Dr. Lea Mazor, The Hebrew University
In the Bible, there is an absolute prohibition against adultery. In Leviticus 20:10 it is written: "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" (see also Numbers 5:13; Ezekiel 16:32). The Book of Proverbs contains detailed and repeated warnings against adultery: 2:16-19; 5; 6:24-35; 7:5-27. The adulterer and the adulteress sin against God and humanity, and therefore their sentence is death.
Adultery is the voluntary sexual intercourse between a married woman and a man who is not her husband. The prohibition of adultery is intended to prevent infidelity between spouses, but it lacks gender symmetry. The prohibition concerns the married woman because she was considered her husband's property, but not the married man, who was permitted to have sexual relations with many women, provided they were not married to another man.
The prohibition of adultery is found in the Ten Commandments, which are the fundamental set of conditions that God demands of His people and which every person in Israel was obligated to know, study, and observe.
In Exodus 20:13, it is stated: לֹא תִרְצָח לֹא תִנְאָף לֹא תִגְנֹב "Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal," and in the parallel in Deuteronomy 5:17: לֹא תִרְצָח וְלֹא תִנְאָף וְלֹא תִגְנֹב "Neither shalt thou kill, neither shalt thou commit adultery, neither shalt thou steal." The prohibition of adultery is placed between the prohibition of murder and the prohibition of theft. In some textual witnesses, "Thou shalt not commit adultery" precedes "Thou shalt not kill." This is the case in the Septuagint's version of the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy, the Nash Papyrus, and in the words of Philo of Alexandria. The prohibition of adultery resonates in the rebukes in Jeremiah 7:9: "Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not?" and in Hosea 4:2: "By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood."
The common linguistic pattern of the prohibitions against murder, adultery, and theft in the Ten Commandments, and their concise and absolute formulation, make them a kind of trilogy within the Commandments, easy to memorize and recall. "Thou shalt not commit adultery" is a fundamental, abstract, and absolute prohibition. It contains no details, restrictions, or conditions. It is universal and timeless.
A typographical error appeared in the first publication of the Nash Papyrus (Cook, “A Pre-Masoretic Biblical Papyrus.” PSBA (1903): 34–56): 'לוא תאנף' (You shall not be angry) was printed instead of 'לוא תנאף'. The error was subsequently corrected in Burkitt's edition, published the following year. Burkitt, “The Hebrew Papyrus of the Ten Commandments.” JQR 15 (1903): 392–408; Burkitt, “The Nash Papyrus: A New Photograph.” JQR 16 (1904): 559–61.
For issues concerning the scribal copying of the words 'לא תנאף' (You shall not commit adultery) in the Cairo Genizah manuscripts, consult the article by Gary Martin.
In light of all this, the English translation of the Ten Commandments in the King James Bible edition known as "The Wicked Bible," published in 1631 in London by the printers Robert Barker and Martin Lucas (who were Royal Printers with an exclusive license to print scripture), draws special attention.
As can be seen in the attached photograph, the word "not" is missing from the Seventh Commandment, and instead of the original intent, "Thou shalt NOT commit adultery," it reads the opposite: "Thou shalt commit adultery." This was naturally perceived as a serious sin and a terrible insult. King Charles I was filled with fury and anger, and most copies were burned. The printers were stripped of their licenses and sentenced to a heavy fine. Most copies of this edition were destroyed, and only a few copies remain today, considered valuable collector's items. The edition is displayed in various museums around the world as an example of a famous historical printing error.
The nickname "The Wicked Bible" was given to the edition in 1855 by a rare book dealer named Henry Stevens. Over time, it was given additional names such as "The Adulterous Bible" or "The Sinners' Bible."
The question of whether the omission of the word "NOT" was an innocent printing error or intentional sabotage is a controversy that occupies historians to this day. The larger question is why there were so many scribal errors concerning 'לא תנאף' (You shall not commit adultery), but that is a matter for those who study the human psyche...
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