[Steven E. Webster]

Originally Posted by antonyh

Don't you think that the phrase "the other was left" refers to a male given that ὁ is nominative, singular, masculine in Greek. If this is the case, then it is a reasonable inference to translate δύο as two men.

Hey, my Greek is rusty so any challenge is good.

I could see how a gender neutral translation is appropriate, but I still lean to translating it as two men.

But in making that translation is one emphasizing something that the author was actually silent about? The author may have just meant two people. Could have been a husband and wife. Could have been two men (with or without any sexual connotation to sharing a bed). Why would one choose to interpret what the original text may actually have left an open question.

Isn't the best translation simply "Two were in bed, one was taken and the other was left."

I would definitely disagree with translating it in such a way as to make it a heterosexual couple--the text doesn't say that either---but it doesn't exclude the possibility.

Steven Webster