נִאֻף

# נִאֻף (ni.uph) - Adultery in Biblical Hebrew The Hebrew term נִאֻף denotes adultery, specifically the act of sexual infidelity within the marriage covenant. As a relatively rare word appearing only twice in the biblical text, its limited attestation suggests it may represent a specialized or formal designation for this transgression rather than the most common everyday term for marital unfaithfulness. The rarity of this lexeme—occurring merely twice—indicates that biblical Hebrew likely employed multiple terms to address sexual misconduct, with נִאֻף serving a particular function within the legal or theological vocabulary. Its presence in exactly two contexts suggests these instances were considered significant enough to record, though without access to those specific passages, the exact circumstances and implications of each usage remain within the lexical data alone. The word's inclusion in biblical vocabulary underscores that adultery was a recognized legal and moral category in ancient Israel, warranting its own distinct terminology. The existence of this dedicated term reflects the importance of marital fidelity within biblical society and legal frameworks, even though the term itself was not frequently deployed in the surviving biblical corpus.

AI synthesis uses only provided lexicon data -- never training knowledge.