inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (1Kings. 20:31)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, Omanson / Ellington recommend the inclusive form “since the king as well as his officials had probably heard this rumor.” However, both the Jarai translation and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation use the exclusive pronoun (excluding the king).

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