συζεύγνυμι

From the study of Matthew 19:6

Range of meaning

To yoke together (of draught animals), to pair or couple, and very commonly to join in marriage. Related nouns are zeugos ('a yoke, a pair') and syzygos ('yoke-fellow', sometimes 'spouse').

Against the English

'Joined together' (KJV, BSB, WEB) is correct but loses the farm picture of a yoke. The yoke implies a shared load and a partnership that only works when both pull together.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the New Testament the word appears only here and in the parallel Mark 10:9. Classical and Hellenistic Greek regularly use the yoke words (zeugnymi, syzeugnymi, syzygia) for marriage. In Greek drama a bride is 'yoked', and Josephus uses the verb of marriage. Paul's warning not to be 'unequally yoked' (2 Cor 6:14, heterozygeō) uses the same image.

From the study of Mark 10:9

Range of meaning

Literally "to yoke together" (σύν "with" + ζεύγνυμι "to yoke"): harnessing a pair of oxen or horses under one yoke. Figuratively it means joining things into a working pair, and in Greek it was used especially of joining a man and a woman in marriage. Related words: ζεῦγος ("a pair, team", also "a married couple"), σύζυγος ("yoke-fellow", also "spouse"), and ζυγός ("yoke").

Against the English

"Joined together" (BSB, KJV, WEB, ESV, NIV) is accurate but flat. It can sound like glue or a legal merger. The Greek picture is a yoke: two lives harnessed into one working team, pulling one load in one direction. YLT's "did join together" keeps the simple past act better than "has joined".

Used elsewhere in the period

In the NT it occurs only here and in the parallel Matthew 19:6. Greek authors used the yoke picture for marriage widely. Xenophon's Oeconomicus (ch. 7) describes husband and wife as a pair (ζεῦγος) that the gods put together for partnership. BDAG cites marriage uses outside the Bible, including Josephus. Paul uses the same family of words: "do not be unequally yoked" (ἑτεροζυγοῦντες, 2 Cor 6:14) and "true yoke-fellow" (σύζυγε, Phil 4:3).