Lust - There's A Scripture for That (NLT) Version

These NLT Bible verses about lust reveal how desire begins in the mind, the danger of giving in to temptation, and the path toward living with purity.

What You Feed Your Mind Will Shape Your Life

Lust doesn’t start with actions—it starts with thoughts. The Bible makes it clear that what we allow into our minds will eventually shape what we do. When desire is left unchecked, it can lead us away from truth and into choices that damage our lives and relationships. These verses help you recognize the early signs of temptation and remind you that God calls you to live with honesty, purity, and self-control.

These verses are presented together to reveal a unified biblical perspective on Lust—not just isolated references.

Proverbs 6:24-26 (NLT)
It will keep you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of a promiscuous woman. 25. Don’t lust for her beauty. Don’t let her coy glances seduce you. 26. For a prostitute will bring you to poverty, but sleeping with another man’s wife will cost you your life.

Jeremiah 5:7-9 (NLT)
“How can I pardon you? For even your children have turned from me. They have sworn by gods that are not gods at all! I fed my people until they were full. But they thanked me by committing adultery and lining up at the brothels. 8. They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor’s wife. 9. Should I not punish them for this?” says the Lord . “Should I not avenge myself against such a nation?

Jeremiah 13:27 (NLT)
I have seen your adultery and lust, and your disgusting idol worship out in the fields and on the hills. What sorrow awaits you, Jerusalem! How long before you are pure?”

Ezekiel 6:9 (NLT)
Then when they are exiled among the nations, they will remember me. They will recognize how hurt I am by their unfaithful hearts and lustful eyes that long for their idols. Then at last they will hate themselves for all their detestable sins.

Nahum 3:4-5 (NLT)
All this because Nineveh, the beautiful and faithless city, mistress of deadly charms, enticed the nations with her beauty. She taught them all her magic, enchanting people everywhere. 5. “I am your enemy!” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “And now I will lift your skirts and show all the earth your nakedness and shame.

Matthew 5:27-28 (NLT)
“You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Mark 7:21-23 (NLT)
For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”

Acts of the Apostles 15:29 (NLT)
You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. If you do this, you will do well. Farewell.”

Romans 1:26-28 (NLT)
That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. 28. Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done.

Romans 13:13 (NLT)
Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy.

Colossians 3:5-6 (NLT)
So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. 6. Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 (NLT)
God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. 4. Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor— 5. not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways.

1 Peter 4:3-5 (NLT)
You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols. 4. Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. So they slander you. 5. But remember that they will have to face God, who stands ready to judge everyone, both the living and the dead.

2 Peter 2:18-19 (NLT)
They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception. 19. They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you.

1 John 2:15-17 (NLT)
Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

Lust may feel overwhelming at times, but God’s truth brings clarity and freedom. You are not defined by temptation—you are strengthened by how you respond to it. As you take in these verses, remember that small choices in your thoughts lead to bigger outcomes in your life. Guard your mind, stay rooted in truth, and trust that God will guide you toward something better.

These scriptures have been thoughtfully arranged to offer encouragement, clarity, and real-life application for walking in purity.