The Greek that is translated as “mystery” in English is translated as “wisdom which was hidden” in Mezquital Otomi, as “that was not possible to be understood before” in Huehuetla Tepehua, and as “which was not known in time past” in Central Tarahumara. (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (1Cor. 15:51)
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, translators typically select the inclusive form (including the addressee).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
complete verse (1 Corinthians 15:51)
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 15:51:
- Uma: “So, so that you know, I tell you teaching that God did not-yet reveal from long ago, but now he has revealed it to us. When the Lord Yesus comes again, some of us will not-yet have died. But all of us must be changed, both the ones still living and the ones who have died.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “Listen. I have something to tell you which God had hidden but now he has made known to me. We (incl.) the ones trusting in Isa Almasi, some of us (incl.) will not die but all our (incl.) bodies will suddenly be changed.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Listen to this which was formerly hidden, which God caused me to understand; there are some of us (incl.) believers who will not die; however, all of us, very quickly our bodies will be changed.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “Listen to this, because this is the plan of God for us that was not made-known previously: we will not all die, but we will be transformed suddenly” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “Listen to this amazing talk/saying that God has now made known to me concerning us believers. Not all will die before the Lord comes, but as for all of us, we will be made-new.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “Now I want to tell you a word which has not been known. Concerning us, not all will die, but all of us will have our bodies changed.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
formal second person plural pronoun
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 show 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. )