Revised Standard Version, Good News Bible, and many other translations use a positive expression such as “I want you to know (or, remember)” to translate the Greek double negative, “I do not want you not to know.” The translations “remember” (Good News Bible) or “remind” are better than know because most if not all of Paul’s readers certainly knew the Old Testament stories to which he refers. What Paul is saying is that he wants to make sure that they understand the inner meaning in these stories. Paul often uses the expression “I want you to remember” (Good News Bible) when introducing teaching that he considers important enough to repeat (compare 12.1; 2 Cor 1.8; also Rom 1.13; 11.25; 1 Thes 4.13).
Brethren, here as elsewhere, should normally be translated as “fellow Christians” or “fellow believers.” It does not refer to actual family members.
Fathers here has the meaning “ancestors” as in Good News Bible. The following words show that Paul is not referring to the patriarchs only, but also to the whole people of Israel at the time of their liberation from Egypt.
Our before fathers is expressed in the Greek text, no doubt because Paul considers that all his readers, whether Jews or Gentiles by race, share as Christians in the heritage of Israel. Contrast Heb 1.1, where the Greek simply has “to the fathers.”
Under the cloud can be expanded to “under the protection of the cloud” (Good News Bible). Paul’s language recalls Psa 105.39, which speaks of “a cloud for a covering.”
The cloud: the definite article the in English would normally indicate that the cloud was information known to both Paul and his readers. They would know which particular cloud he was talking about. New English Bible (not Revised English Bible) and Barclay expand this phrase to “the pillar of cloud”; New Jerusalem Bible translates “our ancestors all had the cloud over them” and adds a footnote to explain the Old Testament reference. This helps modern readers to know which cloud is spoken about. It will be helpful in many languages to avoid the passive voice here and say, for example, “the pillar of cloud protected all of them” or “a cloud, like a pillar, protected….”
It will be helpful to translate the word sea as “Red Sea” (see Good News Bible) in order to help modern readers identify this body of water. vTranslators must decide as a matter of general principle how to translate “Red Sea” throughout the Bible. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, like other common language translations, has “Red Sea” here, as in the Greek, but “Reed Sea,” as in the Hebrew, in Exodus 10.19 and generally in the Old Testament. See note in Good News Bible Word List. It is important to use the same name throughout the Bible. This should normally be the Old Testament form, but if a different form is current in the receptor languages, this should be used everywhere.
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 .