This was very common among the Gentiles, which accounts for its being mentioned in the message sent from the conference at Jerusalem to the Gentiles, Acts 15:20,29; and its being so often prohibited in the epistles. The word is sometimes used where 'adultery' is the sense. Matthew 5:32; Matthew 19:9 . It often has in the O.T. a symbolical reference to the turning from God to idols. 2 Chronicles 21:11,13; Isaiah 23:17; Ezekiel 16:15,26,29; and in the N.T. to unfaithful intercourse with Babylon, the mother of harlots. Revelation 14:8; Revelation 17:2,4; Revelation 18:3,9 .