complete verse (1 Corinthians 15:26)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 15:26:

  • Uma: “So, when he has causes to live again all his followers, and there is no longer any death, we can say that he has defeated his last enemy, that is death.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “When all his enemies are defeated, mankind will no longer die.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “That final enemy which Jesus will remove is the dying of mankind.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “The last that will be defeated is the death which is the dying of people.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Even this death, which is the last enemy, he really will defeat it at that time, for he will remove it from people and he will make all to live again.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The last of the enemies who will be conquered is the death there is, because then there will be no more dying.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

enemy / foe

The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and Latin that is translated as “enemy” or “foe” in English is translated in the Hausa Common Language Bible as “friends of front,” i.e., the person standing opposite you in a battle. (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

In North Alaskan Inupiatun it is translated with a term that implies that it’s not just someone who hates you, but one who wants to do you harm (Source: Robert Bascom), in Tarok as ukpa ìkum or “companion in war/fighting,” and in Ikwere as nye irno m or “person who hates me” (source for this and one above: Chuck and Karen Tessaro in this newsletter ).

Translation commentary on 1 Corinthians 15:26

The main theme of this entire chapter is the resurrection. So in this verse Paul is applying the text he has just used to this main theme.

This sentence is literally “Last enemy (that) is-destroyed, death.” “Paul uses the present tense (though the defeat of death lies in the future) because he looks at the process as a whole” (Barrett).

Destroyed here is a strong verb. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “annihilated,” that is, “made nonexistent.” The word means that all the power of death is to be removed. The word for destroyed is sometimes used in the New Testament in speaking about the destruction of Satan as the one who has power over death (Heb 2.14). Paul may be thinking of death itself as one of the “spiritual rulers, authorities, and powers” mentioned in verse 24. In the light of all this, Good News Bible‘s translation “defeated” seems a little weak; New Jerusalem Bible has “done away with,” and Revised English Bible “deposed.”

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 .