Kölsch translation (Boch 2017): nix zo Käue han or “have nothing to chew on” and singe Mage hät geknottert wie ne Hungk or “his stomach growled like a dog” (source: Jost Zetzsche)
German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): Hunger überfiel ihn or “Hunger overtook (lit.: “attacked”) him” (in Matthew 4:2)
Kupsabiny: “hunger ate him” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Mairasi: “feeling tuber pains” (tubers are the main staple) (source Enggavoter 2004)
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 11:21:
Uma: “For in your gatherings, some of you immediately eat your own food and drink your own wine, with the result that you are drunk-on-it. Yet your companion who doesn’t have anything is hungry.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Because you eat ahead the food you brought and don’t leave anything for your companions. There are some that are hungry and there are also some that are drunk.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The reason I say this is because they say that there’s some of you who are selfish and you go ahead and eat first and you don’t leave anything for your companions, and because of this, some go away hungry. And that’s not all, because some of you even get drunk!” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Because reportedly you do not wait-for-each-other in order that you would eat at-the-same-time koma but rather each one hurries to eat what he has brought-with-him without sharing it with his companions, so some reportedly get drunk while others are still hungry.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “but rather it’s just your own desires that you are thinking about. Because as for some of you, they go on ahead in eating and drinking without waiting for everyone to eat together, eating and drinking without restraint. Therefore some get drunk and others go hungry.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Because when the hour arrives for eating the meal, each person takes to himself the food he brought and sits down and eats it all himself. But the people who are poor go hungry while other people are filled up, even to the point of being drunk.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The connection between this verse and verse 20 is brought out by the word that Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible translate For. The Greek is literally “for each his own supper takes—first in eating,” but most translations put the phrase in eating (Good News Bible‘s “as you eat”) at its natural place at the beginning of the sentence.
Each is emphatic in Greek, and “of you” is understood.
The word translated meal is the same as that translated supper in the previous verse. At this time the Lord’s Supper was a real meal.
Goes ahead with is literally “takes before or in advance.” Verse 33 shows what Paul means: the members of the church at Corinth sometimes eat together, but do not wait for one another to arrive before beginning to eat. The first part of this verse may well be translated as “each person hurries to eat his own meal.”
Verse 21b consists of two brief contrasting clauses, and one is hungry and another is drunk. The contrast is somewhat blurred by the fact that Paul here, as in other places, is trying to convey two thoughts at once: (1) some do not have enough to eat and others have too much, and (2) some do not have enough to drink and others drink too much. However, Paul’s text as he wrote it is perfectly clear.
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 .
11:21a For as you eat, each of you goes ahead without sharing his meal.
for each of you (plur.) starts eating his own food.
-or-
for as you eat, everybody eats their own food first.
11:21b While one remains hungry, another gets drunk.
While one person does not get enough to eat, another person drinks too much wine.
-or-
Some people do not have enough food or drink, but others have so much that they get drunk.
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
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