Is to be honored is literally “marriage is honourable” (see New English Bible and Phillips). However, there is no verb such as “should be” or “is” in the Greek text, and it fits in better with the context to make this verse a recommendation (is to be) rather than a statement (“is”), as in common language translations and many other translations. The two halves of the verse are joined by “for” (Revised Standard Version), showing that verse 4b gives the reason for the statements in verse 4a. Good News Translation leaves this connection to be implied.

In place of the passive expression be honored, it may be better to use an active statement: “All persons should honor marriage” or “All persons should consider marriage to be something good.”

The two statements, marriage is to be honored by all and husbands and wives must be faithful to each other, mean essentially the same, so the first and may be omitted in languages where it leads the reader to expect new information. In some languages it may be replaced by a word meaning “indeed.”

Modern translations often replace the reference to “the marriage bed” (Revised Standard Version) by a nonfigurative expression; for example, Bijbel in Gewone Taal “faithfulness in marriage must remain inviolate.” Revised Standard Version‘s “undefiled” here renders a word used in the same sense of Jesus in 7.26. In place of the positive statement husbands and wives must be faithful to each other, it may be more natural to express this negatively as “a husband and a wife must not go about looking for someone else to sleep with.”

The statement God will judge implies a negative judgment, and therefore must be rendered in some languages as “God will condemn.”

Those who are immoral means those who, whether married or not, are sexually immoral. Those who commit adultery refers only to those who are married. Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente reverses the two phrases and translates “adultery or other immorality.”

In some languages no distinction is made between fornication and adultery. But both are included in such phrases as “sexual relations apart from being married” or “sexual relations with someone who is not one’s own spouse.” In some languages fornication is described as “sex with a prostitute,” while adultery involves “sex with another person’s spouse.”

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Letter of the Hebrews. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .