divorced (woman)

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “divorced woman” in English is translated in Newari as “a woman who has been rejected by her husband” (source: Newari Back Translation).

See also divorce.

adultery

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The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “adultery” in English (here etymologically meaning “to alter”) is typically understood as “marital infidelity.” It 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” (see also licentiousness)
  • 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)
  • Purari: “play hands with” or “play eyes with”
  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “talk secretly with spouses of our fellows”
  • Isthmus Zapotec: “go in with other people’s spouses”
  • Tzeltal: “practice illicit relationship with women”
  • Huehuetla Tepehua: “live with some one who isn’t your wife”
  • Central Tarahumara: “sleep with a strange partner”
  • Hopi: “tamper with marriage” (source for this and seven above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • German: Ehebrecher or “marriage breaker” / Ehe brechen or “breaking of marriage” (source: Zetzsche)
  • In Falam Chin the term for “adultery” is the phrase for “to share breast” which relates to adultery by either sex. (Source: David Clark)
  • In Ixcatlán Mazatec a specification needs to be made to include both genders. (Source: Robert Bascom)
  • Likewise in Hiligaynon: “commit-adultery-with-a-man or commit-adultery-with-a-woman” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

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

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)

See also divorced (woman).

complete verse (Luke 16:18)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 16:18:

  • Noongar: “‘If a man divorces his wife and takes another woman, this man is sinning; and the man who marries that woman, he is also sinning.'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “‘Whoever divorces his wife and marries with another woman commits adultery. And the person who marries [takes-as-wife] the divorced-wife of another, he also commits adultery.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Isa said yet, ‘Whoever divorces his wife and marries another one, he commits adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman, he commits adultery.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus said again, ‘If there is a man and he divorces his wife and marries again, this man has sinned against his former wife; and a man sins also when he marries a woman who has been divorced by her husband.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Jesus also said, ‘Whatever man divorces his spouse and then marries another woman sins by committing-adultery (lit. woman-with). It’s the same with the man who marries a woman who is divorced, he just the same sins by committing-adultery.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Like what was commanded about marriage. Whoever man will divorce his wife and marry someone else, he really has behaved-immorally. And also the one who marries that woman who was divorced, he too has behaved-immorally.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Luke 16:18

Exegesis:

pas ho apoluōn tēn gunaika autou kai gamōn heteran moicheuei ‘everyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery.’ As this teaching is not found in the Old Testament law (cf. Mk. 10.1-12), v. 18 is not to be regarded as an exemplification of v. 17. The relationship between the two participial clauses is that the latter presupposes the former: he who after divorcing his wife remarries, commits adultery.

apoluō ‘to send away,’ here ‘to divorce.’

moicheuō (also 18.20) ‘to be an adulterer,’ ‘to commit adultery.’

he apolelumenēn apo andros gamōn ‘he who marries a woman divorced from, or, by her husband.’ The former is preferable though no presumption is implied as to the initiative in bringing about the divorce. The perfect tense of the participle apolelumenēn points to a situation in which a woman finds herself after having been divorced from her husband.

Translation:

Every one who divorces, for the construction cf. on 9.24. A formal, legal separation is probably meant here (cf. Mk. 10.4). Balinese expresses this by, ‘break-off having-a-wife.’

Marries another (or, another woman), or, ‘marries again.’ To marry, see 14.20.

Commits adultery, or, ‘is (or, acts as) an adulterer,’ ‘breaks the marriage’ (Sranan Tongo).

And, or here, ‘so,’ ‘similarly.’

A woman divorced from her husband, or, where the prepositional phrase would sound unduly redundant, ‘a woman who has been divorced,’ or simply, ‘a-divorced-one’ (Balinese, her sex to be understood from the context).

Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Luke 16:18

16:18

Here Jesus gave an example of how the Old Testament still had authority. Jesus’ statement in this verse was stricter than what the people understood the Law to teach. It revealed more about the way that God values marriage and hates divorce.

16:18a–b

Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as commits adultery refers to a certain type of sexual sin. It refers to sexual relations between a man and a woman when at least one of them is married to another person.

When a man divorces his wife, God still considers their marriage to be valid. So when the man marries another woman, he has been unfaithful to his first wife and sinned. God considers this sin to be adultery.

In some languages it may be more natural to use an “if” clause to translate this verse part. For example:

If anyone divorces his wife and then marries someone else, he is committing adultery.

commits adultery: In some languages the phrase commits adultery does not imply that the man is sinning or doing evil. If this is true in your language, you may need to make this explicit. For example:

he is committing ⌊the sin of⌋ adultery

This verse is very similar to Mark 10:11.

16:18c

and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery: This statement is similar to the one in 16:18a–b. If a man marries for the first time, but he marries a woman whose husband has already divorced her, it is the same as if he commits adultery. In God’s eyes that woman is still married to her first husband.

If you translated 16:18a–b with an “if” clause, you may want to do the same here:

and if anyone marries a divorced woman, he is committing ⌊the sin of⌋ adultery

a divorced woman: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as a divorced woman refers to a married woman whose husband has divorced her. In Jesus’ time, a woman could not normally choose to divorce her husband. But if this is possible in your culture, you should translate using a phrase that refers both to a woman whose husband has divorced her and to a woman who has divorced her husband.

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