save

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The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as a form of “save” in English is translated in Shipibo-Conibo with a phrase that means literally “make to live,” which combines the meaning of “to rescue” and “to deliver from danger,” but also the concept of “to heal” or “restore to health.”

Other translations include:

  • San Blas Kuna: “help the heart”
  • Laka: “take by the hand” in the meaning of “rescue” or “deliver”
  • Huautla Mazatec: “lift out on behalf of”
  • Anuak: “have life because of”
  • Central Mazahua: “be healed in the heart”
  • Baoulé: “save one’s head”
  • Guerrero Amuzgo: “come out well”
  • Northwestern Dinka: “be helped as to his breath” (or “life”) (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida),
  • Matumbi: “rescue (from danger)” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Noongar: barrang-ngandabat or “hold life” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • South Bolivian Quechua: “make to escape”
  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl: “cause people to come out with the aid of the hand” (source for this and one above: Nida 1947, p. 222)
  • Bariai: “retrieve one back” (source: Bariai Back Translation)

See also salvation and save (Japanese honorifics).

complete verse (1 Corinthians 10:33)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 10:33:

  • Uma: “Like I myself, in every way I always do what is good in the sight of all people. I don’t do just what is useful for myself. I do what is useful for others so that they will be lifted from the punishment of their sins.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Imitate me. Whatever I do, I try hard/strive to please them all because I don’t think about my own good but about the good of all the people so that they might be saved from the judgment of their sins.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “As for me, I’m always looking for a way so that everybody might be helped through what I do. I’m not really looking for my own betterment, but rather I’m looking for the betterment of all other people. The reason I do this is so that they might believe and be freed from punishment.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Follow-my -example in my trying to adapt my way-of-life to all people. Because what I think-about, it is not my own betterment but rather the betterment of my companions so that they will be saved.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Copy my nature/ways, for as for me, what I strive-hard-at is, that all people be given joy in their mind/inner-being by all that I do. I don’t seek what is for my own benefit but rather what is for the benefit of the-many, so that hopefully they will be saved from God’s punishment because of their sins.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “For my part, I earnestly seek to do what is looked well upon. Because it is not my own good that I seek, rather I seek what is good for other people in order that they might have their souls saved.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 1 Corinthians 10:33

This verse is linked grammatically with verse 32, but the thought is different. So Good News Bible begins a new sentence. The best commentary on this verse can be found in 9.20-22. Good News Bible‘s “Just do as I do” can be phrased as “You should follow my example.”

Men should be translated as “people.” It refers to both men and women.

Not seeking my own advantage: both the language and thought sound like those in verse 24a, where the same verb is translated “seek … own good.” The Greek word in this verse is related to the word translated “helpful” in verse 23. These words include the idea of “gaining an advantage.” One could then translate this clause as “not seeking to gain an advantage for myself.”

Many is literally “the many”; see Isa 53.11; Mark 10.45; Rom 5.15-19; and especially the comments on 1 Cor 10.17. In all these and other texts, many is implicitly contrasted, not with “all,” but with “one” or “few.” Commentators disagree on whether Paul means “the whole Christian community” or “the whole of mankind.” The previous verses are mainly about the church, but Paul’s thought is always prone to broaden rapidly. The following words, that they may be saved, suggest a wider reference to all of mankind.

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on 1 Corinthians 10:33

10:33a as I also try to please everyone in all I do.

For I myself also try not to displease/offend anyone in any way.
-or-
That is the way I myself live, trying to make everybody satisfied in everything.

10:33b For I am not seeking my own good,

I do not think about what benefits/helps me.
-or-
My goal is not my personal advantage/interests
-or-
I do not think like this: “What will be best for me?”

10:33c but the good of many,

Rather, I think about what I can do to benefit/help many people,
-or-
but the advantage/interests of all people,
-or-
Instead, I think like this: “What will be good for as many people as possible?”

10:33d that they may be saved.

so that ⌊I will be able to help/cause⌋ many people to be saved.
-or-
so that they might receive/obtain salvation.
-or-
I do that so that God can rescue them ⌊from sin/wrongdoing⌋.

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