The woman caught in adultery (image)

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Image taken from He Qi Art . For purchasing prints of this and other artworks by He Qi go to heqiart.com . For other images of He Qi art works in TIPs, see here.

Following is a painting by Kim Ki-chang (1913-2001):

Kim Ki-chang (pen name: Unbo) had been deaf and partially mute since the age of 7. He painted a series of 30 paintings for the “Life of Christ” cycle in 1952 during the Korean War. Kim portrayed Jesus as a seonbi / 선비, or a Joseon Period (1392-1910) gentleman scholar, wearing a gat / 갓 (hat) and dopo / 도포 (robe). For other images of Kim Ki-chang art works in TIPs, see here.

adultery

The Greek that is translated as “adultery” (typically understood as “marital infidelity”) in English is (back-) translated in the following ways:

  • Highland Totonac: “to do something together”
  • Yucateco: “pair-sin”
  • Ngäbere: “robbing another’s half self-possession” (compare “fornication” which is “robbing self-possession,” that is, to rob what belongs to a person)
  • Kaqchikel, Chol: “to act like a dog”
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: “to measure the depth of the river of (another’s) marriage.”
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun: “married people using what is not theirs” (compare “fornication” which is “unmarried people using what is not theirs”) (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • In Purari: “play hands with” or “play eyes with”
  • In Hakha Chin the usual term for “adultery” applies only to women, so the translation for the Greek term that is translated into English as “adultery” was translated in Hakha Chin as “do not take another man’s wife and do not commit adultery.”
  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “talk secretly with spouses of our fellows”
  • Isthmus Zapotec: “go in with other people’s spouses”
  • Hopi: “tamper with marriage” (source for this and two above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • In Falam Chin the term for “adultery” is the phrase for “to share breast” which relates to adultery by either sex. (Source for this and three above: David Clark)
  • In Ixcatlán Mazatec a specification needs to be made to include both genders. (Source: Robert Bascom)

See also adulterer, adulteress, and you shall not commit adultery.

complete verse (John 8:4)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 8:4:

  • Uma: “They said to Yesus: ‘Teacher, that woman was caught red-handed [lit., caught fish-trap] committing adultery!” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “They said to Isa, ‘Sir, this woman has been caught in adultery.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And they said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, this woman we caught committing adultery against her husband.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Then they said to Jesus, ‘Sir teacher, this woman, she was caught-in-the-act of committing-adultery.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “and they said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, this woman, she was caught having a man.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Then Jesus was told, ‘Teacher. This woman here was caught upon finding her with a man who was not her husband.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on John 8:4

To Jesus is literally “to him.” Good News Translation makes the pronominal reference explicit.

This woman would have been a married woman, because according to Jewish Law adultery had to do with the unfaithfulness of the wife. An unmarried woman who had sexual relations with a married man was not considered an adulteress. In the ancient world the woman was looked upon as the property of her husband, and so originally the basic sin in adultery was the sin against the woman’s husband. Her sin was that she had allowed herself to be used by another man.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .