complete verse (Romans 7:2)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 7:2:

  • Uma: “For example a woman who is married: while her husband is still alive, she is bound/tied to her husband by the law(s) of marriage. But if her husband dies, she becomes released from those laws that bound/tied her to her husband.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “For example when a woman marries, the law says that she must/ought to be one with her husband as long as her husband is alive. But when/if her husband is dead that law no longer has authority over her.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For example, the Law commands that a woman, if she has a husband, she cannot get married again as long as her husband is still alive. But if that husband dies, she can get married again.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “For example, the woman who is married. The law says that she cannot marry a different man while her spouse is still (alive). But if her spouse dies, the woman is set-free from that law and she can marry again.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “You see that it is like when a woman marries, there is a law which says that there is not permission for her to leave her husband. But when her husband dies, then the law is released which controlled the wife.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

law

The Greek that is translated in English as “Law” or “law” is translated in Mairasi as oro nasinggiei or “prohibited things” (source: Enggavoter 2004) and in Noongar with a capitalized form of the term for “words” (Warrinya) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

In Yucateco the phrase that is used for “law” is “ordered-word” (for “commandment,” it is “spoken-word”) (source: Nida 1947, p. 198) and in Central Tarahumara it is “writing-command.” (wsource: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

See also teaching / law (of God) (Japanese honorifics).

Translation commentary on Romans 7:2

Paul’s transitional particle (literally “for,” so King James Version and An American Translation*) is rendered for example by the Good News Translation (also New English Bible and New American Bible) and as “for instance” by the Jerusalem Bible. An equivalent in some languages is “it is like this” or “this is what it means.”

The law described in this verse more nearly conforms with the regulations of Jewish Law than of Roman law; but for Paul’s readers the meaning of the example is clear: a married woman … is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives.

The law that bound her to him is literally “the law of her husband,” but the reference is simply to “the obligations of the marriage-law” (New English Bible). The reason for this rather strange sounding expression is that in antiquity the law was looked upon as giving the husband authority over his wife; in fact, the expression married woman is literally “the woman who is under the power of her husband.”

A married woman … is bound by the law to her husband may be changed into an active expression and translated in a somewhat different way—for example, “the law ties a married woman to her husband,” “the law unites a woman to her husband,” or “the law says a married woman must stay with her husband.”

She is free from the law may be expressed as “the law does not tie her any longer,” “the law unties her,” “the law causes her to be free,” or “the law says, She is now free.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .