complete verse (Deuteronomy 21:15)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 21:15:

  • Kupsabiny: “A man might have two wives but he loves on much more that the other even though both women have sons. The firstborn son may belong to the woman/wife he does not love.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “A certain man has two wives, one that is loved, one that is not loved, and when both of them give birth to sons, even if the wife that is not loved gives birth to the first born,” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘For-example a man has two wives, and he loves the other-one but not the other-one, and he has children with the two of them. And for-example his first-born son is the child of his wife whom he does not love.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “‘Suppose that a man has two wives, but he likes one of them and dislikes the other one. And suppose that they both give birth to sons, and the oldest son is the child of the woman that he does not like.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 21:15

With the beginning of a new section, translators are urged to reintroduce Moses as the speaker.

The one loved and the other disliked: this is usually taken to mean that the man loves one wife more than the other, not that he actively dislikes (or, hates) one of his two wives. But it may be that the two terms are meant literally; in Mal 1.2-3, as the context shows, “hate” really means “hate” (see the use of this passage in Rom 9.13). It is recommended by this Handbook, however, that translators follow the interpretation taken by Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version, that the man loves one of the wives more than the other. Good News Translation has “his favorite wife,” and Contemporary English Version translates “loves one more than the other.”

They have borne him children: in the context “sons” is meant; daughters are not included. So Good News Translation: “and they both bear him sons.”

The first-born son is hers that is disliked: this is not natural English. The sense is “the wife he dislikes [or, likes less] bore his first son.” The matter was of great importance to the women, since they would be supported by their sons after their husband’s death.

Good News Translation has a helpful translation model for this verse.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .