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:
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)
Teutila Cuicatec: “God who has a great rule” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Sa’a: “God, the Surpassing One” (source: Carl Gross)
Elhomwe: Mulluku Muullupalli or “God the Great” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Chichewa: Wammwambamwamba: A name of God. While this word is difficult to translate into English, its sense implies that God is highly above everything in his power and greatness. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, and Greek that is translated in English typically as “obedience” or “obey” is translated in Tepeuxila Cuicatec as “thing hearing,” because “to hear is to obey.” (Source: Marjorie Davis in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 34ff. )
In Huba it is translated as hya nǝu nyacha: “follow (his) mouth.” (Source: David Frank in this blog post )
In Central Mazahua it is translated as “listen-obey” and in Huehuetla Tepehua as “believe-obey” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), and in Noongar as dwangka-don, lit. “hear do” (source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).
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).
For first of all … second … and third …: Here there is a series of three charges against the woman. She has done three things: sinned against God, wronged her husband, and disgraced herself. Good News Translation says “In the first place … In the second place … And in the third place….” Revised Standard Version provides a different model with first, second, and third.
For first of all, she has disobeyed the law of the Most High: The law here is of course the commandment against adultery in Exo 20.14. The Most High may also be rendered as “the Lord who is above everything.”
She has committed an offense against her husband: She has sinned not only against God, but against her husband as well. So Contemporary English Version says “sinned against her husband.”
She has committed adultery through harlotry: The Greek word translated harlotry refers to any kind of sexual misconduct between men and women, not specifically to prostitution, which is not involved here. Good News Translation “made a whore of herself” uses the word “whore” not in the literal sense of “prostitute,” but as a word expressing disgust and insult. This works well, but only because of the English idiom. The function of the phrase through harlotry is to emphasize committed adultery and make it sound even worse. Perhaps this whole clause may be rendered “she has committed a disgraceful act of adultery,” “she has disgraced herself by committing adultery,” or “… by having sex with another man.”
And brought forth children by another man: This is a continuation of the third charge, not a fourth one.
An alternative model for this verse is:
• First of all, she has broken the Lord’s Law. Secondly, she has sinned against her husband. And thirdly, she has disgraced herself [or, lost much face] by committing adultery and giving birth to another man’s child [or, having sex with another man and giving birth to his child].
Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Sirach. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.
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