1 Corinthians 7:3

3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.

1 Corinthians 7:3 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
3 Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.
English Standard Version (ESV)
3 The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband.
New Living Translation (NLT)
3 The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs.
The Message Bible (MSG)
3 The marriage bed must be a place of mutuality - the husband seeking to satisfy his wife, the wife seeking to satisfy her husband.
American Standard Version (ASV)
3 Let the husband render unto the wife her due: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
3 Husbands and wives should satisfy each other's [sexual] needs.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
3 A husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise a wife to her husband.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
3 A husband should satisfy his wife's sexual needs. And a wife should satisfy her husband's sexual needs.

1 Corinthians 7:3 Meaning and Commentary

1 Corinthians 7:3

Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence,
&c.] The Syriac version renders it, (byxttmd abwx) , "due love"; and so the Arabic; and may include all the offices of love, tenderness, humanity, care, provision, and protection, which are to be performed by the husband to his wife; though it seems chiefly, if not solely, here to respect what is called, (htne) , ( Exodus 21:10 ) "her marriage duty", as distinct from food and raiment to be allowed her; and what is meant by it the Jewish doctors will tell us: one says F20, it is (hjmh vymvt) , "the use of the marriage bed"; and, says another F21, (hyle abl) , "it is to lie with her", according to the way of all the earth. And so the phrase here, "due benevolence", is an euphemism, and designs the act of coition; which as it is an act of love and affection, a sign of mutual benevolence, so of justice; it is a due debt from divine ordination, and the matrimonial contract. The Jewish doctors have fixed and settled various canons F23 concerning the performance, of this conjugal debt: and the apostle may not be altogether without some view to the rules and customs which obtained in his own nation.

And, likewise also the wife unto the husband;
she is not to refuse the use of the bed when required, unless there is some just impediment, otherwise she comes under the name of (tdrwm) , a "rebellious wife"; concerning whom, and her punishment, the Jews


FOOTNOTES:

F24 give the following rules:

``a woman that restrains her husband from the use of the bed, is called rebellious; and when they ask her why she rebels, if she says, because it is loathsome to me, and I cannot lie with him; then they oblige him to put her away directly, without her dowry; and she may not take any thing of her husband's, not even her shoe strings, nor her hair lace; but what her husband did not give her she may take, and go away: and if she rebels against her husband, on purpose to afflict him, and she does to him so or so, and despises him, they send to her from the sanhedrim, and say to her, know thou, that if thou continuest in thy rebellion, thou shalt not prosper? and after that they publish her in the synagogues and schools four weeks, one after another, and say, such an one has rebelled against her husband; and after the publication, they send and say to her, if thou continuest in thy rebellion, thou wilt lose thy dowry; and they appoint her twelve months, and she has no sustenance from her husband all that time; and she goes out at the end of twelve months without her dowry, and returns everything that is her husband's.''

This account, with a little variation, is also given by Maimonides F25.


F20 Mosis Kotsensis Mitzvot Tora, praecept. neg. 81. Sol. Jarchi in Exod. xxi. 10.
F21 Maimon. Hilch. Isbot, c. 12. sect. 2. Vid. Aben Ezra in Exod. xxi. 10.
F23 Vid. Misn. Cetubot, c. 5. sect. 6. & Mikvaot, c. 8. sect. 3.
F24 Mosis Kotsensis Mitzvot Tora, pr. neg. 81.
F25 Hilch. Ishot, c. 14. sect. 8, 9, 10. Vid. Misn. Cetubot, c. 5. sect. 7. & Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.

1 Corinthians 7:3 In-Context

1 Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”
2 But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband.
3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.
4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife.
5 Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

Cross References 1

  • 1. Ex 21: 10; 1 Peter 3:7
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