314. In the spiritual meaning, "committing adultery" refers to contaminating the good things taught by the Word and falsifying its truths. The fact that committing adultery refers to these things has not yet been known, because the Word's spiritual meaning has been hidden until now. In the following passages it is obvious, however, that "committing adultery," "being adulterous", and "being promiscuous" have no other meaning in the Word:

Run here and there through the streets of Jerusalem and see if you can find a man who makes judgment and seeks truth. When I fed them to the full, they became promiscuous. (Jeremiah 5:1, 7)

Among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen horrendous stubbornness, committing adultery and walking in a lie. (Jeremiah 23:14)

They have acted foolishly in Israel. They have been promiscuous, and have spoken my Word falsely. (Jeremiah 29:23)

They were promiscuous because they had abandoned Jehovah. (Hosea 4:10)

I will cut off the soul that looks off in the direction of sorcerers and soothsayers to be promiscuous with them. (Leviticus 20:6)

They are not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land; this is to prevent them from being promiscuous with other gods. (Exodus 34:15)

Because Babylon contaminates and falsifies the Word more than the rest do, it is called the great whore, and the following things are said of it in the Book of Revelation:

Babylon has made all the nations drink the wine of the wrath of her promiscuity. (Revelation 14:8)

The angel said, "I will show you the judgment of the great whore with whom the kings of the earth were promiscuous. " (Revelation 17:1-2)

He judged the great whore who had corrupted the earth with her promiscuity. (Revelation 19:2)

Because the Jewish nation had falsified the Word, the Lord called it "an adulterous generation" (Matthew 12:39; 16:4; Mark 8:38) and "the seed of an adulterer" (Isaiah 57:3). There are also many other passages where adultery and promiscuity mean contamination and falsification of the Word; for example, Jeremiah 3:6, 8; 13:27; Ezekiel 16:15-16, 26, 28-29, 32-33; 23:2-3, 5, 7, 11, 14, 16-17; Hosea 5:3; 6:10; Nahum 3:1, 3-4.