A Biblical Hebrew Take on Marriage

There’s a Biblical English figure of speech related to marriage that I used to think was odd and confusing. This expression, “to take to wife”, appears regularly throughout the King James Version of the Old Testament. One reason the phrase sounds so foreign to English-speakers is because it’s a literal word-for-word translation of the Biblical Hebrew phrase לקחת לאישה (lah-KAH-khat leh-ee-SHAH). In modern English, the most common expression we’d use now for “to take to wife” is “to marry”. Here are just a few of many examples of the archaic phrasing that can be found in the Old Testament:

And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. (Exodus 2:1)

“When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.” (Deuteronomy 24:5)

At first glance, the wording “to take to wife” can appear chauvinistic and demeaning since the act of taking something or someone implies the use of force, reducing the one being taken to the status of a subject (at best) or an object (at worst). On closer examination, though, it turns out that this idiom is anything but sexist. At the center of this phrase is the Hebrew verb לָקַחַת (lah-KAH-khat), which has various meanings, depending on the context. The most common translations are “to take, grasp, or seize”, but it also means “to receive” – the more accurate translation as it relates to marriage. So an alternate reading of the Biblical idiom “to take to wife” is “to receive to wife”.

Two parallel scriptural passages that detail the same event – the Lord “taking/receiving” the City of Enoch to Himself – demonstrate the interchangeability of these seemingly incompatible meanings. The first reference is from the Doctrine and Covenants, while the second is from the Book of Moses:

“I am the same which have taken the Zion of Enoch into mine own bosom; and verily, I say, even as many as have believed in my name, for I am Christ, and in mine own name, by the virtue of the blood which I have spilt, have I pleaded before the Father for them.” (D.C. 38:4, emphasis added)

“Enoch and all his people walked with God, and he dwelt in the midst of Zion; and it came to pass that Zion was not, for God received it up into his own bosom; and from thence went forth the saying, Zion is Fled.” (Moses 7:69, emphasis added)

The more accurate English rendering of this Hebrew-language idiom as "to receive to wife" affirms that both womanhood and marriage were highly respected and considered sacred by the ancient Israelites and in Patriarchal Era family groups. Receiving someone into an association or relationship signified honor, love, respect, and acceptance. For example, the Lord, as the Spiritual Bridegroom of the faithful who love Him, receives His spiritually begotten sons and daughters with honor into a closer association with Himself.

“And the Father and I are one. I am in the Father and the Father in me; and inasmuch as ye have received me, ye are in me and I in you.” (Doctrine and Covenants 50:43)

We receive Him in covenant, and He in turn receives us into an eventual full association in fulfillment of that same covenant.

Applying this idea back to marriage, I now read Old Testament passages that include the phrasing “took to wife” in a very different light. By receiving one another in covenant, both husband and wife pledge their best efforts and best selves to nurturing their relationship. By the same token, it follows that they also receive each another at marriage, faults and deficiencies included, with an implied commitment to help one another overcome them. “Receiving to wife/husband” in this sense might be one of the best gifts spouses can give each other.