Bible Dictionary
Chambering
Chambering means illicit or habitual sexual intercourse and is condemned as immoral conduct in the apostolic exhortation to live decently.
Definition
Chambering means illicit or impure sexual intercourse, especially conduct understood as repeated or habitual rather than a single act.
Biblical Usage
The term occurs in the apostolic exhortation to live decently and not in chambering or wantonness. It represents conduct condemned as impurity.
Historical Background
The underlying Greek expression literally refers to beds and was used in Greek and the Septuagint for illicit intercourse. English versions since Tyndale rendered it “chambering” in this sense.
Scripture References
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
(Rom. 13:13), wantonness, impurity.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>cham'-ber-ing: Illicit intercourse; the rendering in English Versions of the Bible since Tyndale of koitias (literally "beds," Ro 13:13). The Greek usage is paralleled in classic authors and the Septuagint; like the English participle, it denotes repeated or habitual acts. The word is not recorded elsewhere in English literature as verb or participle in this sense; in Othello, iii, 3, a chamberer is an intriguer, male wanton, in Byron, Werner, IV, 1, 404, a gallant or carpet knight, and in Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 766, a concubine.</p>