Hebrews 13:4
New International Version
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.

New Living Translation
Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.

English Standard Version
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

Berean Standard Bible
Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

Berean Literal Bible
Let marriage be honorable in all, and the marriage bed undefiled; for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

King James Bible
Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

New King James Version
Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

New American Standard Bible
Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

NASB 1995
Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

NASB 1977
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

Legacy Standard Bible
Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled, for the sexually immoral and adulterers God will judge.

Amplified Bible
Marriage is to be held in honor among all [that is, regarded as something of great value], and the marriage bed undefiled [by immorality or by any sexual sin]; for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

Christian Standard Bible
Marriage is to be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, because God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Marriage must be respected by all, and the marriage bed kept undefiled, because God will judge immoral people and adulterers.

American Standard Version
Let marriage be had in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Marriage is honorable with all and their bed is pure, but fornicators and adulterers God judges.

Contemporary English Version
Have respect for marriage. Always be faithful to your partner, because God will punish anyone who is immoral or unfaithful in marriage.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Marriage honourable in all, and the bed undefiled. For fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

English Revised Version
Let marriage be had in honour among all, and let the bed be undefiled: for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Marriage is honorable in every way, so husbands and wives should be faithful to each other. God will judge those who commit sexual sins, especially those who commit adultery.

Good News Translation
Marriage is to be honored by all, and husbands and wives must be faithful to each other. God will judge those who are immoral and those who commit adultery.

International Standard Version
Let marriage be kept honorable in every way, and the marriage bed undefiled. For God will judge those who commit sexual sins, especially those who commit adultery.

Literal Standard Version
The marriage [is to be] honored by all, and the bed undefiled, for God will judge whoremongers and adulterers.

Majority Standard Bible
Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled; but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

New American Bible
Let marriage be honored among all and the marriage bed be kept undefiled, for God will judge the immoral and adulterers.

NET Bible
Marriage must be honored among all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge sexually immoral people and adulterers.

New Revised Standard Version
Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers.

New Heart English Bible
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

Webster's Bible Translation
Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but lewd persons and adulterers God will judge.

Weymouth New Testament
Let marriage be held in honour among all, and let the marriage bed be unpolluted; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

World English Bible
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled; but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

Young's Literal Translation
honourable is the marriage in all, and the bed undefiled, and whoremongers and adulterers God shall judge.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Brotherly Love
3Remember those in prison as if you were bound with them, and those who are mistreated as if you were suffering with them. 4 Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers. 5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”…

Cross References
Leviticus 18:20
You must not lie carnally with your neighbor's wife and thus defile yourself with her.

Deuteronomy 22:22
If a man is found lying with another man's wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.

1 Corinthians 6:9
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts,

1 Corinthians 6:18
Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.

1 Corinthians 7:38
So then, he who marries the virgin does well, but he who does not marry her does even better.

Galatians 5:19
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;

Galatians 5:21
and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.


Treasury of Scripture

Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

Marriage.

Genesis 1:27,28
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them…

Genesis 2:21,24
And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; …

Leviticus 21:13-15
And he shall take a wife in her virginity…

and the bed.

Hebrews 12:16
Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

1 Corinthians 6:9
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

Galatians 5:19,21
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, …

God.

Psalm 50:16-22
But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? …

Malachi 3:5
And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.

1 Corinthians 5:13
But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

Jump to Previous
Adulterer Adulterers Adulterous Bed Fornicators Held Honor Honorable Honored Honour Honourable Honoured Immoral Judge Judged Kept Lewd Marriage Married Persons Pure Sexually Unclean Undefiled Untrue Way Whoremongers
Jump to Next
Adulterer Adulterers Adulterous Bed Fornicators Held Honor Honorable Honored Honour Honourable Honoured Immoral Judge Judged Kept Lewd Marriage Married Persons Pure Sexually Unclean Undefiled Untrue Way Whoremongers
Hebrews 13
1. Various admonitions as to love;
4. to honest life;
5. to avoid covetousness;
7. to regard God's preachers;
9. to take heed of strange doctrines;
10. to confess Christ;
16. to give alms;
17. to obey governors;
18. to pray for the apostles.
20. The conclusion.














(4) Marriage is honourable in all.--Rather, Let marriage be held in honour among all, and let the bed be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge. The precept is directed against impurity (Hebrews 12:16), and also against the false asceticism of men "forbidding to marry" (1Timothy 4:3). The laxity of morals among Gentiles (Note on Acts 15:20) and the prevalence of divorce amongst Jews (Matthew 5:32) explain the sudden introduction of such warnings: of these sinners the all-seeing God will be the judge. (Comp. 1Thessalonians 4:6.)

Verse 4. - Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. So in the A.V. the first clause of this verse, which is taken as an assertion, the copula ἔστι, being understood. So it is also taken by Chrysostom and other ancients. If so, it is a declaration, interposed among hortations, of the honorableness of the" estate of matrimony," with the hortatory purpose of suggesting this "remedy against sin "(as in 1 Corinthians 7:9), or as a protest against false asceticism, such as is alluded to in 1 Timothy 4:3, "forbidding to marry." And certainly the expression, τίμιος ὁ γάμος, taken by itself, would most naturally have this meaning. But most modern commentators understand it as an exhortation, supplying ἔστω; and this for the following cogent reasons: it occurs in the midst of a series of exhortations, and is therefore more likely to be one; it is difficult to understand the connected clause, "and the bed undefiled (καὶ ἡ κοίτη ἀμίαντος)," as a statement; and the exactly similar phrase in ver. 5, ἀφιλάργυρος ὁ τρόπος, seems evidently hortatory. Hence we take it to mean "Let marriage be τίμος ἐν πᾶσον." Two questions remain - that of the import of τίμιος, and whether πᾶσιν is masculine or neuter. Τίμιος elsewhere, when applied to persons, means "held in honor" (as in Acts 5:34, of Gamaliel); when applied to things, it means "precious" (as in 1 Corinthians 3:12; Revelation 17:4; Revelation 18:12, 16; Revelation 21:19, of precious stones; in 1 Peter 1:19, of the blood of the Lamb; 2 Peter 1:4, of promises; Acts 20:24, of "my own life;" James 5:7, of the fruit of the earth). Bengel explains thus: "Caelibes, quibus periculum scortationis imminet, hortatur ut matrimonium contrahant, tanquam pretiosum quiddam agnoscentes, ejusque bone digne utantur. Conf. 1 Thessalonians 4:4.' And, taking πᾶσιν as masculine, he explains further: "Omnesque debent matrimonium magni facere, ut, si quis eo ipse non utatur, alios tamen non prohibeat." According to this view the first clause is an injunction to all to appreciate marriage, the second warns those that are married against any violation of the bond: "Τίμιος γάμος antitheton ad scortatotes, κοίτη ἀμίαντος ad adulteros" (Bengel). But the more natural, and the usual, meaning of the common expression ἐν πᾶσιν is "in all things," not "among all persons" (cf. Jaffa, ver. 18; also Colossians 1:18; Titus 2:9; 1 Timothy 3:2; 2 Timothy 4:5). If so here, τίμιος ὁ γάμος must be taken rather as an injunction with respect to the sanctity of marriage when contracted: "Let it be held in honor in all respects; in all ways reverently regarded as a holy bond;" the succeeding clause, ἡ κοίτη ἀμίαντος, being a further explication of the same idea (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:4, "That every one of you should know how to possess his own vessel [meaning, probably, as seems to be required by the verb κτᾶσθαι, 'get to himself his own wife] in sanctification and honor (ἐν ἀγιασμῷ καὶ τιμῇ);" where ἐν τιμῇ may express the same ides as τίμιος in the text). 'In the conclusion of the verse "for" (γὰρ) suits the drift of the sentence as above understood, and is considered to be supported better than "but" (δὲ) of the Textus Receptus. Observe, lastly, that, in "God will judge," "God" is emphatic, being placed last. Though the kind of sin spoken of is lightly regarded among men, and may escape detection or punishment now, yet certainly God will judge it (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:6, "God is the Avenger of all such, as we have also forewarned you and testified;" and 1 Corinthians 6:9, where fornicators and adulterers are included among those about whom Christians are not to deceive themselves, as though they would "inherit the kingdom of God").

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
Marriage
γάμος (gamos)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 1062: A marriage, wedding, wedding-ceremony; plur: a wedding-feast. Of uncertain affinity; nuptials.

should be honored
Τίμιος (Timios)
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 5093: Of great price, precious, honored.

by
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

all
πᾶσιν (pasin)
Adjective - Dative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3956: All, the whole, every kind of. Including all the forms of declension; apparently a primary word; all, any, every, the whole.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

the
(hē)
Article - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

marriage bed
κοίτη (koitē)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 2845: From keimai; a couch; by extension, cohabitation; by implication, the male sperm.

kept undefiled,
ἀμίαντος (amiantos)
Adjective - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 283: Undefiled, untainted, free from contamination. Unsoiled, i.e. pure.

for
γὰρ (gar)
Conjunction
Strong's 1063: For. A primary particle; properly, assigning a reason.

God
Θεός (Theos)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2316: A deity, especially the supreme Divinity; figuratively, a magistrate; by Hebraism, very.

will judge
κρινεῖ (krinei)
Verb - Future Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2919: Properly, to distinguish, i.e. Decide; by implication, to try, condemn, punish.

the sexually immoral
πόρνους (pornous)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Plural
Strong's 4205: A fornicator, man who prostitutes himself. From pernemi; a prostitute, i.e. a debauchee.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

adulterers.
μοιχοὺς (moichous)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3432: An adulterer, that is, a man who is guilty with a married woman. Perhaps a primary word; a paramour; figuratively, apostate.


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NT Letters: Hebrews 13:4 Let marriage be held in honor among (Heb. He. Hb)
Hebrews 13:3
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