Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 7:8:

• Uma: “To people who are unmarried [lit., empty] and to widows, here are my words: it is good if you stay single like me.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
• Yakan: “Na, you unmarried men and women and widows (widowers are included) this is what I say to you. It is good if you are like myself not getting a wife or a husband.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
• Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And as for you unmarried girls, unmarried men, widows and widowers– my advice to you is it’s better if you imitate me in having no spouse;” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
• Kankanaey: “As for you who have no spouse, especially you who are widowed, I say it would be good if you continue to not get-married just like myself.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
• Tagbanwa: “Well, this is what I will say to the widows, women and men. If they can do it, it would be good if they hold fast to having no spouse, just like me.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
• Tenango Otomi: “I tell the people who have not already married, and also the widows, that those who do not marry, as I do in not being married, do well.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
• Dutch NBV21: “As for the widows and widowers, I should say that it would be good for them to remain alone, as I do.” Marijke de Lang explains (click or tap here to see)

  Following the testing of this translation there was some criticism of the choice of the word ‘widower’ to render the Greek agamos ‘an unmarried person.’ There was also some unhappiness with the fact that the Greek word order, in which widowers were mentioned first and widows second, had been reversed.

  There were two reasons behind the choice of the word ‘widower’ to render the Greek term agamos ‘unmarried.’ The first was the context of the chapter. Throughout ch. 7 Paul deals with the same group of people, men and women: in 7.1-7 men and women within marriage; 7.12-16 the man or the woman married to an unbeliever; 7.25-28 the girl or the boy as yet unmarried. It is consistent with this wider context that v. 8 should address a particular group, namely those who have lost a spouse. The second reason is the meaning of the Greek term agamos. Greek docs not have a specific term for ‘widower.’ The Liddell-Scott-Jones dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996) defines agamos as ‘unmarried, single, whether bachelor or widower.’ Greek does have a specific word for ‘widow,’ namely chera. Widows formed a particular social grouping, since along with orphans they were among the weakest members of society. To express the male equivalent of the widow, Greek simply used the term ‘unmarried person.’ As for reversing the word order, it was decided that the more natural Dutch order was to be preferred, otherwise it would sound peculiar.

  An argument that some raised about the use of the word ‘widower’ for agamos was that it was a case of ‘filling in’ the text too much, being too explicit. The term ‘unmarried’ seemed to them to leave the meaning more open. However, it is questionable that this was the case in fact. Every word choice made directs the reader in a certain way and leads to certain associations. The word ‘unmarried’ is in itself no more open than the word ‘widower.’ In Dutch and English the word ‘unmarried’ conjures up something quite different from the word ‘widower.’ ‘Unmarried’ suggests that a person has never been married at all. (Source: The Bible Translator 2003, p. 424ff. )