complete verse (1 Corinthians 12:14)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 12:14:

  • Uma: “If we think of our bodies, we have feet, we have hands, and many other parts. It’s not all one part. For instance the foot says: ‘I, I am not a hand, so I’m not part of the body.’ Even so, the feet are still part of the body.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “A person has only one body but many different things are in that body.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The body of a person is only one body, but is has many parts.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Let us consider again our bodies which have not one part but many.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Really, as for our body, it has very many parts, not just one.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “You see that the body of a person is not just one part, rather there are many parts to it.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 1 Corinthians 12:14

Paul now begins his main development of the image of the body.

The body, in English as in Greek, is generic; that is, it does not refer to a particular body. This is a statement that is true of all human bodies. In other languages there are various ways of making this clear.

Consist (Good News Bible‘s “made up of”) is implied in the Greek; Revised English Bible has simply “A body is not a single organ.”

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 12:14

12:14 For the body does not consist of one part, but of many.

The human body does not have just one part. It is made up of many parts.
-or-
A person’s body has many different parts, not just one part.

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