Are all adulterers supposed to die in the Bible? When looking at Leviticus 20:10 and Deut 22:22, some people assume this means that ALL adultery is punishable by death. The story in John 8:1-11, about the woman caught in adultery being judged by Jesus, is usually what comes into the modern mind. However, there are alternatives to death based on the conditions in which the adultery is discovered. 

Jesus said in Matt 19:9 that divorce is allowed if someone commits adultery. This is based on Deut 24:1, which says that a man can divorce his wife if uncleanness is found in her. The Hebrew word translated as uncleanness is ervah (עֶרְוָה). This “uncleanness” or indecency likely refers to some kind of wickedness, like badmouthing, attempting to poison her husband, committing adultery, etc. Anything that breaks the marriage covenant, and adultery breaks the marriage covenant.

So the question is, why would a man divorce a cheating wife if the cheater is supposed to be stoned to death along with their lover anyway? There is no point in divorcing them if they are going to die. One could argue that the divorce occurs so that the faithful spouse is not counted as a divorcee. This way, a widow avoids the shame of her husband being an adulterer, but those titles don’t make much difference in the long run, since everyone will know why they became widowed, so that argument falls short. If one looks closely at Deut 22:22, it says that a man and woman who are “caught in the act” of adultery are to be put to death. This means that the death penalty can only be executed if they are caught, which makes sense because you need proof via witnesses that the adultery was committed. Deuteronomy 17:6 and Deuteronomy 19:15 both state that death penalty executions require two or three witnesses. So if there is an affair but the participants don’t get caught in the act, then they can’t be killed, even if one of them confesses.

So the divorce scenario is more for when a person discovers, after the fact, that their spouse cheated. Furthermore, if a man is suspicious that his wife cheated, she can be put through a ritual at the Tabernacle in which God judges her innocence as she drinks special water (Numbers ch. 5). If she is innocent, nothing happens but if she is guilty, she simply becomes barren rather than dying. Based on this, one can conclude that God doesn’t want to kill all adulterers absolutely, because when he directly gets involved in judgment, he only makes an adulterous woman barren rather than killing her. Further evidence of this concept is found in Ezekiel 18:23, where God states that He takes no pleasure in punishing the wicked and would prefer that they repent and turn to righteousness, in which case they will receive mercy. He continues in verse 24 that, on the other hand, if a righteous person turns bad, their good deeds will be forgotten and they will be punished. So, repentance is the ultimate key to salvation.

Ezekiel 18:23 (NLT) “Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign Lord. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live. 24 However, if righteous people turn from their righteous behavior and start doing sinful things and act like other sinners, should they be allowed to live? No, of course not! All their righteous acts will be forgotten, and they will die for their sins.

This lets us know that if two people commit adultery but aren’t caught in the act, then it can be considered an act of mercy by God. He desires that they stop the affair and bring offerings for their guilt and sin to the Temple, and never do it again. If the woman in the affair is questioned by her husband, then she should tell the truth. The worst that can happen is that she gets divorced. Perhaps her husband will show her mercy, like Hosea did with Gomer in Hosea chapters 1-3, and take her back anyway. However, if she lies and he has her tested at the Tabernacle, then she will be made barren and possibly divorced. Even if he doesn’t divorce her, then she will live with the shame of being barren, which in ancient times may have been considered worse than death for a woman.

Long story short, not everyone got stoned to death all the time; that only happened under particular circumstances. This was the problem with the trial of the Adulteress that was brought before Jesus in John 8:1-11. They can only punish adulterers who are caught in the act, but the “witnesses” only brought forth a woman, not the man. This made them false witnesses. More on that story here.