The Greek that is translated as “this is my body” or similar in English is translated in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) with das bin ich or “this is me.” They explain (p. 102): “Literally: ‘This is my body for you.’ For Paul, ‘body’ does not refer to the corporeal body and certainly not to the corpse hanging on the cross. Rather, ‘body’ stands for the sum of a person’s social contacts.”
In 1 Corinthians 11:24 the phrase that is translated in English as “this is my body that is (or: “broken”) for you” is translated by Berger / Nord as “this is me and I am there for you.”
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 11:24:
Uma: “and after he said thank you to God, he broke-it-in-pieces and said to his disciples: ‘This is my body that I offer to redeem-you/take-your-place. Do this custom to remember me.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “and when he had given thanks to God, he broke the bread and he said to his disciples, ‘This bread is my body that I surrender on your behalf. You shall do this so that you always remember me.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “and He thanked God for it and He broke it and He said, ‘This is my body which was sacrificed so that you might be freed from punishment. You must always eat it in this way, so that you will not forget me.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “and gave-thanks to God. After that he repeatedly-broke-it-into-pieces and said, ‘This is my body which will be offered for you. Do this in order that you will thus-remember me.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “After picking it up he thanked God for it, and then he divided it. After dividing he said, ‘As for this, this is my body which will be made a sacrifice for your salvation. Always/often do this as your remembrance of my death.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Having thanked God for the bread, he broke it. He said to his disciples: ‘Eat this bread here. This is my body. When you will eat this, let it remind you that I was killed for you.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.
In verses 23b-24 many translations agree with Good News Bible in having a series of main verbs—“took,” “gave thanks,” “broke,” and “said”—as in the Greek of Mark 6.41. However, Revised Standard Version‘s more literal translation shows that giving thanks to God is a preliminary act closely related to breaking the loaf. The connection between the other actions of Jesus is less close. Perhaps one can begin a new sentence with verse 24: “… took a loaf of bread. Then when he had given thanks….”
He had given thanks: “to God” (Good News Bible) is implied as in 10.16 (see the comments). The same word is used in Luke 22.19. Mark 14.22 and Matt 26.26 have “bless,” but the meaning is much the same. Jerusalem Bible makes the meaning even more explicit by translating “thanked God for it,” that is, for the loaf.
Broke it: An American Translation emphasizes this by adding “in pieces,” and this may make the meaning clearer in some languages.
For you: some manuscripts add “broken” as in King James Version, “given” as in Luke 22.19, and one manuscript even has a strong verb meaning “broken in pieces.” The weight of manuscript evidence is on the side of the shorter text for you, followed by New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New Revised Standard Version text, and Revised English Bible. However, one can fill out the meaning, as Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has done by rendering this phrase as “which is sacrificed for you.”
The pronoun This occurs twice in verse 24 and twice more in verse 25. The second time in verse 25, Good News Bible translates “so” to stress the importance of performing this ritual regularly. Do this in remembrance of me may also be rendered as “Eat this bread to make you remember me.”
In remembrance of me: the Greek word has the meaning of a memorial or reminder. As the rest of the verse shows, Paul’s thought is turned at least as much to the future as to the past. The Jews and the first Christians thought of sacred meals as events by which later generations were identified with historic events of the past, such as the exodus on the one hand, and the death and resurrection of Christ on the other. New English Bible has “as a memorial of me.” Barclay brings out the meaning using a verb: “to make you remember me.”
An alternative translation for this verse is:
• When he had thanked God, he broke the bread and said, “This is my body which is for you. Eat this bread to make you remember me.”
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 .
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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