Real Bible Translation - Ephesians 5:31

Opposite to this a man will leave behind the Father and the Mother, and he will be glued toward the Woman of himself and he will be, the Two, into one flesh.¹³

Julia Smith Literal 1876 Translation:
For this a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

LITV Translation:
"For this a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh." Gen. 2:24

ESV Translation:
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Footnotes

Glued Within Her

The Greek verb προσκολληθήσεται (future passive, 3rd sg. of προσκολλάω) is traditionally rendered "he shall cleave to" or "be joined to". However, the prepositional prefix πρός denotes directional movement toward (not necessarily adhesion to), and thus "be glued toward" preserves the original semantic range more faithfully. The verb stems from κόλλα, meaning "glue," suggesting an intentional and dynamic movement toward union rather than inert attachment. This is also the reading of Genesis 2:24:

Upon an upright one each man is leaving the self eternal father of himself and the self eternal mother of himself, and he has glued within the Woman of himself, and they have become a flesh of one.

The two are glued not to each other, but the two, within herself.

Moreover, the phrase καὶ ἔσονται οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν ("and the two shall be into one flesh") features the masculine οἱ δύο, which refers not to a man and a woman, but to the composite self. This reading resonates with the preceding identification of the woman as "self of my self and flesh of my flesh" (Gen. 2:23), implying identity and essence, not alterity.

To speak of the man being "stuck to" a "woman" as a separate entity introduces a logical rupture: it posits a bifurcation where the text itself emphasizes same essence, same self. Thus, the verb προσκολλάομαι should not be flattened into the juridical or patriarchal frameworks of external submission or subordination, as all have done, but understood as a movement of the self toward its own fullness—toward the 'woman' as the womb of the man’s own being.

Understood this way, the passage does not prescribe a hierarchical relational order (i.e., man as subject, woman as object), but rather articulates an ontological revelation, wherein the masculine seeks reunion with what is of himself, and is himself,—his own flesh. Misreading this as hierarchical subordination not only contradicts the logic of the passage but also lays the groundwork for dysfunctional models of human relationship, where identity, autonomy, and reciprocity are undermined in favor of asymmetric attachment—the infamous "trapping" of the woman.