12. (a) How were married men and women at times referred to in the Scriptures, and were these terms offensive to women? (b) What is noteworthy about the terms Jehovah used in Eden? (See footnote.)

¹² Husbands as “owners”: An incident in the life of Abraham and Sarah about 1918 B.C.E. indicates that by their time it had evidently become customary to view a married man as the “owner” (Hebrew, baʹʽal) and a married woman as the ‘owned one’ (Hebrew, beʽu·lahʹ). (Genesis 20:3) These expressions are thereafter at times used in the Scriptures, and there is no indication that pre-Christian women found them offensive.b (Deuteronomy 22:22) Wives were not to be treated as pieces of property, though. Property or wealth could be bought, sold, and even inherited, but this was not so of a wife. “The inheritance from fathers is a house and wealth,” says a Bible proverb, “but a discreet wife is from Jehovah.”​—Proverbs 19:14; Deuteronomy 21:14.

In Eden, for example, the terms Jehovah used were, not “owner” and ‘owned one,’ but “husband” and “wife.” (Genesis 2:24; 3:16, 17) Hosea’s prophecy foretold that after returning from exile, Israel would repentantly call Jehovah “My husband,” and no longer “My owner.” This may suggest that the term “husband” had a more tender connotation than “owner.”​—Hosea 2:16.