complete verse (1 Corinthians 12:21)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 12:21:

  • Uma: “The eye cannot say to the hand: ‘I don’t need you (sing.)!’ Or the head say to the feet: ‘I don’t need you (sing.)!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Therefore it is not possible for the eye to say to the hand, ‘I don’t have any use for you.’ Likewise it is not possible for the head to say to the feet, ‘I don’t have any use for you.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And because of this the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘As for you, hand, I don’t need you!’ And in the same way also, because the head cannot say to the foot, ‘As for you, foot, I don’t need you.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “So the eye cannot say to the arm/hand or the head to the leg/foot, ‘I don’t need you (sing.).'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Well, since it’s like that, the eye cannot say to the arm/hand, ‘I sure don’t need you!’ Like that too, the head can’t say to the leg/foot, ‘Expl, I don’t need you!'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The eyes of a person cannot say to the hands: ‘I don’t need you’ they say. The person’s head cannot say to the feet: ‘I don’t need you’ it says.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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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 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).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

SIL Translator’s Notes on 1 Corinthians 12:21

12:21a The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you.”

An eye cannot say to a hand, “I have no need of you.”
-or-
The eyes cannot tell the hands that they are unnecessary.

12:21b Nor can the head say to the feet, “I do not need you.”

And also a head cannot say to a foot, “I have no need of you.”
-or-
And also the head cannot tell the feet that they are unnecessary.

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