complete verse (Deuteronomy 22:13)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 22:13:

  • Kupsabiny: “A man may have married a woman, and then he thinks to abandon (her).” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “A man may marry a woman [and] after sleeping with her, might dislike her,” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘For-example, a man married a woman, and after they had-laid-down-beside-each-other/(have-had-sexual-intercourse), he was angry with his wife” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “‘Suppose a man marries a young woman and has sex with her and later decides that he does not want her any more,” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 22:13

With the beginning of a new section, Moses should be reintroduced as the speaker.

Takes a wife, and goes in to her: this is the literal Hebrew text; it is not standard English. It is assumed that a man will have sexual intercourse with his wife as soon as they are married, so something like the following may be better: “A man marries and, after making love to [or, sleeping with] his wife, decides that he doesn’t like [or, love] her.”

Spurns: this translates the verb normally rendered “to hate.” New International Version and New Revised Standard Version have “dislikes her,” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “takes an aversion to her,” Revised English Bible “turns against her,” Bible en français courant “stops loving her.”

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 .