Define

• Hebrew:

  • zānāh (זָנָה) — to commit fornication, to play the harlot (equivalent Old Testament term for sexual immorality/fornication)

• Greek:

  • porneia (πορνεία) — sexual immorality, fornication, illicit sexual intercourse

Related words

• pornos (πόρνος) — fornicator, sexually immoral person
• porneuō (πορνεύω) — to commit fornication (related verb form, though not in chapter 5)

Additional Info

• 1 Corinthians 5: The chapter uses porneia (πορνεία) in verses 1 (twice) to describe the reported sexual immorality (incest), and pornos (πόρνος) in verses 9-11 for those practicing sexual immorality to avoid associating with.

Fornication, in the Bible, refers to illicit sexual relations outside of God's design for sexuality, primarily within marriage between one man and one woman. The key terms are:

• Hebrew: zānāh (זָנָה) — to commit fornication, act as a harlot, engage in illicit sexual relations (often translated as fornication, harlotry, or whoredom)
  zənût (זְנוּת) — fornication, harlotry, prostitution

• Greek: porneia (πορνεία) — fornication, sexual immorality, illicit sexual intercourse (broad term covering various forms of sexual sin)

Examples with Scriptures

• Incest: A man having his father's wife (1 Corinthians 5:1) — "It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality [porneia] among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife."

• Premarital sex / seduction of a virgin: Exodus 22:16-17 — "If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall give the bride-price for her and make her his wife."

• Prostitution / harlotry: Genesis 38:24 (Judah and Tamar) — involving zānāh-related actions; also Leviticus 19:29 — "Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute [zānāh], lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity."

• Adultery (often grouped with or as a form of porneia): Hebrews 13:4 — "Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral [pornos] and adulterous."

• General command to flee: 1 Corinthians 6:18 — "Flee from sexual immorality [porneia]. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body."

• Listed as a work of the flesh: Galatians 5:19 — "Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality [porneia], impurity, sensuality..."

• Prohibition and consequence: 1 Thessalonians 4:3 — "For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality [porneia]."

The Bible consistently condemns fornication/porneia as sin, urging believers to avoid it and honor the body as God's temple (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Connections