πορνεία

Matthew 5:32 πορνείας of sexual immorality

But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, brings adultery upon her. And he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Here: A broad word for sexual wrongdoing. For a married woman, the obvious case was adultery, but the word is wider. This is the one stated exception.

Matthew 15:19 πορνεῖαι, sexual immorality,

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.

Here: The broad term for sexual acts outside what the Law allowed: prostitution, incest, forbidden unions and more. Matthew sets it beside adultery, the specific case, to cover the whole field of sexual wrongdoing.

Matthew 19:9 πορνείᾳ sexual immorality

Now I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

Here: Illicit sexual intercourse of any forbidden kind. In a married woman's case the obvious instance is adultery. Its exact range in this clause is debated (see Debates).

Mark 7:21 πορνεῖαι, sexual immorality

For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,

Here: Plural, so it means acts of illicit sex: any sexual union outside what the law permitted, including prostitution, incest and the unions banned in Leviticus 18. It is much broader than modern 'fornication'.

John 8:41 πορνείας sexual immorality

You are doing the works of your father.” “We are not illegitimate children,” they declared. “Our only Father is God Himself.”

Here: An illicit sexual union of any kind. 'Born of porneia' means born of a union that was not lawful, so illegitimate. In the prophets the word also stood for Israel's unfaithfulness to God through idolatry (Hosea's 'children of whoredom').

Acts 15:20 πορνείας sexual immorality

Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood.

Here: A broad word for any sexual union outside what God's law allowed: prostitution, adultery, sex outside marriage, and marriages within forbidden family degrees (Leviticus 18). Scholars debate which of these is meant most directly here.

Acts 15:29 πορνείας· from sexual immorality;

You must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.

Here: Illicit sexual relations of any kind that Jewish law forbade. Placed next to Leviticus-type food rules, it may especially point to the unions banned in Leviticus 18, such as incest. In Jewish eyes this, with idolatry, was the typical sin of the nations.

Acts 21:25 πορνείαν.¶ sexual immorality.

As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.”

1 Corinthians 5:1 πορνεία, πορνεία sexual immorality,, sexual immorality

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is intolerable even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife.

Here: The broad word for any sexual union outside what is lawful. Here it names a specific forbidden union, one between a man and his father's wife.

1 Corinthians 6:13 πορνείᾳ for sexual immorality

“Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will destroy them both. The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

Here: Sexual activity outside what God allows. Here it means above all sex with prostitutes, the case Paul names in vv.15–16.

1 Corinthians 6:18 πορνείαν. sexual immorality.

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.

Here: Any sexual intercourse outside what God's law allows. The word comes from the word for prostitute (pornē), and in this paragraph the case Paul has in mind is sex with prostitutes.

1 Corinthians 7:2 πορνείας sexual immorality

But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.

Here: Plural: "acts" or "cases" of illicit sex. In this letter the word has already covered incest (5:1) and sex with prostitutes (6:13–18). The plural suggests actual incidents, not just a general atmosphere of temptation.

2 Corinthians 12:21 πορνείᾳ of sexual immorality

I am afraid that when I come again, my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of their acts of impurity, sexual immorality, and debauchery.

Here: Any sexual intercourse outside what the Jewish law allowed. At Corinth that included sex with prostitutes (1 Cor 6) and incest (1 Cor 5).

Galatians 5:19 πορνεία, sexual immorality,

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

Here: First item, and a broad umbrella term: any sexual activity outside what the Jewish moral tradition allowed (prostitution, incest, adultery, other illicit unions). Jewish writers often linked it with idolatry, which comes next in verse 20.

Ephesians 5:3 Πορνεία Sexual immorality

But among you, as is proper among the saints, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed.

Here: The umbrella word for any sexual relationship outside what Jewish law allowed: prostitution, adultery, incest and so on. It comes first and sets the topic, picking up the 'Gentile' way of life described in 4:17–19.

Colossians 3:5 πορνείαν, sexual immorality,

Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.

Here: First and broadest item: any sexual relations outside what God's law allows, including prostitution, adultery, incest and casual use of slaves.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 πορνείας· sexual immorality;

For it is God’s will that you should be holy: You must abstain from sexual immorality;

Here: The catch-all Jewish and early Christian word for any sexual intercourse outside the bounds God set: prostitution, adultery, incest and other forbidden unions. It is much wider than modern "fornication" (sex between unmarried people).

Revelation 2:21 πορνείας sexual immorality

Even though I have given her time to repent of her immorality, she is unwilling.

Here: Picks up the verb 'to commit sexual immorality' in v. 20. Behind it stand both the forbidden sexual behaviour linked to pagan feasting and the old prophetic picture of idolatry as prostitution, the 'harlotries of Jezebel' in 2 Kings 9:22.

Revelation 9:21 πορνείας sexual immorality

Furthermore, they did not repent of their murder, sorcery, sexual immorality, and theft.

Here: Singular: a whole practice or way of life, where the other three nouns are plural acts. It covers sexual relations outside what God permits, from prostitution to adultery. In Revelation it also stands for unfaithfulness to God through idolatry, so here it may carry both senses.

Revelation 14:8 πορνείας immorality

Then a second angel followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, who has made all the nations drink the wine of the passion of her immorality.”

Here: Prostitution used as a picture, as the prophets used it. Babylon draws the nations into idolatry, worship of the empire and greedy trade. It is not chiefly a comment on private sexual behaviour.

Revelation 17:2 πορνείας sexual immorality

The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and those who dwell on the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her immorality.”

Here: 'Her whoring', the noun that matches the verb at the start of the verse. 'The wine of her whoring' means the wine that is her prostitution, or the wine she uses to draw people into it. It points back to the prophets' charges against Tyre, Nineveh and Babylon.

Revelation 17:4 πορνείας sexual immorality

The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.

Here: 'Her prostitution, her whoring'. The word comes from the same root as πόρνη, 'prostitute' (17:1), so she trades in it. In this chapter it is chiefly the prophets' image of idolatry and of political and commercial alliances bought and sold (17:2; 18:3).

Revelation 18:3 πορνείας sexual immorality

All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality. The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from the extravagance of her luxury.”

Here: Literally prostitution or sexual immorality. Here it is the prophets' picture of a city that trades herself for profit and power and draws others into idolatrous alliances (Isaiah 23:17; Nahum 3:4).

Revelation 19:2 πορνείᾳ sexual immorality

For His judgments are true and just. He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality. He has avenged the blood of His servants that was poured out by her hand.”

Here: In Revelation 17–18 this is her seductive alliance with kings and merchants: false worship, political compromise, and trade sold for profit (17:2; 18:3, 9). It is not mainly a word about private sexual conduct here.