marital rights

This text [in Exodus 21:10] is about the rights of women in polygamous relationships. We used both Kiswahili and Maa (Masai) Bible versions and discovered that the wording of the text between the two languages set diverging emphases. According to the informants this makes a big difference as far as the rights of women in marital life are concerned. The text speaks about the three basic needs, which a husband is supposed to provide for all his wives.

The three needs are related to food, clothes, and sexuality. In the Maa translation the third need has been replaced with “inheritance”. The question of the informants was: Why did the translator of this text into Maa language decide to use the word “inheritance” instead of “sexual right” or “sexual intercourse”?

It was the assumption of some informants that the right of women to inheritance is more problematic among the Maasai than sexual rights, sexual intercourse or marital rights. By using the term “inheritance” for a term that is translated mostly as “marital rights” and which includes sexual intercourse in other Bible versions, the translator into Maa language ignores the most vital thing for the Maasai women. The underlying issue of marital rights in the Maasai society is connected to the production of children. To be able to obtain an inheritance a woman has to bear children.

Source: Hoyce Jacob Lyimo-Mbowe in Wittenberg: A Lutheran perspective on translating the Bible.

complete verse (Exodus 21:10)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 21:10:

  • Kupsabiny: “If someone married a second wife, he should not abandon his elder wife. He should make sure that that woman has enough food and everything else as always/before.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “If the master marries her as his second wife, he shall not deprive of her food, clothing and marital rights.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “If he himself marries this slave, and still marries another woman, he must continue giving food and clothing to this slave, and lie-down-beside/(have-sexual-relations-with) her.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “And if that chief marries another woman, he must watch over that first (lit. old) woman well, and so give her food and new changes of clothes and [that] the two of them be sleeping [together] also.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “If he again will buy another woman as his wife, he must not first-wife reject. Her bread, and her clothes, and place of her-laying, he must not her it forbid.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “If the master takes another slave girl to be another wife for himself, he must continue to give the first slave wife the same amount of food and clothing that he gave to her before, and he must continue to have sex with her as before.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exod 21:10

This third possible situation is an alternative to the first two (verses 8 and 9). The implication therefore is that the female slave in verse 7 has become the concubine, or wife, of her master. If he takes another wife to himself is literally “if another he takes for him.” Wife is not in the text, so another means “another woman” (New International Version), probably another female slave. The distinction between wife and “concubine” is not always clear, for a female slave who became a concubine was often considered a secondary wife. (See the comment on “concubine” at verse 8.)

He shall not diminish her food is literally “he will not reduce her flesh [or, meat].” He is the “master” in verse 8, and her is the female slave in verse 7, whom he has already taken as a concubine, or wife. The word for diminish is used in 5.8, 19 in reference to the number of bricks that was not “lessened” or reduced. So Good News Translation has “he must continue to give his first wife the same amount of food.”

This also applies to her clothing, literally “her covering,” and her marital rights. The word for marital rights is not used elsewhere in the Old Testament, so its meaning must be determined largely from the context. Most scholars agree that it refers to “conjugal rights” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh and others), which include “her right to intercourse” (Durham), or her right to bear her master’s children. Good News Translation prefers to be less definite: “and the same rights that she had before.” Contemporary English Version also has a less definite translation: “treat her as a wife.” Such a broad interpretation, however, is not recommended, since the first two terms, “food and clothing,” are quite specific. Also, verse 11 refers to “these three things,” suggesting that the third one is as specific as the other two. In certain languages explicit mention of “sexual intercourse” will be tolerated, but in many other languages an expression such as “right to bear her master’s children,” will be more natural.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .