inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (1Cor. 10:6)

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, translators typically select the inclusive form (including the addressee).

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

complete verse (1 Corinthians 10:6)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 10:6:

  • Uma: “All that happened to the Yahudi people long ago, it happened so that we would get teaching. The purpose is that we not desire evil things like them long ago.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Now, what happened to them we (incl.) should take as an example/a lesson so that we (incl.) don’t desire to do bad as they did.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The reason all these things happened to them is so that we might be warned as to what would happen to us if we, like them, desire to do evil.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “All these-things that happened to them, we ought to learn from so that we will be careful to not desire evil like they (did)” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “These things that happened like this, they are a warning to us so that we will not let indulging in evil things dominate our mind/inner-being like they constantly did.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The disaster encountered by our ancestors will also be what we encounter if we do what God does not look well upon, like doing the evil they did.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 1 Corinthians 10:6

Now indicates that Paul is moving on to a new point, though one that is closely related to the examples of the previous verses. This verse draws a moral from the series of Old Testament examples in verses 1-5. It is therefore similar to verse 11, which draws a moral from the second series of Old Testament examples. Translators should consider the two verses together.

These things, literally “these,” refers to the Old Testament examples given in verses 1-5, and especially to the fact that many of the Israelites died in the desert. Good News Bible‘s “all this” is an adaptation to English style. This may be why Good News Bible changes the plural warnings into the singular “an example … to warn us.” Most translations, however, keep a plural, “these events.” The point is that Paul is making a gradual transition from the positive example in verses 1-4, via the negative conclusion in verse 5, to the negative examples in verses 6-10 (see introduction to this section). Verse 6 thus combines a positive or at least neutral element, “examples,” with a negative element, “not to desire evil things.” Good News Bible naturally makes the negative element clearer by adding “to warn us”; similarly Revised English Bible, “as warnings to us.”

The wider context, particularly the use of “supernatural” (“spiritual”) three times in verses 3-4 and also in verse 11, may suggest that God intended to set up a similarity between events at the time of the exodus and the events in Paul’s time. For this reason New English Bible translates “These events happened as symbols” (but Revised English Bible “warnings”) and in verse 11 has “All these things that happened to them were symbolic.” Barclay has “symbolic warnings.” A translator would therefore be justified to render this sentence in a similar way; for example, “Now, all these things happened as symbolic examples to warn us….”

The point of the illustration in this verse is that Paul wants his readers to be like the group of Israelites who pleased God, rather than the ones who were destroyed. Verses 11-13 will make this clear.

The latter part of this verse sounds weak in most translations. Paul used an unusual word for “desirers of evil,” echoing Num 11.34, which has “craving.” Moffatt brings this meaning out by translating “to keep us from craving for evil as they craved.” His italics indicate a reference to the Old Testament. Translators may use “crave” or “desire very strongly,” or similar words.

They before did is emphatic, meaning “those people,” namely the ancestors of the exodus generation.

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 .