Following the UBS Greek New Testament, Good News Translation includes these two verses as one verse, numbered 12. Chapter 13, therefore, has fourteen verses in some translations (Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy) and 13 in others (Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). But the content of the different versions is the same. If there is already an established tradition in the area of the receptor language, that tradition may be followed. Otherwise it is probably best to follow the verse division of the UBS Greek New Testament, which is reflected in Good News Translation.
Greet … with a holy kiss: Paul does not specify whether the kiss of greeting should be given only when the believers gather to worship or whether they are to greet each other in this manner in public any time they meet each other. Interpreters are divided on whether Paul’s admonition is intended (1) only for the single occasion of hearing this letter read, (2) for any time that Christians gather to worship, or (3) for any time or place where Christians meet each other. If translators must decide between these options, perhaps it is best to follow the first or second.
A holy kiss is difficult to translate in many languages. The same expression is found in a number of other letters of Paul (see Rom 16.16; 1 Cor 16.20; 1 Thes 5.26). The word holy is often difficult to render correctly, and some languages do not have a word for kiss but use a word that means a sucking on the cheek, such as a mother might do to her baby. In any case this kind of action is not something that would ever take place between adults in many cultures—especially of the same sex. A literal translation will therefore be distracting and misleading. Translators may use a more general expression that basically retains the meaning: “Give one another a Christian greeting,” “a warm embrace,” or “a warm greeting” (Contemporary English Version). An article on the subject of “Kissing in the Bible” may be found in The Bible Translator (October 1990), pages 409-416.
On the saints see 1.1. The Christians who send greetings are Christians in Paul’s company or in the place where Paul is staying when he is writing this letter. It may therefore be more in line with Paul’s intention to translate “All the people of God who are here….”
The saints greet you: the word you is plural. Since the persons giving the greetings are not present in Corinth and therefore cannot greet the Corinthians directly, some translations add the word “send,” as in Good News Translation and Revised English Bible.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .