SEXUAL IMMORALITY — the general word, and deliberately wider than adultery, which Greek has its own term for (moicheia). It covers prostitution (pornē, a prostitute, is the root), incest, and unlawful unions generally. ⚠ Everything about Matthew's exception clause turns on that width: 'whoever divorces his wife — not for porneia — and marries another commits adultery' (19:9, and 5:32), where BOTH words appear in one sentence and are plainly not synonyms. Readings of the clause have divided churches for centuries: adultery; or marriage within forbidden degrees of kinship, which would make it an annulment rule rather than a divorce rule; or unchastity discovered during betrothal, as in Matthew 1:19. The clause is found ONLY in Matthew — Mark 10:11 and Luke 16:18 have the saying with no exception at all. This library sets out the readings and does not vote. → first discussed at Matt 19:9