complete verse (Romans 7:3)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 7:3:

  • Uma: “So, if for example that woman marries another man while her first husband is still alive, it is called adultery. But if her husband is already dead, she is no longer bound by that law. Even if she marries another man, she is not called an adulteress.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then, if her husband is yet living and she becomes one with a different man, she commits adultery. But if her husband is dead the law no longer has authority over her, that’s why she does not commit adultery if she marries again because her husband is already dead.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But if her husband is not yet dead and she goes around with and sleeps with another man, then she has broken the Law because she has sinned against her husband. And if her husband dies, she can marry and she will not sin against him because she is free from that Law about marriage.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Thus if her spouse is still-alive and she lives with another man, we say that she is committing-adultery (lit. manning-with). But if her spouse dies, the authority of that law over her also ceases-to-exist, so she doesn’t commit-adultery if she marries again.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But if the wife marries and her husband is living, then the wife is an adulteress. But if the husband has died, then the law is released which concerned her marriage. Then she can marry again. And then she would not be an adulteress.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

law

The Greek, Hebrew, and Ge’ez that is translated in English as “Law” or “law” is translated in Mairasi as oro nasinggiei or “prohibited things” (source: Enggavoter 2004) and in Noongar with a capitalized form of the term for “words” (Warrinya) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

In Yucateco the phrase that is used for “law” is “ordered-word” (for “commandment,” it is “spoken-word”) (source: Nida 1947, p. 198) and in Central Tarahumara it is “writing-command.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

In a 1922 translation into Chagatai, a precursor language of both Uzbek and Uighur, it is translated with the Arabic loan word shari’at (شريعت), originally meaning “(Islamic) law (Shari’a).” (Source: F. Erbay and F.N. Küçükballı in Acta Theologica 2025 45/2, p. 133ff. )

See also teaching / law (of God) (Japanese honorifics).

Translation commentary on Romans 7:3

In light of what Paul is going to say in verse 4, it is important that he bring in the idea of another man in verse 3. If she lives with (so also Revised Standard Version) is perhaps the best way to render the expression Paul uses here (literally “if she becomes another man’s”). The New English Bible expresses the same thought with a different level of language (“if … she consorts with another man”), while the New American Bible and Jerusalem Bible have “if she gives herself to another.” It may be pressing Paul’s meaning too far to say “if she marries another man” (An American Translation*), although the phrase that the Good News Translation translates if she lives with another man is the same as that translated if she marries another man later in this same verse.

If she lives with another man is most usually translated simply as “if she has relations with another man” or “if she sleeps with another man,” as a specific indication of sexual relations. One can also employ an expression such as “if she goes to live with another man” or “… goes and stays with another man.”

There are terms for an adulteress in nearly all languages, but in some instances the expression may be highly idiomatic—for example, “she becomes a dog,” “she opens herself,” or “she goes from door to door.”

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Romans 7:3

7:3a–d

she is joined to another man…marries another man: The phrase joined to and the word marries translate the same Greek word. There are several ways to interpret this word in the two places:

(1) The word refers to marrying both times. For example:

married another man…remarries (New Living Translation (2004))

(New International Version, King James Version, New American Standard Bible, New Living Translation (2004), NET Bible, God’s Word, Revised English Bible, New Century Version)

(2) The word refers to adultery the first time and marrying the second time. For example:

lives with another man…marries another man (Revised Standard Version)

(Berean Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New International Version (2011), Contemporary English Version, English Standard Version)

(3) The word refers to adultery both times. For example:

have relations with another man…has relations with another man (New Jerusalem Bible)

(New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), because the Greek word is unlikely to mean two different things in this verse (interpretation (2)) and 7:2 refers to a woman remarrying after her first husband dies, so 7:3d is most likely referring to remarrying also. Also, Paul was talking about when the law of marriage is in effect, so interpretation (1) fits that discussion best.

7:3a

So then: This Greek phrase introduces a result. Here are other ways to translate this word:

Accordingly (English Standard Version)
-or-
So (New Jerusalem Bible)

7:3b

she is called: Here the Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as is called is more literally “bear/take a name/title.” Here are other ways to translate this clause:

she will bear the name/title of
-or-
she will have the label of

adulteress: This word refers to a woman who has sexual intercourse with a man who is not her husband. Here are other ways to translate this word:

she is committing-adultery
-or-
an adultery doing woman

General Comment on 7:3a–b

Here the if-clause (7:3a) comes after its consequence (7:3b). In some languages the if-clause may come second. For example:

Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive (English Standard Version)

7:3c

she is free from that law: The phrase that law refers to the law of marriage in 7:2b. Her husband has died, so the law no longer calls her married. She is free to marry someone else. Here are other ways to translate this clause:

the authority of that law over her also ceases-to-exist
-or-
she is no longer bound by what the law says about this

7:3d

and is not an adulteress, even if she marries another man: This clause is still connected to “if her husband dies.” In some languages this phrase must be repeated for the correct meaning. For example:

and if she marries another man ⌊after he has died,⌋ she is not an adulteress

marries: For the interpretation issue about this word, see the note at 7:3a–d above.

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