Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, April 8th, 2026
Wednesday in Easter Week
Attention!
Take your personal ministry to the Next Level by helping StudyLight build churches and supporting pastors in Uganda.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

Wycliffe Bible

Hebrews 13:4

`Wedding is in alle thingis onourable, and bed vnwemmed; for God schal deme fornicatouris and auouteris.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Adultery;   Marriage;   Thompson Chain Reference - Chastity-Impurity;   Home;   Impurity;   Marriage;   The Topic Concordance - Adultery;   Honor;   Judges;   Marriage;   Whoredom;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Chastity;   Marriage;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Adultery;   Fornication;   Marriage;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Blameless;   Marriage;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Beneficence;   Celibacy ;   Discontent;   Marriage;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Eve;   Marriage;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Bed, Bedroom;   Hebrews;   Marriage;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Adultery ;   Bed, Couch;   Fornication ;   Hebrews Epistle to the;   Marriage;   Salutations;   Virtue;   Woman;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Marriage;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Bed;   Brethren of the Lord;   Essenes, the;   Hebrews, Epistle to the;   Honorable;   Parousia;   Undefiled;  

Devotionals:

- Today's Word from Skip Moen - Devotion for June 8;  

Parallel Translations

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.
King James Version (1611)
Mariage is honorable in all, and the bed vndefiled: but whoremongers, and adulterers God will iudge.
King James Version
Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
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.
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.
New Century Version
Marriage should be honored by everyone, and husband and wife should keep their marriage pure. God will judge as guilty those who take part in sexual sins.
New American Standard Bible (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.
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.
Berean Standard Bible
Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
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.
Complete Jewish Bible
Marriage is honorable in every respect; and, in particular, sex within marriage is pure. But God will indeed punish fornicators and adulterers.
Darby Translation
[Let] marriage [be held] every way in honour, and the bed [be] undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers will God judge.
Easy-to-Read Version
Marriage should be honored by everyone. And every marriage should be kept pure between husband and wife. God will judge guilty those who commit sexual sins and adultery.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Mariage is honorable among all, and the bed vndefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will iudge.
George Lamsa Translation
Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled; but God will judge those who practice vice and 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.
Lexham English Bible
Marriage must be held in honor by all, and the marriage bed be undefiled, because God will judge sexually immoral people and adulterers.
Literal Translation
Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled; but God will judge fornicators and adulterers.
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.
American Standard Version
Let marriage be had in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
Bible in Basic English
Let married life be honoured among all of you and not made unclean; for men untrue in married life will be judged by God.
Hebrew Names Version
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
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.1 Corinthians 6:9; Galatians 5:19,21; Ephesians 5:5; Colossians 3:5-6; Revelation 22:15;">[xr]
Etheridge Translation
Honourable is marriage among all, and their bed is undefiled; but whoremongers and adulterers Aloha judgeth.
Murdock Translation
Marriage is honorable in all; and their bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers, God will judge.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Wedlocke is honorable among all men, and the bed vndefiled: But whoremongers and adulterers God wyll iudge.
English Revised Version
Let marriage be had in honour among all, and let the bed be undefiled: 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.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Marriage is honourable in all men, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
Weymouth's New Testament
Let marriage be held in honour among all, and let the marriage bed be unpolluted; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
Update Bible Version
[Let] marriage [be] had in honor among all, and [let] the bed [be] undefiled: for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
Webster's Bible Translation
Marriage [is] honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but lewd persons and adulterers God will judge.
New English Translation
Marriage must be honored among all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge sexually immoral people and adulterers.
New King James Version
Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
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.
New Life Bible
Marriage should be respected by everyone. God will punish those who do sex sins and are not faithful in marriage.
New Revised Standard
Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Let marriage be honourable in all, and the bed undefiled, for, fornicators and adulterers, God, will judge.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Marriage honourable in all, and the bed undefiled. For fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
Revised Standard Version
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled; for God will judge the immoral and adulterous.
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Let wedlocke be had in pryce in all poyntes and let the chamber be vndefiled: for whore kepers and advoutrars god will iudge.
Young's Literal Translation
honourable [is] the marriage in all, and the bed undefiled, and whoremongers and adulterers God shall judge.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Let wedlocke be had in pryce in all poyntes, & let ye chamber be vndefyled. For whorekepers and aduouterers God wil iudge.
Mace New Testament (1729)
Marriage is every where honourable, and that state is innocent: but the licentious and adulterers God will punish.
Simplified Cowboy Version
Marriage should be held in the highest regard. The marital bed must be kept pure. It is just the husband and wife and no one else. God will judge those who are immoral and those who cheat on a marriage.

Contextual Overview

1 The charite of britherhod dwelle in you, and nyle ye foryete hospitalite; 2 for bi this summen plesiden to aungels, that weren resseyued to herborewe. 3 Thenke ye on boundun men, as ye weren togidere boundun, and of trauelinge men, as ye silf dwellinge in the body. 4 `Wedding is in alle thingis onourable, and bed vnwemmed; for God schal deme fornicatouris and auouteris. 5 Be youre maneres withoute coueitise, apaied with present thingis; for he seide, Y schal not leeue thee, 6 nether forsake, so that we seie tristily, The Lord is an helpere to me; Y schal not drede, what a man schal do to me. 7 Haue ye mynde of youre souereyns, that han spokun to you the word of God; of whiche `biholde ye the goyng out of lyuynge, and sue ye the feith of hem, 8 Jhesu Crist, yistirdai, and to dai, he is also into worldis. 9 Nyle ye be led awei with dyuerse `techingis, and straunge. For it is best to stable the herte with grace, not with metis, whiche profitiden not to men wandringe in hem. 10 We han an auter, of which thei that seruen to the tabernacle, han not power to ete.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Marriage: Genesis 1:27, Genesis 1:28, Genesis 2:21, Genesis 2:24, Leviticus 21:13-15, 2 Kings 22:14, Proverbs 5:15-23, Isaiah 8:3, 1 Corinthians 7:2-16, 1 Corinthians 9:5, 1 Timothy 3:2, 1 Timothy 3:4, 1 Timothy 3:12, 1 Timothy 5:14, Titus 1:6

and the bed: Hebrews 12:16, 1 Corinthians 6:9, Galatians 5:19, Galatians 5:21, Ephesians 5:5, Colossians 3:5, Colossians 3:6, Revelation 22:15

God: Psalms 50:16-22, Malachi 3:5, 1 Corinthians 5:13, 2 Corinthians 5:10

Reciprocal: Genesis 2:22 - brought Genesis 12:15 - taken Genesis 12:17 - General Genesis 20:7 - surely Genesis 20:9 - a great Genesis 34:7 - thing Genesis 39:9 - how then Exodus 20:14 - General Leviticus 15:18 - unclean Leviticus 15:24 - General Leviticus 18:20 - General Numbers 5:16 - set her Numbers 5:18 - the priest Deuteronomy 22:22 - General Ruth 4:10 - ye are witnesses 2 Samuel 11:27 - displeased Job 31:2 - General Job 31:12 - General Psalms 50:18 - hast been partaker Proverbs 5:11 - thou Proverbs 5:22 - sins Proverbs 6:32 - destroyeth Jeremiah 5:7 - they then Jeremiah 23:10 - full Ezekiel 18:6 - neither hath defiled Ezekiel 22:11 - committed Matthew 8:14 - wife's Matthew 19:6 - God Mark 10:11 - Whosoever Luke 20:34 - marry John 2:1 - a marriage John 2:2 - the marriage John 4:18 - is not Acts 15:20 - fornication 1 Corinthians 6:18 - Flee 1 Corinthians 7:28 - thou hast 1 Corinthians 7:38 - doeth well 1 Corinthians 16:14 - General 2 Corinthians 12:21 - uncleanness Ephesians 5:3 - fornication 1 Thessalonians 4:3 - that 1 Thessalonians 4:4 - honour 1 Timothy 1:10 - whoremongers 1 Timothy 4:3 - Forbidding 2 Peter 2:10 - that Revelation 2:14 - to commit Revelation 21:8 - and the

Cross-References

Genesis 4:26
But also a sone was borun to Seth, which sone he clepide Enos; this Enos bigan to clepe inwardli the name of the Lord.
Genesis 13:1
Therfore Abram stiede fro Egipt, he, and his wijf, and alle thingis that he hadde; and Loth stiede with hym, to the south coost.
Genesis 13:2
Forsothe he was ful riche in possessyoun of siluer and of gold.
Genesis 13:3
And he turnede ayen bi the weye in which he cam fro the south in to Bethel, `til to the place, in which bifore he hadde sett tabernacle, bitwixe Bethel and Hay,
Genesis 13:7
Wherfor also strijf was maad bitwixe the keperis of flockis of Abram and of Loth. Forsothe Chananei and Feresei dwelliden in that lond in that tyme.
Genesis 13:8
Therfor Abram seide to Loth, Y biseche, that no strijf be bitwixe me and thee, and bitwixe my scheepherdis and thi scheepherdis; for we ben britheren.
Genesis 13:18
Therfor Abram, mouynge his tabernacle, cam and dwellide bisidis the valei of Mambre, which is in Ebron; and he bildide there an auter to the Lord.
Psalms 26:8
Lord, Y haue loued the fairnesse of thin hows; and the place of the dwellyng of thi glorie.
Psalms 84:10
For whi o dai in thin hallis is bettere; than a thousynde. I chees to be `an out cast in the hous of my God; more than to dwelle in the tabernaclis of synneris.
Psalms 107:1
The `title of the hundrid and sixte salm. Alleluya. Knouleche ye to the Lord, for he is good; for his merci is in to the world.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Marriage is honourable in all,.... Some read these words as an exhortation, "let" it "be so"; others as an assertion, it is so. "Marriage" is the union of one man and one woman in wedlock, whereby they become one flesh; it is a joining together of male and female in this relation, and of two only, and of such as are not within the degrees of blood forbid by the law, Leviticus 18:6 and of such as are fit for marriage: and this is "honourable", as it was instituted by God, and has been honoured with the presence of Christ, Genesis 2:22. And it is so in the ends of it, being to procreate children, multiply the earth, build up families, preserve a legitimate offspring, and prevent fornication and all uncleanness; and it is so, when the duties of the relation are performed on both sides: and it is honourable "in all"; in all things, in all respects, upon all accounts; "every way", as the Arabic version renders it; or as the Ethiopic version, "everywhere"; it has been honourably esteemed of among all nations; it becomes persons of all ranks and degrees, quality, and order; and it is honourable in all that are lawfully married, and do not violate the marriage contract, or defile the marriage bed: hereby are condemned such who despise marriage, that they may give a loose to their wandering and insatiable lusts; and such who, under a pretence of greater sanctity and perfection, reject it as unlawful; and the Papists, who deny it to men employed in sacred work:

and the bed undefiled: the Arabic version reads, "his bed"; and the Syriac and Ethiopic versions, "their bed"; the bed of such whose marriage is honourable; which is not polluted by admitting others into it, or by acts of fornication and adultery: "but", or "for", as the Alexandrian copy reads,

whoremongers and adulterers God will judge; the former of these may be rendered "fornicators", as it is by the Vulgate Latin version: fornication is a sin committed by single persons, unmarried ones; and though it was reckoned among the Gentiles a thing indifferent, yet is contrary to the law of God, and is a work of the flesh, and makes unfit for the kingdom of God, and brings down the judgments of God both here and hereafter. And this is in opposition to marriage, which is appointed to prevent it. The sin "adulterers" are guilty of, is a sin committed by persons, who are either one or both in a married state, and so is directly a pollution of the marriage bed: this was punishable with death by the law of God, and light of nature; and though men may make light of it, God will judge and punish such as commit it, both in this life, with diseases, poverty, and disgrace, and in the world to come, at the great day of account; for however secretly it may be committed, God, who is omniscient, sees it, and will bring it into judgment; nor shall any be able to escape the righteous judgment of God, for he is omnipotent, as well as omniscient. The Jews say,

"whoever lies with another man's wife, shall not escape

דינה, "the judgment", or damnation of hell t''

t T. Bab. Sota. fol. 4. 2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Marriage is honorable in all - The object here is to state that “honor” is to be shown to the marriage relation. It is not to be undervalued by the pretence of the superior purity of a state of celibacy, as if marriage were improper for any class of people or any condition of life; and it should not be dishonored by any violation of the marriage contract. The course of things has shown that there was abundant reason for the apostle to assert with emphasis, that “marriage was an honorable condition of life.” There has been a constant effort made to show that celibacy was a more holy state; that there was something in marriage that rendered it “dishonorable” for those who are in the ministry, and for those of either sex who would be eminently pure. This sentiment has been the cause of more abomination in the world than any other single opinion claiming to have a religious sanction. It is one of the supports on which the Papal system rests, and has been one of the principal upholders of all the corruptions in monasteries and nunneries. The apostle asserts, without any restriction or qualification, that marriage is honorable in all; and this proves that it is lawful for the ministers of religion to marry, and that the whole doctrine of the superior purity of a state of celibacy is false; see this subject examined in the notes on 1 Corinthians 7:0.

And the bed undefiled - Fidelity to the marriage vow.

But whore mongers and adulterers God will judge - All licentiousness of life, and all violations of the marriage covenant, will be severely punished by God; see the notes on 1 Corinthians 6:9. The sins here referred to prevailed everywhere, and hence, there was the more propriety for the frequent and solemn injunctions to avoid them which we find in the Scriptures.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Hebrews 13:4. Marriage is honourable in all — Let this state be highly esteemed as one of God's own instituting, and as highly calculated to produce the best interests of mankind. This may have been said against the opinions of the Essenes, called Therapeutae, who held marriage in little repute, and totally abstained from it themselves as a state of comparative imperfection. At the same time it shows the absurdity of the popish tenet, that marriage in the clergy is both dishonourable and sinful; which is, in fact, in opposition to the apostle, who says marriage is honourable in ALL; and to the institution of God, which evidently designed that every male and female should be united in this holy bond; and to nature, which in every part of the habitable world has produced men and women in due proportion to each other.

The bed undefiled — Every man cleaving to his own wife, and every wife cleaving to her own husband, because God will judge, i.e. punish, all fornicators and adulterers.

Instead of δε but, γαρ, for, is the reading of AD*, one other, with the Vulgate, Coptic, and one of the Itala; it more forcibly expresses the reason of the prohibition: Let the bed be undefiled, FOR whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile