Matthew 5:28

Translations

King James Version (KJV)

But I say to you, That whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.

American King James Version (AKJV)

But I say to you, That whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.

American Standard Version (ASV)

but I say unto you, that every one that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Basic English Translation (BBE)

But I say to you that everyone whose eyes are turned on a woman with desire has had connection with her in his heart.

Webster's Revision

But I say to you, That whoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

World English Bible

but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.

English Revised Version (ERV)

but I say unto you, that every one that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Clarke's Matthew 5:28 Bible Commentary

Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her - Επιθυμησαι αυτην, earnestly to covet her. The verb, επιθυμεω, is undoubtedly used here by our Lord, in the sense of coveting through the influence of impure desire. The word is used in precisely the same sense, on the same subject, by Herodotus, book the first, near the end. I will give the passage, but I dare not translate it. To the learned reader it will justify my translation, and the unlearned must take my word. Της ΕΠΙΘΥΜΗΣΕΙ γυναικος Μασσαγετης ανηρ, μισγεται αδεως, Raphelius, on this verse, says, επιθυμειν hoc loco, est turpi cupiditate mulieris potiundae flagrare. In all these eases, our blessed Lord points out the spirituality of the law; which was a matter to which the Jews paid very little attention. Indeed it is the property of a Pharisee to abstain only from the outward crime. Men are very often less inquisitive to know how far the will of God extends, that they may please him in performing it, than they are to know how far they may satisfy their lusts without destroying their bodies and souls, utterly, by an open violation of his law.

Hath committed adultery with her already in his heart - It is the earnest wish or desire of the soul, which, in a variety of cases, constitutes the good or evil of an act. If a man earnestly wish to commit an evil, but cannot, because God puts time, place, and opportunity out of his power, he is fully chargeable with the iniquity of the act, by that God who searches and judges the heart. So, if a man earnestly wish to do some kindness, which it is out of his power to perform, the act is considered as his; because God, in this case, as in that above, takes the will for the deed. If voluntary and deliberate looks and desires make adulterers and adulteresses, how many persons are there whose whole life is one continued crime! whose eyes being full of adultery, they cannot cease from sin, 2 Peter 2:14. Many would abhor to commit one external act before the eyes of men, in a temple of stone; and yet they are not afraid to commit a multitude of such acts in the temple of their hearts, and in the sight of God!

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