Phyllis Trible [http://www.bib-arch.org/reviews/review-god-and-sex.asp God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120806031403/http://www.bib-arch.org/reviews/review-god-and-sex.asp |date=6 August 2012 }} Biblical Archaeology Review</ref> She claims that [[Paul the Apostle]] made the same mistake as Coogan.<ref name=trible/>

[[David]]'s sexual intercourse with [[Bathsheba]], the wife of [[Uriah the Hittite|Uriah]], is described by the Bible as a "sin"<ref>{{Bibleverse|2 Samuel|12:13|HE}}</ref> whose punishment included the ravishment of David's own wives.<ref>{{Bibleverse|2 Samuel|12:11-12|HE}}</ref> According to Jennifer Wright Knust, David's act was adultery only according to the spirit and not the letter of the law, because Uriah was non-Jewish, and (according to Knust) the Biblical codes only technically applied to Israelites.<ref name="Knust2011">{{cite book|first=Jennifer|last=Wright Knust|title=Unprotected Texts: The Bible's Surprising Contradictions About Sex and Desire|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=trMblwEACAAJ|date=25 January 2011|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-06-172558-6|chapter=Chapter 2|url=https://archive.org/details/unprotectedtexts00jenn}}</ref> However, according to [[Jacob Milgrom]], Jews and resident foreigners received equal protection under Biblical law.<ref>Jacob Milgrom, ''The JPS Torah Commentary - Numbers'', [[Jewish Publication Society]] (2003), p. 399</ref>  In any case, according to the Babylonian Talmud, Uriah was indeed Jewish<ref>Babylonian Talmud, [https://www.sefaria.org/Kiddushin.76b.15 Kiddushin 76b]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/43681/was-uriah-jewish|title=Was Uriah Jewish?|website=Mi Yodeya|access-date=20 October 2016|archive-date=21 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161021001639/http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/43681/was-uriah-jewish|url-status=live}}</ref> and wrote a provisional [[Get (divorce document)|bill of divorce]] prior to going out to war, specifying that if he fell in battle, the divorce would take effect from the time the writ was issued.<ref name=Thompson>{{cite book |first=John L. |last=Thompson |title=Reading the Bible with the Dead |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hWciPOChU9QC |page=200 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |access-date=21 October 2016 |isbn=9780802807533 |date=29 May 2007 |archive-date=27 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191227015630/https://books.google.com/books?id=hWciPOChU9QC |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=Babylonian Talmud | chapter-url=https://www.sefaria.org/Shabbat.56a | chapter=Shabbath 56 | access-date=17 May 2019 | archive-date=17 May 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517140618/https://www.sefaria.org/Shabbat.56a | url-status=live }}</ref>