Fornicators and Whoremongers: Old Words in the King James Bible

What does fornicator mean?

A fornicator is a person who commits fornication, that is, who has sexual intercourse outside marriage. Merriam-Webster lists the noun under the verb fornicate, which it defines as engaging in consensual sex with someone to whom one is not married ^[6]. The underlying noun, fornication, is defined as consensual intercourse between two people not married to each other ^[14].

The word is old in English. Etymonline dates fornicator to the late 14th century and derives it from the Late Latin agent noun fornicator, formed on the same stem as the verb fornicari ^[5]. It is therefore older than the English verb fornicate, which Merriam-Webster dates to 1552 ^[6].

In the King James Version of 1611, fornicator appears five times as the translation of one Greek noun, pornos ^[1]. Four of these occurrences are in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, chapters 5 and 6, and the fifth is in Hebrews 12:16, where the writer warns against any "fornicator, or profane person, as Esau" ^[1]. In its New Testament the KJV also uses the abstract noun fornication 26 times, for the related Greek word porneia ^[8]. The two often meet in the same passage: the chapter that warns against fornicators opens with a report that "there is fornication among you" (1 Corinthians 5:1) ^[8].

The ten occurrences of pornos in the New Testament (King James Version)

Verse	KJV rendering	Context
1 Corinthians 5:9	fornicators	Paul recalls an earlier letter telling the church not to keep company with them
1 Corinthians 5:10	fornicators	Paul clarifies that he did not mean the fornicators of this world
1 Corinthians 5:11	fornicator	A church member called a brother who is a fornicator
1 Corinthians 6:9	fornicators	List of the unrighteous, next to idolaters and adulterers
Ephesians 5:5	whoremonger	No inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God
1 Timothy 1:10	whoremongers	List of conduct contrary to sound doctrine
Hebrews 12:16	fornicator	Warning illustrated by Esau
Hebrews 13:4	whoremongers	Paired with adulterers after "Marriage is honourable in all"
Revelation 21:8	whoremongers	List of those whose part is in the lake of fire
Revelation 22:15	whoremongers	List of those who remain outside

What is a whoremonger?

A whoremonger is, in Merriam-Webster's terms, the same thing as a whoremaster, and both words are labeled archaic ^[2][3]. The dictionary defines whoremaster as a man who consorts with prostitutes or is given to lechery, and dates both words to the 15th century ^[2][3].

The compound joins whore to monger, a word with a long commercial history. Etymonline traces monger to Old English mangere, "merchant, trader, broker," from a verb meaning to traffic or trade, and connects it with Latin mango, a dealer or slave-dealer ^[4]. In Old English the mangere could be a merchant of high standing, but from the 16th century compounds in -monger mostly suggested pettiness or disreputable dealing ^[4].

That shift explains the word's tone. Fishmonger and ironmonger kept a neutral trade sense, while words such as ballad-monger, recorded in the 1590s for an inferior poet, took on contempt ^[4]. Whoremonger belongs to the second group: in usage it names the customer or the habitual frequenter of prostitutes rather than a merchant, and it carries strong moral disapproval.

In the KJV, whoremonger also appears five times, again for the Greek pornos: in Ephesians 5:5, 1 Timothy 1:10, Hebrews 13:4, Revelation 21:8 and Revelation 22:15 ^[1]. The singular occurs only in Ephesians, which states that no whoremonger has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God ^[1].

Which Greek word lies behind both terms?

Both English words translate pornos, a masculine Greek noun that Strong's concordance derives from a verb meaning "to sell" ^[1]. The Blue Letter Bible lexicon outlines three senses: a man who prostitutes his body to another's lust for hire, a male prostitute, and a man who indulges in unlawful sexual intercourse, which it equates with a fornicator ^[1]. Thayer's lexicon gives the male prostitute as the primary sense in classical Greek and the wider sense as an extension ^[1].

The commercial origin matters for interpretation. The historian Kyle Harper, quoted by the Methodist minister Gerald C. Liu in a June 2026 essay, sums up the classical sense in a phrase: a pornos was "a gigolo, not a john" ^[12]. In other words, the word first designated the man who sold sex, not the man who bought it. Its feminine counterpart, pornē, meant a prostitute; Etymonline notes that it originally meant "bought, purchased" and is related to pernanai, "to sell" ^[7].

The New Testament writers used the word more broadly. In the vice lists of Paul's letters, pornos stands for any man whose sexual conduct is unlawful in the writer's eyes, alongside idolaters, drunkards or extortioners ^[1]. The related noun porneia, illicit sexual intercourse in general, follows the same path, and the KJV renders it as fornication every time ^[8].

The English renderings therefore reflect the later, wider sense. Neither fornicator nor whoremonger, as the KJV uses them, implies that the man was himself paid; both treat him as someone who engages in forbidden sexual relations.

Where do these words appear in the New Testament?

The ten occurrences of pornos are concentrated in Paul's letters, Hebrews and Revelation, and the KJV divides them evenly ^[1]. The fornicator group comes first: in 1 Corinthians 5, Paul recalls an earlier letter telling the church not to keep company with fornicators, then clarifies that he did not mean "the fornicators of this world," but a church member called a brother who is a fornicator ^[1].

The next chapter places fornicators at the head of a list of those who will not inherit the kingdom of God, followed by idolaters and adulterers ^[1]. Hebrews 12:16 then uses fornicator alongside "profane person," with Esau as the example ^[1]. It is the only one of the ten verses that names a biblical figure: Esau, who "for one morsel of meat sold his birthright" ^[1]. The warning thus combines a sexual term with a term for irreverence toward sacred things, a pairing found nowhere else among these verses.

The whoremonger group covers the remaining five verses. In 1 Timothy 1:10, whoremongers appear in a list of conduct contrary to sound doctrine; in Hebrews 13:4, the writer calls marriage honourable and the marriage bed undefiled, and adds that "whoremongers and adulterers God will judge" ^[1]. Revelation 21:8 assigns whoremongers, with murderers, sorcerers and idolaters, to the lake of fire, and Revelation 22:15 lists them among those who remain outside ^[1].

The distribution is striking because the Greek gives no reason for it. Hebrews uses the same noun in 12:16 and 13:4, and the KJV renders it as fornicator in the first verse and whoremongers in the second ^[1]. The sources consulted for this article do not document why the 1611 translators chose two words, so the split is best described rather than explained. The verse is examined in detail in our study of Hebrews 13:4.

How did other early English versions translate pornos?

Other older English versions mostly preferred fornicator. In Hebrews 13:4, the American Standard Version and the Catholic Douay-Rheims both read "fornicators and adulterers," while Webster's Bible chose "lewd persons and adulterers" ^[9]. Young's Literal Translation kept "whoremongers" ^[9].

The same pattern appears in 1 Corinthians 6:9. The ASV, the Douay-Rheims and Webster's Bible all say "fornicators," as the KJV does, while Young's Literal Translation again uses "whoremongers" ^[10]. Whoremonger thus survived mainly in the KJV and in Young's literal rendering, while fornicator became the common choice.

Webster's "lewd persons" is a general term for sexual misconduct that does not single out prostitution. Like fornicator, it reflects the wider New Testament sense of pornos rather than its classical meaning of a man who sells himself ^[1].

How do modern translations replace them?

Most modern translations replace both words with phrases built on "sexually immoral." In Hebrews 13:4, the New International Version says God will judge "the adulterer and all the sexually immoral," the English Standard Version "the sexually immoral and adulterous," and the Christian Standard Bible and the New American Standard Bible "the sexually immoral and adulterers" ^[9]. The New Living Translation speaks of "people who are immoral and those who commit adultery," and the Catholic New American Bible of "the immoral and adulterers" ^[9]. The New King James Version and the New Revised Standard Version of 1989 kept "fornicators" ^[9].

The picture is similar in 1 Corinthians 6:9. The NIV and the ESV say "sexually immoral," the CSB "sexually immoral people," and the New Living Translation "those who indulge in sexual sin," while the NKJV, the NASB of 1995, the NRSV and the Catholic New American Bible kept "fornicators" ^[10].

The most recent revision of the NRSV followed the trend. The NRSV Updated Edition of 2021 opens the list in 1 Corinthians 6:9 with "The sexually immoral" ^[11]. According to Liu, it changed about 25 instances of porneia and related words, from 1 Thessalonians to Revelation ^[12]. None of the modern versions compared here keeps "whoremonger" ^[9][10]. The wider shift from fornication to sexual immorality is the subject of our article on why modern Bibles changed the word.

Are the words still used in American English?

Both words survive mainly in quotations from the King James Bible. Merriam-Webster labels whoremonger archaic ^[2], and fornicator, though still listed, belongs to the same formal and religious register as fornication ^[6]. Outside Scripture, neutral writing has little use for either. Even the parent noun appears mostly in historical or entertainment writing: Merriam-Webster's recent example sentences for fornication come from articles on old religious rules and television plots ^[14].

The KJV keeps them familiar. The Bible in American Life study, produced at IUPUI and reported by Christianity Today in 2014, found that 55 percent of Americans who read the Bible use the King James Version ^[13]. For those readers, Hebrews 13:4 and 1 Corinthians 6:9 still read "whoremongers" and "fornicators" ^[1].

The words also remain part of a scholarly debate. Liu, drawing on Harper, argues that porneia did not simply mean sex before marriage and that Paul's concern was broader, centered on exploitation and the faithfulness of the community ^[12]. His reading is one position among several, and the translations compared above show that "fornicators" still has defenders among recent versions ^[10].

Frequently asked questions

Is whoremonger still used in English?

Rarely. Merriam-Webster labels the word archaic and dates its first known use to the 15th century ^[2]. Today it appears mostly in quotations from the King James Bible, which uses it five times ^[1].

What is the plural of fornicator?

The plural is fornicators. The King James Version uses the plural in 1 Corinthians 5:9, 5:10 and 6:9, and the singular in 1 Corinthians 5:11 and Hebrews 12:16 ^[1].

Is pornos related to the word pornography?

Yes, distantly. Pornography, recorded in English since 1842, comes from Greek pornē, "prostitute," a word originally meaning "bought" and related to pernanai, "to sell" ^[7]. Strong's concordance derives pornos from the same idea of selling ^[1].

What does Hebrews 13:4 mean by whoremongers?

The word translates the Greek pornoi, men who engage in unlawful sexual intercourse, whom the verse sets beside adulterers after calling marriage honourable ^[1]. Modern versions render it as "the sexually immoral," as in the NIV and the ESV, or as "fornicators," as in the NKJV and the NRSV ^[9].

Is there a female form of fornicator?

Historically, yes. Etymonline records fornicatrice around 1500, fornicatrix in the 1580s and fornicatress in the 1590s ^[5]. None of them appears among the ten King James verses that translate pornos, which is a masculine noun ^[1].

What is the difference between a fornicator and an adulterer?

A fornicator, in the strict sense, has sexual relations outside marriage without breaking a marriage, while an adulterer is involved in sex that breaks a marriage ^[14]. The King James Version keeps the two apart, naming fornicators and adulterers separately in 1 Corinthians 6:9 and pairing whoremongers with adulterers in Hebrews 13:4 ^[1].