1:19a–d

Before you translate 1:19, there are at least two main issues to consider:

Issue 1: Structure of the verse

Notice the overall structure of this verse. The Berean Standard Bible translates the Greek literally:

19aBecause Joseph her husband 19bwas a righteous man 19cand was unwilling to disgrace her publicly, 19dhe resolved to divorce her quietly.

The main part of the verse is “he [that is, Joseph] resolved to divorce her quietly.” In the middle are two clauses which describe Joseph:

19bhe was a righteous man

19che was unwilling to disgrace her publicly

There are several ways to connect the parts of this verse. Here are some examples:

• Reorder the clauses to show the main part. For example:

19aJoseph her husband 19dhad in mind to divorce her quietly. 19b⌊He wanted to do this because⌋ he was a righteous man 19cand he did not want to expose her to public disgrace.

• Use the conjunction because to introduce the reason part of a reason-result relationship. For example:

19a
Because Joseph her husband 19bwas a righteous man 19cand did not want to expose her to public disgrace, 19dhe had in mind to divorce her quietly. (New International Version)

• Use the conjunction so to introduce the result part of a reason-result relationship. For example:

19aHer husband Joseph 19bwas an honorable man 19cand did not want to disgrace her publicly. 19dSo he decided to break the marriage agreement with her secretly. (God’s Word)

Issue 2: Implied information

There is some implied information here. Joseph did not yet know that it was the Holy Spirit who had caused Mary to become pregnant (1:18d). So when he found out that she was pregnant, he assumed that she had committed adultery. Therefore he no longer wanted to marry her. In some languages, it may be necessary to make some of this information explicit. For example:

19aBut Joseph her husband ⌊did not know how she became pregnant.⌋ 19b⌊He⌋ was a righteous man…
-or-

19aBut Joseph her husband ⌊assumed that she had committed adultery.⌋ ⌊So he no longer wanted to marry her.⌋ 19b⌊He⌋ was a righteous man…

In other languages, it will be good to put some of this implied information in a footnote.

1:19a

Joseph her husband: In Jewish law, a man and woman who were engaged were legally considered to be husband and wife. So Joseph was considered to be Mary’s husband, even though they were not yet formally married.

In many languages, the phrase Joseph her husband will imply that Mary and Joseph were already married. So it may be necessary to modify this phrase. For example:

Joseph, her fiancé (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
Joseph, her future husband (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
Joseph, the man she had promised to marry

Verse 1:18b already says that Mary and Joseph were pledged in marriage. So in some languages, it may be best to simply omit the phrase her husband. For example:

Joseph (Contemporary English Version)

1:19b

was a righteous man: The clause was a righteous man is the first of two characteristics of Joseph. There are two ways to interpret this clause and which part of the sentence it goes with:

(1) It means that Joseph did what was just/right according to the law, and it goes together with the word “divorce.” The law required that a man divorce a woman for adultery, and Joseph thought that Mary had committed adultery. In order to follow the law, he decided to divorce her. For example:

Joseph was a man who always did what was right (Good News Translation)

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011), Good News Translation, and many commentaries)

(2) It means that Joseph was a good/kind man, and it goes together with the word “quietly.” As a kind man, he did not want to embarrass Mary. So he decided to divorce her quietly or in private. For example:

Joseph was a good man (Contemporary English Version)

(Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation (2004), Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, New Century Version)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1) because many commentaries support this interpretation. Many English versions translate this clause in a way that makes it difficult to tell which interpretation they follow.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

Joseph obeyed the laws of Moses
-or-
Joseph always wanted to do what the law said

It is also possible that the word righteous includes elements of both interpretations. So if possible, translate in a way that both interpretations can be understood. For example:

Joseph was straight/upright
-or-
Joseph obeyed the law and was also good/kind

1:19c

and was unwilling to disgrace her publicly: This clause is the second characteristic of Joseph. If you follow interpretation (1) above for the word “righteous,” this clause contrasts with 1:19d. The contrast is that Joseph followed the law (and so had to divorce Mary), but yet he did not want to divorce her in a way that would shame her.

Here are some ways to show this contrast:

but he did not want to disgrace Mary publicly (Good News Translation)
-or-

and yet he did not want to shame her

was unwilling to disgrace her publicly: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as disgrace her publicly in this context refers to publicly announcing that someone had sinned or broken the law. This act would have caused Mary great shame. It would also have prevented her from getting married to someone else.

Here are some other ways to translate this expression:

did not want to expose her to public disgrace (New International Version)
-or-
did not want to embarrass Mary in front of everyone (Contemporary English Version)

1:19d

he resolved: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as resolved also means “planned” or “decided.” For example:

he made plans (Good News Translation)
-or-
Joseph…decided (New Jerusalem Bible)

to divorce her: In Jewish law, ending an engagement to marry required a divorce. At that time, a Jewish man only had to give the woman a certificate of divorce (Matthew 5:31, Mark 10:4). He could write the certificate himself with two people as witnesses.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

end the engagement
-or-
break the marriage agreement (God’s Word)
-or-
not marry her
-or-
separate from her

quietly: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as quietly also means “secretly.” It refers to doing something in a way that no one will know.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

privately (Good News Translation)
-or-
secretly (God’s Word)
-or-
without making it public

© 2023 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.