complete verse (1 Corinthians 4:18)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 4:18:

  • Uma: “There are some of you who have high hearts [arrogant], you say that I am no longer brave to go meet with you.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Now, some of you there are proud (tall liver) because you mistakenly-think that I will not come to visit you.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Some of you there are really puffed up because you suppose mistakenly, that I’m afraid to go and check up on you.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “There are reportedly those among you who are proud (lit. whose thoughts are high), because they think that I’m afraid to go visit you.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “I know that there are some among you who are behaving-arrogantly, for they are saying that I can’t work-up-the-courage to come there.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Concerning your teachers there where you live, there are some who are proud, thinking that they are wise. In their thinking, they think that I am afraid to come to see you.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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 4:18

The firmer tone of this and the following verses prepares the way for the stern teaching of chapter 5 (see the introduction to this section).

Arrogant (literally “puffed up”) is the word used in verses 6 and 19 of this chapter, but not, for example, in 1.29, 31; 3.21. If there is any difference in meaning, it is that the verb used here emphasizes more strongly that these Corinthians have no good reason for being proud. The verb in 1.29, on the other hand, may be used in a good sense of “boasting in the Lord,” and refers particularly to speaking or singing the praises of someone. Translators need to find a word here that shows clearly the unchristian pride or arrogance of the Corinthian Christians.

As though is literally “as if” (I were not coming to you).

This verse can be restructured as follows: “Some people among you think that I will not be coming to visit you, and so they have become proud.”

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 4:18

4:18a Some of you have become arrogant,

Some of you have become proud/arrogant
-or-
Some among you have started to boast.

4:18b as if I were not coming to you.

as though I were not coming ⌊back⌋ to you.
-or-
You think/say that I will never come to Corinth again.

© 1998, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.