The Good News Bible paragraphing shows that these two verses belong closely together.

Terrestrial bodies (Good News Bible‘s “earthly bodies”) probably includes all the examples that were given earlier in this section. They contrast with the celestial or “heavenly” bodies about to be mentioned. “Heavenly” here simply means “in the sky.” One may translate this first sentence as “There are bodies in the sky and there are bodies on this earth.”

Glory (Good News Bible‘s “beauty”): Good News Bible avoids the traditional translation glory here for various reasons. (1) Glory is not much used in present-day English apart from church language and poetic language. (2) Glory in English is generally used as an abstract noun that can have different degrees of stress but not different varieties, so that phrases such as “one glory,” “a different glory” are unnatural. (3) If glory is used at all in modern English, it refers almost exclusively to God, and this usage does not fit the present passage. The word “beauty,” then, is a more natural word in English, or else “splendor” (New International Version, Revised English Bible). Other languages may need one or more words for glory, depending on whether a “heavenly” or “earthly” body is being described.

Revised Standard Version‘s literal for is difficult to understand, since the last part of the verse makes a different point rather than drawing a conclusion from what has been already said. Good News Bible‘s “even” is better here.

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .