9And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “adultery” (typically understood as “marital infidelity”) in English is (back-) translated in the following ways:
Toraja-Sa’dan: “to measure the depth of the river of (another’s) marriage.”
North Alaskan Inupiatun: “married people using what is not theirs” (compare “fornication” which is “unmarried people using what is not theirs”) (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
In Hakha Chin the usual term for “adultery” applies only to women, so the translation for the Greek term that is translated into English as “adultery” was translated in Hakha Chin as “do not take another man’s wife and do not commit adultery.”
Hopi: “tamper with marriage” (source for this and two above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
In Falam Chin the term for “adultery” is the phrase for “to share breast” which relates to adultery by either sex. (Source for this and three above: David Clark)
In Ixcatlán Mazatec a specification needs to be made to include both genders. (Source: Robert Bascom)
The Greek that is translated as “sexual immorality” or “fornication” or similar is translated much more specifically in some languages. Morelos Nahuatl has “let a man not yield himself to another woman except only to his wife. Also let a woman not yield herself to another man except only to her husband” or in Lalana Chinantec as “not proper for them to mix themselves with other women. The same is true of women for other men also.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
In Low German as Hurenkram or “things related to prostitution (and/or sleeping around)” (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006) and in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) typically as Sexgier or “sex cravings” (exceptions: Acts 15:10 and 15:29).
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 19:9:
Uma: “So that you know, whoever divorces / separates-from his wife and marries another woman, he is committing adultery [emphatic]. Only if his wife is committing adultery is he allowed to divorce her.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “I tell you, whoever divorces his wife and his wife did not do bad/commit adultery, and he marries another one, he commits adultery.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “That’s why I say to you that if there is a man who divorces his wife, and he, the man, has not committed adultery against by his wife, and then he gets married again, this man sins against his first wife because of that getting married again.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “I thus say to you that the man who divorces his wife except if she committed-adultery (lit. manned-with), he commits-adultery (lit. womans-with) if/when he marries another.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “That’s why this is what I am saying to you today, whichever man will divorce his wife for whatever cause, except she has been compromised by another man, and then he marries another, he has really acted immorally. And like that indeed, whoever marries the woman who has been divorced, he also has acted immorally.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “I tell you that the man who divorces his wife and it wasn’t because of fornication, then when the man again marries another woman, that man sins. If the woman who was thrown aside marries, then she commits sin with the man she marries.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
And I say to you (Good News Translation “I tell you, then”) may be more effectively translated “For that reason I tell you” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). The form of the saying is similar to that of 5.22, except that here the pronoun I is not placed emphatically in the Greek text.
Whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity is almost word-for-word identical with the equivalent part of 5.32. The only difference is that whoever divorces translates a subjunctive, while “if a man divorces” of 5.32 translates a participle. For important comments concerning the exegesis and translation of this part of the verse see 5.32.
There are several ways translators have found to render this verse; for example, “If a man divorces his wife, unless she had been unfaithful to him (or, unless the marriage was unlawful), if he gets married again (to someone else) he is committing adultery,” “Anyone who divorces his wife and then marries someone else commits adultery, unless the reason for the divorce was that his wife had been unfaithful (or, unless the reason for the divorce was that the marriage was illegal),” or “If someone gets a divorce from his wife for some reason other than that she had committed adultery (or, other than that the marriage was illegal), if he then marries someone else, he is committing adultery.”
Unchastity or “unfaithful,” if that is the interpretation chosen, will be expressed in some languages as “slept with another man.”
There are two textual problems in this verse which need some attention: (1) After the word unchastity (Good News Translation “unfaithfulness”) some manuscripts add “makes her commit adultery” (see the RSV footnote). If this is an original part of the text, it means “makes her commit adultery when she marries again.” However, it is the opinion of TC-GNT that this is a later addition, introduced on the basis of 5.32. Apparently none of the modern translations include this wording. (2) At the end of the verse, some manuscripts add “and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery” (see the RSV footnote). Although it is possible that this statement was accidentally omitted by copyists, TC-GNT believes it more probable that the wording represents a later attempt to make the text similar to 5.32. Of the modern translations this clause is found only in Moffatt and New American Bible.
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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