complete verse (1 Corinthians 15:41)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 15:41:

  • Uma: “The shine of the sun is one-kind. The shine of the moon, the shine of the stars, each is one-kind too. Even the stars, each has its own kind of shining too.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “The light of the sun is good and the light of the moon is good and also the light of the stars is good but their light is different. Even the many stars their beauty differs.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “One kind is the beauty of the shining of the sun, another is the beauty of the shining of the moon, and different also, is the beauty of the stars. And not even the stars are the same, because the beauty of each one is different.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Even what is in the sky, their beauty is of-various-kinds, because the shining of the sun is different from the light of the moon which is also different from the twinkling of the stars. Even the stars, their twinkling is not the same.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “And in the sky/heaven the good-lookingness of the sun is different, and different also is that of the moon and stars. And even the stars, they are not the same for each has its individual good-quality.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Different is the light of the sun than the light of the moon. Also like this are the stars. The light of some stars is not the same as others.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 1 Corinthians 15:40 - 15:41

The Good News Bible paragraphing shows that these two verses belong closely together.

Terrestrial bodies (Good News Bible‘s “earthly bodies”) probably includes all the examples that were given earlier in this section. They contrast with the celestial or “heavenly” bodies about to be mentioned. “Heavenly” here simply means “in the sky.” One may translate this first sentence as “There are bodies in the sky and there are bodies on this earth.”

Glory (Good News Bible‘s “beauty”): Good News Bible avoids the traditional translation glory here for various reasons. (1) Glory is not much used in present-day English apart from church language and poetic language. (2) Glory in English is generally used as an abstract noun that can have different degrees of stress but not different varieties, so that phrases such as “one glory,” “a different glory” are unnatural. (3) If glory is used at all in modern English, it refers almost exclusively to God, and this usage does not fit the present passage. The word “beauty,” then, is a more natural word in English, or else “splendor” (New International Version, Revised English Bible). Other languages may need one or more words for glory, depending on whether a “heavenly” or “earthly” body is being described.

Revised Standard Version‘s literal for is difficult to understand, since the last part of the verse makes a different point rather than drawing a conclusion from what has been already said. Good News Bible‘s “even” is better here.

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 15:41

15:41a The sun has one degree of splendor, the moon another, and the stars another;

The sun is beautiful in one way, the moon is beautiful in another way, and the stars are beautiful in their own way.
-or-
The light of the sun is different from the light of the moon or the stars.

15:41b and star differs from star in splendor.

In fact the stars each have their own beauty.
-or-
And each star has a different light.

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