you shall not commit adultery

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated in English as “you shall not commit adultery” is translated in Toraja-Sa’dan with an established figure of speech: Da’ mupasandak salu lako rampanan kapa’ or “you shall not fathom the river of marriage” (i.e “approach the marriage relationship of another.”) (Source: H. van der Veen in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 21 ff. ).

In Hakha Chin the usual term for “adultery” applies only to women, so the translation in Hakha Chin is “do not take another man’s wife and do not commit adultery.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

See also adultery

adultery

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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)

See also adultery, adulterer, adulteress, and you shall not commit adultery.

neighbor

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The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “neighbor” in English is rendered into Babatana as “different man,” i.e. someone who is not one of your relatives. (Source: David Clark)

In North Alaskan Inupiatun, it is rendered as “a person outside of your building,” in Tzeltal as “your back and side” (implying position of the dwellings), in Indonesian and in Tae’ as “your fellow-man,” in Toraja-Sa’dan it is “your fellow earth-dweller,” in Shona (translation of 1966) as “another person like you,” in Kekchí “younger-brother-older-brother” (a compound which means all one’s neighbors in a community) (sources: Bratcher / Nida and Reiling / Swellengrebel), in Mairasi “your people” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Mezquital Otomi as “fellow being,” in Tzeltal as “companion,” in Isthmus Zapotec as “another,” in Teutila Cuicatec as “all people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), and in most modern German translations as Mitmensch or “fellow human being” (lit. “with + human being”).

In Matt 19:19, Matt 22:39, Mark 12:31, Mark 12:33, Luke 10:27, Luke 10:29 it is translated into Ixcatlán Mazatec with a term that refers to a person who is socially/physically near. Ixcatlán Mazatec also has a another term for “neighbor” that means “fellow humans-outsiders” which was not chosen for these passages. (Source: Robert Bascom)

In Noongar it is translated as moorta-boordak or “people nearby” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

You shall not murder / kill

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “You shall not kill/murder” or similar in English is translated in Una as Ninyi ona mem: “Don’t kill people” because in Una an object needed to be added. (Source: Kroneman 2004, p. 407)

love your neighbor as yourself

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated in English as “love your neighbor as yourself” is translated in Shilluk, Anuak, and Nuer as “love your neighbors as yourselves.” In those and other languages a plural form has to be used if it is to be applied to more than one person where in English a singular can stand for many (compare everyone, each, whoever, any). (Source: Larson 1998, p. 42)

See also he who / whoever and neighbor.

neighbor - relative

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “neighbor” or “relative” in English is translated in the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) and the Buku Lopatulika translation (1922/2018) with just one word: nansi. This word can also be translated as neighbors whom you share a blood relation with because in Chewa context a community is mostly comprised of people of blood relations. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

complete verse (Romans 13:9)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 13:9:

  • Uma: “For in the Lord’s Law there are these commands: ‘Don’t commit adultery, don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t desire things of others.’ All of those, and other commands as well, we follow them all if we follow this one order: ‘We must love our companion like we love ourselves.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “The law of Musa says hep, ‘Don’t commit adultery/fornication; don’t kill; don’t steal; don’t covet the property/wealth of your companion.’ These commands and all the other commandments are included in this one command, saying, ‘Love your fellow-(men) as you love yourself.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For there is something written in the Law which says, ‘Don’t you commit adultery against your spouse, don’t you kill; don’t you steal; do not decide that you want the possessions of other people.’ And as for these commands and others also, we can carry out all of them if we obey the command which says, ‘You must hold your companion dear in your breath; you make him equal with your own breath.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because the commands that say, ‘Don’t (sing.) commit-adultery, don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t covet (lit. grab-after) what is not yours (sing.),’ and the rest of the commands, they are all concentrated in this one command: ‘You (sing.) must love your (sing.) companion like your (sing.) way-of-loving yourself (sing.).'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The word which the law commands says: ‘Do not commit adultery. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not lie about anyone. Do not want something which is owned by another.’ These words are what the law commands. And there are other words also which it commands. But all of these words said in the law are included here in the word which says ‘Love your fellowman like you want that you be loved.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Romans 13:9

The commandments (Revised Standard Version, New English Bible, Jerusalem Bible, An American Translation*) is literally “for the” (King James Version “for this”). This may seem a strange way to begin a sentence, but in Greek this is a normal use of the neuter article “the”; the article may be used in a summary way to refer to a series that follows. In the present passage the series is a list of commandments; in the Good News Translation this information is made explicit for the English reader. The commandments quoted come from Exodus 20.13-15, 17, and the parallels in Deuteronomy 5.17-19, 21.

All these, and any others besides may simply be rendered as “all these commands and all the other commands” or “all commands, whether these or others.”

Are summed up in the one command may be rendered as “are equal to just one command,” “are no more than just one command,” or “mean just one command.”

Love your fellow-man as yourself is a quotation from Leviticus 19.18. The importance of the one command to love is observed by the fact that it is quoted in the New Testament in several places: Matthew 5.43; 19.19; 22.39; Mark 12.31; Luke 10.27; Galatians 5.14; James 2.8. The fact that this command, love your fellow-man as yourself, is in the singular may be quite confusing in some languages. In fact, readers may respond by asking “Which fellow-man?” or “Which neighbor?” It is necessary, therefore, in order to make the statement generally applicable, to employ a plural: “you should love all other people just as you love yourselves” or, in some languages, “each one of you should love his neighbors as he loves himself.” In every instance it is any and all fellow human beings, not merely a single neighbor, who must be loved.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .