Love (compare 3.14). Though in this context love relates to the relationship between husband and wife, it should not focus upon sexual attraction but upon “tender care for,” equivalent in some languages to “show tender appreciation for.” As in the case of wives, it may also be important to address husbands as “you men who are married.”

Unless the translation is carefully worded, it may in some languages suggest that a husband should have more than one wife (the same type of problem may also occur in verse 18); therefore, it may be necessary to translate husbands, love your wives as “each of your husbands should love his wife.” Similarly, then, in the second part of the sentence the translation should read, “do not be harsh with her.”

Be harsh translates the verb pikrainō, “to make bitter,” used literally in Rev 8.11, 10.9, 10. Here it is used figuratively “be embittered against, be cruel to, be harsh with” (so most translations). Do not be harsh may be rendered idiomatically as “do not treat her like a maid” or “do not make a slave of her.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Colossians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .