Verse 4 is a restatement and expansion of what Paul had written in verse 2. In some languages it may be possible to use a transition word that indicates this clearly. Knox tries to indicate this by beginning the sentence with “Yes….” Others may say “Indeed” (Anchor Bible) or something similar.

This tent refers to the mortal human body (see 5.1). Good News Translation adds the word “earthly.” In order to show more clearly that each person has his or her own individual body, Contemporary English Version has translated using the plural “these tents.”

Not that we would be unclothed: Paul does not want to die before the return of Jesus. Some translators may need to say something like “we are not sighing because we want to die and leave these earthly bodies.”

But that we would be further clothed: Paul’s desire is not to die but rather that the spiritual body be put on him while he is still alive in his physical body. Paul wishes that Christ will return and so transform his physical body before he dies.

What is mortal: a reference to the physical body which will eventually die. In some languages the most natural meaningful equivalent will be simply “this body” or something similar.

Be swallowed up: the verb so translated here is rendered “overwhelmed” in 2.7 and “drowned” in Heb 11.29 (in the context of the Egyptians in the Red Sea). In this context it has the idea of being totally consumed or transformed. New American Bible and Phillips use the verb “absorbed,” while Barclay has “engulfed.” But the passive idea will have to be translated actively in many cases. The meaning is clearly expressed in Contemporary English Version: “It is because we want to change them for bodies that will never die.”

Life is “life immortal” in Revised English Bible. In other languages one may say “eternal life” or “true life.”

There are four possible types of model for this verse as a whole. The first drops the image of clothing altogether:
• Indeed, we humans have bodies that are like tents [temporary dwellings]. We cry because of the burden of pain which we carry. We don’t want to get rid of this body of ours on earth. But we feel the need to get the body that God has prepared for us, because this body that will die will be changed into one that is forever.

The second kind of model drops the image of the tent but keeps the clothing figure:
• Our bodies on this earth will someday die. We complain because of the aches and pains that we have to bear now. It is not that we want to get rid of the body, but we want to have a new body like a new set of clothes. We want to throw away our old clothes and have the new ones put on us, so that what is liable to death will be covered up by life itself.

The third type of model renders both figures of speech in a nonfigurative way:
• Our earthly bodies will not last forever. We cry because of the suffering which they must bear. It is not true that we want to die, but we do want God to change us and give us a new body that will live forever. That is, we want our earthly bodies to be changed into one that will be permanent.

Finally, it may be possible to retain both the tent and the clothing images by selecting the appropriate parts of the above models.

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 .