complete verse (1 Corinthians 12:16)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 12:16:

  • Uma: “If the ear says: ‘I, I’m not an eye, so I’m not part of the body,’ the ear is still part of the body.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “And if for example the ear says, ‘I don’t belong to this body because I am not the eye,’ it still belongs to that body.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And if the ear speaks, he would say, ‘As for me, I’m not a part of this body because I’m not an eye.’ Now in spite of the fact that this is what he says, he is a part just the same, of the body.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “And if moreover an ear says, ‘I’m not (empathy particle) an eye, so I’m not part of the body,’ yet it is nonetheless part-of/joined to the body.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Just like that too, if supposing the ear says, ‘Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,’ of course that also isn’t true for this ear is indeed included in the parts of the body.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “or our ears might say: ‘How come I’m not the eye of the person? Then I’m not a part of the person’s body,’ it says. But it also is a part of the person’s body.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 1 Corinthians 12:16

These two verses are very closely parallel in structure. As the footnotes on punctuation in the UBS Greek text show, the second part of each verse has sometimes been taken as questions, like verses 17 and 19. However, verses 17-18 and 19-20 form separate units, so most editions and translations take the present verses as statements.

The conditions introduced by If are unreal, as Revised Standard Version‘s should and Good News Bible‘s “were to” indicate. The two occurrences of … should say can be expressed as “suppose”; for example, “Suppose the foot should say.”

The second half of each of these verses contains a double negative, literally “not for this reason is it not of the body.” Most translations turn this into a positive statement that makes this phrase much clearer. Good News Bible‘s “would not keep it from being a part” is easier in English than make it any less a part. Another way of translating this is “that does not mean it is no longer a part.” In some cases it may be better to translate as a rhetorical question: “That would not keep it from being a part of the body, would it?”

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 .