Romans 7:3

Marriage Faithfulness and loyalty

¹ Do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?

² For instance, a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.

So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law and is not an adulteress, even if she marries another man.

⁴ Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

⁵ For when we lived according to the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for death.

Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law and is not an adulteress, even if she marries another man.
KJV: So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
WEB: So then if, while the husband lives, she is joined to another man, she would be called an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she is joined to another man.
ASV: So then if, while the husband liveth, she be joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if the husband die, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be joined to another man.
DARBY: so then, the husband being alive, she shall be called an adulteress if she be to another man; but if the husband should die, she is free from the law, so as not to be an adulteress, though she be to another man.
BLB: So then, of the husband being alive, if she becomes unto another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if the husband should die, she is free from the law, [so as] not for her to be an adulteress, having become unto another man.

ÅB: Derfor regnes hun som en ekteskapsbryterske om hun gifter seg med en annen mann mens mannen enda lever. Men dersom mannen dør, er hun fri fra loven, så hun ikke blir en ekteskapsbryterske om hun gifter seg med en annen mann.
OTB: Så da, hvis hun er med en annen mann mens mannen hennes fortsatt lever, kalles hun en ekteskapsbryterinne; men hvis mannen hennes dør, er hun fri fra den loven, så hun er ikke en ekteskapsbryterinne hvis hun er med en annen mann.
B1930: Derfor skal hun kalles en horkvinne om hun, mens mannen lever, ekter en annen mann; men dersom mannen dør, er hun fri fra loven, så hun ikke blir en horkvinne om hun ekter en annen mann.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Exodus 20:14
You shall not commit adultery.
Read in context
Matthew 5:32
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.
Read in context
Mark 10:6–12
However, from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’
Read in context
1 Timothy 5:11–14
But refuse to enroll younger widows. For when their passions draw them away from Christ, they will want to marry,
Read in context
John 8:3–5
The scribes and Pharisees, however, brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before them
Read in context
Leviticus 20:10
If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must surely be put to death.
Read in context
Deuteronomy 22:22–24
If a man is found lying with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.
Read in context
Ruth 2:13
“My lord,” she said, “may I continue to find favor in your eyes, for you have comforted and spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your servant girls.”
Read in context