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 exclusive form, only referring to Paul and the other apostles.
The Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Aramaic that is translated into English as “(to) bless” or “blessed” is translated into a wide variety of possibilities.
The Hebrew term barak (and the Aramaic term berak) also (and originally) means “kneel” (a meaning which the word has retained — see Gen. 24:11) and can be used for God blessing people (or things), people blessing each other, or people blessing God. While English Bible translators have not seen a stumbling block in always using the same term (“bless” in its various forms), other languages need to make distinctions (see below).
In Bari, spoken in South Sudan, the connection between blessing and knees/legs is still apparent. For Genesis 30:30 (in English: “the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned”), Bari uses a common expression that says (much like the Hebrew), ‘… blessed you to my feet.'” (Source: P. Guillebaud in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 189ff. .)
Other examples for the translation of “bless” when God is the one who blesses include (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight):
“sprinkle with a propitious (lit. cool) face” (a poetic expression occurring in the priests’ language) (Toraja Sa’dan) (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
“give good things” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
“ask good” (Yakan) (source: Yakan Back Translation)
“praise, say good things” (Central Yupik) (source: Robert Bascom)
“showing a good heart” (Kutu) (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
“good luck — have — good fortune — have” (verbatim) ꓶꓼ ꓙꓳ ꓫꓱꓹ ꓙꓳ — ɯa dzho shes zho (Lisu). This construction follows a traditional four-couplet construct in oral Lisu poetry that is usually in the form ABAC or ABCB. (Source: Arrington 2020, p. 58)
wodala — denoting a person who is considered fortunate because he/she has something good that the majority of people do not have. It also acknowledges someone as a causative agent behind “being blessed.” (Chichewa) (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
In Tagbanwa a phrase is used for both the blessing done by people and God that back-translates to “caused to be pierced by words causing grace/favor” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation) and in Benabena a term denoted “good spell” or “good magic” (source: Renck 1990, p. 112).
Ixcatlán Mazatec had to select a separate term when relating “to people ‘blessing’ God” (or things of God): “praise(d)” or “give thanks for” (in 1 Cor. 10:16) (“as it is humans doing the ‘blessing’ and people do not bless the things of God or God himself the way God blesses people” — source: Robert Bascom). Eastern Bru and Kui also use “praise” for this a God-directed blessing (source: Bru back translation and Helen Evans in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 40ff. ) and Uma uses “appropriate/worthy to be worshipped” (source: Uma back translation).
When related to someone who is blessing someone else, it is translated into Tsou as “speak good hopes for.” In Waiwai it is translated as “may God be good and kind to you now.” (Sources: Peng Kuo-Wei for Tsou and Robert Hawkins in The Bible Translator 1962, pp. 164ff. for Waiwai.)
Some languages associate an expression that originally means “spitting” or “saliva” with blessing. The Bantu language Koonzime, for instance, uses that expression for “blessing” in their translation coming from either God or man. Traditionally, the term was used in an application of blessing by an aged superior upon a younger inferior, often in relation to a desire for fertility, or in a ritualistic, but not actually performed spitting past the back of the hand. The spitting of saliva has the effect of giving that person “tenderness of face,” which can be translated as “blessedness.” (Source: Keith Beavon)
Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the DanishBibelen 2020, comments on the translation of this term: “As for ‘blessing’, in the end we in most instances actually kept the word, after initially preferring the expression ‘giving life strength’. The backlash against dropping the word blessing was too hard. But we would often add a few words to help the reader understand what the word means in a given context — people often understand it to refer more to a spiritual connection with God, but in the Hebrew texts, it usually has to do with material things or good health or many children. So when e.g. in Isaiah 19:25 the Hebrew text says ‘God bless them’, we say ‘God bless them’ and we add: ‘and give them strength’. ‘And give them strength’ is not found in the overt Hebrew text, but we are again making explicit what we believe is the meaning so as to avoid misunderstanding.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 4:12:
Uma: “We(excl.) work hard with our (excl.) hands. If some curse us (excl.), we (excl.) respond to them with blessings. If some persecute/bother us (excl.), we (excl.) endure it.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “We (excl.) work hard so that we (excl.) have our (excl.) livelihood. If people curse us (excl.), we (excl.) ask blessing for them from God. When they persecute us (excl.) we (excl.) simply endure.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “We have to toil so that we might get the things that we need. And when people curse us we don’t answer back, but we pray for them that God will bless them. And when people treat us harmfully, we just endure it.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “We (excl.) undergo-hardship to work so we will have a means-of-livelihood. When/If they speak-evil-about us (excl.), we (excl.) request God that he will bless them, and when/if they hardship-us (excl.), we (excl.) endure it.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “We(excl.) are working hard (lit. causing our sweat to drip) just so that we will have something to put in our stomachs. We(excl.) are being-spoken-harshly-to but, those who speak-harshly-to us (excl.), we are praying that hopefully God will show them grace/mercy. When we (excl.) are being persecuted/hardshipped, we just let it pass.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “We work hard with our hands. People speak bad of us, but we ask God to bless those who speak bad of us. People persecute us but we are patient with what we pass through.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The first part of this verse, we labor …, concludes the list which Paul began in verse 11; the rest, from When reviled, begins another series of three contrasts which continue into verse 13.
The relation between the two expressions we labor and working with our own hands is not certain. The second phrase may expand the first so that “work” and “labor” would mean the same. That is how most translations understand the words. For example, Revised English Bible has “we wear ourselves out earning a living with our own hands” (similarly New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible). However, it is also possible that labor refers to Paul’s work as an apostle, so that the full meaning would be “We work with our own hands while bearing all the burden of our work as apostles” (see, for example, 15.10; 16.16). Paul is no doubt thinking of his work as a tentmaker to support himself (see 9.6, 12, 15-18), but he suggests that other apostles also worked with their hands.
With our own hands is a literal translation of the Greek, but in some languages a literal translation would be impossible because it would suggest a contrast with “working with someone else’s hands.” In such a case the translator could use an expression referring to manual labor.
The three following contrasts have the form “being cursed, we bless,” and so on. It is good to use a time reference to show the relation between each pair of verbs. Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible accomplish this with the word When. Another way of showing this time relationship is by saying “Although we are cursed, we bless.” These verbs refer to repeated events, not to a single act of cursing or blessing. Bless may also be rendered as “say good things to” or “ask God to be good to.” Cursing and blessing generally involve speaking in such a way as to cause harm or good to someone, often by using the name of God. However, the word translated reviled has the meaning of “abuse” or “insult.” Good News Bible‘s “curse” is perhaps too narrow in meaning. Another way of saying this is “say bad things about.”
Endure implies the object “persecution.” In more colloquial English we can say “we put up with it” (so Jerusalem Bible, Moffatt, An American Translation); New Jerusalem Bible “we endure it passively.”
The last part of this verse can be rendered as “When people insult us, we bless them; when they persecute us, we are able to endure this persecution.”
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 .
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
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