concubine

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “concubine” in English is translated in Kutu as “slave made to be his woman” or “female slave he married” and similarly in Makonde, “a slave who is/was a wife.”

In Kwere it is translated as “small wives.” This is the term for subsequent wives when polygamy is practiced among the Kwere. While they enjoy most of the same rights and privileges as the first wife, their status is not necessarily the same. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

In Kalanga it is likewise translated with balongwana or “small wives.” (Source: project-specific notes in Paratext)

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Concubine .

Translation commentary on 1 Chronicles 2:46

Ephah also, Caleb’s concubine, bore Haran, Moza, and Gazez: The adverb also renders the common Hebrew conjunction, but it seems to make the introduction to this verse too emphatic, since this conjunction may be equally well translated “And” or left untranslated (so Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). So we advise translators not to make this introduction emphatic. For concubine see the comments on 1 Chr 1.32. Here and in the verses that follow, the Hebrew verb translated bore may be rendered “was the mother of” (New Century Version) or “gave birth to” (New Jerusalem Bible).

And Haran was the father of Gazez: Good News Translation and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente add the adverb “also” in order to avoid any confusion by the second mention of the name Gazez here. Some scholars think the Masoretic Text contains an error in this clause, so they correct it to read “and Haran was the father of Jahdai” (so Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Einheitsübersetzung). This makes a much better lead-in to the following verse, where Jahdai is mentioned (see the comments there). This change of the Masoretic Text may well be correct, but since there is no manuscript support for it, such a correction is not recommended.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .