Adultery
 
 Conjugal infidelity. An adulterer was a man who had illicit
 intercourse with a married or a betrothed woman, and such a woman was
 an adulteress. Intercourse between a married man and an unmarried
 woman was fornication. Adultery was regarded as a great social wrong,
 as well as a great sin. The Mosaic law Nu 5:11-31 prescribed that
 the suspected wife should be tried by the ordeal of the "water of
 jealousy." There is, however, no recorded instance of the application
 of this law. In subsequent times the Rabbis made various regulations
 with the view of discovering the guilty party, and of bringing about
 a divorce. It has been inferred from Joh 8:1-11 that this sin became
 very common during the age preceding the destruction of Jerusalem.
 Idolatry, covetousness, and apostasy are spoken of as adultery
 spiritually Jer 3:6,8,9 Eze 16:32 Ho 1:2:3 Re 2:22 An apostate
 church is an adulteress Isa 1:21 Eze 23:4,7,37 and the Jews are
 styled "an adulterous generation" Mt 12:39 Comp Re 12:1ff
 
 See FORNICATION 24376