Matt 5:32 – TIPs

divorced (woman)

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “divorced woman” in English is translated in Newari as “a woman who has been rejected by her husband” (source: Newari Back Translation).

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “adultery” in English (here etymologically meaning “to alter”) is typically understood as “marital infidelity.” It is (back-) translated in the following ways:

Highland Totonac: “to do something together”
Yucateco: “pair-sin”
Ngäbere: “robbing another’s half self-possession” (compare “fornication” which is “robbing self-possession,” that is, to rob what belongs to a person)
Kaqchikel, Chol: “to act like a dog” (see also licentiousness)
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)
Purari: “play hands with” or “play eyes with”
Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “talk secretly with spouses of our fellows”
Isthmus Zapotec: “go in with other people’s spouses”
Tzeltal: “practice illicit relationship with women”
Huehuetla Tepehua: “live with some one who isn’t your wife”
Central Tarahumara: “sleep with a strange partner”
Hopi: “tamper with marriage” (source for this and seven above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
German: Ehebrecher or “marriage breaker” / Ehe brechen or “breaking of marriage” (source: Zetzsche)
In Falam Chin the term for “adultery” is the phrase for “to share breast” which relates to adultery by either sex. (Source: David Clark)
In Ixcatlán Mazatec a specification needs to be made to include both genders. (Source: Robert Bascom)
Likewise in Hiligaynon: “commit-adultery-with-a-man or commit-adultery-with-a-woman” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

divorce

In Ghari different words are used for a husband divorcing a wife and a wife divorcing a husband. (Source: David Clark)

In Mairasi the term that is used means “discard.” (Source: Enggavoter 2004)

fornication, sexual immorality

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).

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Sexual Immorality (Word Study) .

complete verse (Matthew 5:32)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 5:32:

Uma: “But I say: whoever divorces [lit., releases] his wife, but his wife did not do wrong behavior [sexual connotation], he sins, because the one who divorces causes [lit., carries] his wife to commit adultery, if she should marry again. And the man who marries another’s ex-spouse, he also is committing adultery.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “But I, I say: when a man divorces his wife, and his wife has not committed adultery, the man is the reason for the adultery of the woman if she marries again. And whoever marries her commits adultery also.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But my teaching is: if a man that divorces his wife and she has not committed adultery against him, this man commits sin, for by means of this he is saying that his wife has committed adultery against him. And the man who marries that woman who was divorced by her husband, also sins.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “But I say to you that the man who divorces his wife except if she committed-adultery (lit. manned-with), he causes-her-to-become an adulteress (lit. one who mans-with) if she marries again. The man also who marries a woman who has-been-divorced sins just the same by adultery (loan kamalala).'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “But now/today, I am the one saying to you (pl.) that a man has sinned who divorces his wife when she hasn’t been compromised/acted-immorally-with by another man. Of course he has sinned because he will have caused this wife of his to fall-into-sin(fig.) of immorality if she then marries someone else. And whoever marries this woman who has been divorced, he also will have committed immorality.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “But I tell you that concerning a woman who is divorced by her husband, if she then marries another man, these two are committing sin. But it is the sin (fault) of the man who divorced the woman that this happens, because only a woman who has committed adultery can be divorced.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): “Anyone who separates from his wife without her having broken the marriage causes her to break the [existing] marriage. And whoever marries a woman whose husband has separated from her breaks her [still existing] marriage.”

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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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 first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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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).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Scriptures Plain & Simple (Matthew 5:27-32)

Barclay Newman, a translator on the teams for both the Good News Bible and the Contemporary English Version, translated passages of the New Testament into English and published them in 2014, “in a publication brief enough to be non-threatening, yet long enough to be taken seriously, and interesting enough to appeal to believers and un-believers alike.” The following is the translation of Matthew 5:27-32:

The Bible says, “Be faithful in marriage.”
But I tell you to rid your mind of those lustful thoughts
that entice you to become unfaithful.

Poke out your staring eye and chop off your grabby hand —
better this, than for your whole body to burn in hell!

Thinking about divorce, just because it’s legal? Forget it!
Shy away from divorce, except as a last recourse,
and then only if your spouse has been terribly unfaithful.
When you divorce, you declare your partner an adulterer,
as well as anyone who marries your ex.

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Verse: Matthew 5:32