complete verse (1 Corinthians 4:14)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 4:14:

  • Uma: “Relatives, my purpose in speaking to you like this is not to shame you. My words are to reprimand you, I am treating you like children I love.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “I am not writing this in order to make you ashamed, but to teach you because you are like my children whom I love very much.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Brothers, I haven’t said this because I want you to be ashamed, but rather so that you might be taught. Because you have become my dear children by means of your believing in Christ.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “I didn’t write these-things to cause-you -humiliation but rather to advise/admonish you, because I count you as my much-loved children.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “It’s not as-might-be-said that I am writing these things to shame you. I’m constrained (to write them) in order to teach/correct you, you who are like my offspring whom I hold very dear.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “This word I have put down on this paper here wasn’t put down in order to make you ashamed. Rather I give you advice as though you were my children.” (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. )

Translation commentary on 1 Corinthians 4:14

The word this refers mainly to the previous verses, but the present tense I … write leaves open the possibility that Paul is also thinking of the severe things which he will write, for example, in chapter 5. I do not write this … may be expanded to “I do not write these things to make you ashamed.”

Make you ashamed: this phrase may also be rendered as “make you lose face” or “make black in the face.”

The phrase but to may be expanded to “but in order to.”

To admonish you (Good News Bible‘s “instruct”): the verb in the Greek text is uncertain, with manuscripts varying between “instructing” and “I instruct.” Most commentators prefer “instructing” because it makes a better contrast with “making ashamed” than with “I write” (Good News Bible). The not-making-ashamed and the instructing are both results of Paul’s writing. Admonish could also be rendered as “teach a lesson to” or “make you understand.”

My beloved children: this phrase may be expressed as a simile; for example, “as though you were my own dear children” or “as though you were my children whom I love very much.”

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 .