divorce

In Ghari different words are used for a husband divorcing a wife and a wife divorcing a husband. (Source: David Clark)

In Mairasi the term that is used means “discard.” (Source: Enggavoter 2004)

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.

fornication, sexual immorality

The Greek that is translated as “sexual immorality” or “fornication” or similar is translated much more specifically in some languages. Morelos Nahuatl has “let a man not yield himself to another woman except only to his wife. Also let a woman not yield herself to another man except only to her husband” or in Lalana Chinantec as “not proper for them to mix themselves with other women. The same is true of women for other men also.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

In Low German as Hurenkram or “things related to prostitution (and/or sleeping around)” (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006).

complete verse (Matthew 5:32)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 5:32:

  • Uma: “But I say: whoever divorces [lit., releases] his wife, but his wife did not do wrong behavior [sexual connotation], he sins, because the one who divorces causes [lit., carries] his wife to commit adultery, if she should marry again. And the man who marries another’s ex-spouse, he also is committing adultery.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But I, I say: when a man divorces his wife, and his wife has not committed adultery, the man is the reason for the adultery of the woman if she marries again. And whoever marries her commits adultery also.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But my teaching is: if a man that divorces his wife and she has not committed adultery against him, this man commits sin, for by means of this he is saying that his wife has committed adultery against him. And the man who marries that woman who was divorced by her husband, also sins.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But I say to you that the man who divorces his wife except if she committed-adultery (lit. manned-with), he causes-her-to-become an adulteress (lit. one who mans-with) if she marries again. The man also who marries a woman who has-been-divorced sins just the same by adultery (loan kamalala).'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But now/today, I am the one saying to you (pl.) that a man has sinned who divorces his wife when she hasn’t been compromised/acted-immorally-with by another man. Of course he has sinned because he will have caused this wife of his to fall-into-sin(fig.) of immorality if she then marries someone else. And whoever marries this woman who has been divorced, he also will have committed immorality.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But I tell you that concerning a woman who is divorced by her husband, if she then marries another man, these two are committing sin. But it is the sin (fault) of the man who divorced the woman that this happens, because only a woman who has committed adultery can be divorced.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Matthew 5:32

But I say to you places the declaration of Jesus in contrast to that of the Old Testament; this is the same formula used in verse 22.

The text has every one, but it is often more natural to say “anyone” or “whoever.”

Unchastity (so also New English Bible, Moffatt, Translator’s New Testament) was translated “fornication” by Jerusalem Bible and “lewd conduct” by New American Bible, since the Greek word may refer to any illicit sexual relations, although it would be assumed to mean adultery here. Good News Translation, An American Translation, and Phillips have “unfaithfulness” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “unfaithful”). However, sociological studies of New Testament times have led some scholars to suggest that a better rendering would be “an unlawful marriage,” as for example between people of certain blood or legal relationships who were forbidden to marry each other by Mosaic Law. New Jerusalem Bible and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, for example, have “except for the case of an illicit marriage,” and the revised New Testament of New American Bible has “unless the marriage is unlawful.”

Translations which follow the first interpretation can have “unless she had committed adultery,” “unless she had been unfaithful,” or “unless she had slept with other men.” Those who follow the second will have a sentence similar to New Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, or revised New American Bible, cited above.

In many languages, translators have to restructure this sentence slightly to cover the meaning of except. Examples are “anyone who divorces his wife for any reason except…” or “anyone who divorces his wife, but the reason was not because she….”

The Old Testament commandment allowing for a bill of divorce to be given accepted divorce as legitimate. However, Jesus is denying this by saying that unless the marriage was illegal (or possibly unless the woman had been unfaithful), then the divorce is not legal, and the woman is guilty of adultery if she marries again. Moreover, the assumption is that she will probably marry again. Therefore the inclusion of “if she marries again” (Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition, Bijbel in Gewone Taal) is necessary for the reader; otherwise the point of what Jesus is saying will be missed completely.

To say he makes her an adulteress means that “he makes her guilty of adultery” or “he is the one responsible for making her commit adultery.” Since this will only be the case if she marries again, something in the possible future, then translators can say “then if she marries again, he is the one responsible for her committing adultery in that way” or “when she remarries and in doing so becomes guilty of adultery, then he is the one who has caused this adultery.”

And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery is also based on the logic that in principle—though not legally—the divorced woman is still married to her first husband. Some Greek manuscripts omit this clause. But the UBS Greek New Testament favors the opinion that its omission is due to the overzealousness of certain scribes who may have regarded these words as unnecessary in light of the previous statement, makes her an adulteress (so TC-GNT).

The last clause can be expressed as “the man who marries a divorced woman is committing adultery” or “it is adultery also for the man if he marries a divorced woman.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .