The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated in English as “joy” or “happiness” is translated in the HausaCommon Language Bible idiomatically as farin ciki or “white stomach.” In some cases, such as in Genesis 29:11, it is also added for emphatic purposes.
Other languages that use the same expression include Southern Birifor (pʋpɛl), Dera (popolok awo), Reshe (ɾipo ɾipuhã). (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Thessalonians 2:20:
Uma: “Certainly you are the bigness and joy of our hearts.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Yes, you are the reason/source that we (excl.) will be honored and be joyful.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Yes, you are the ones we will boast about. You are our cause for rejoicing.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “This is truly indeed true: you are our (excl.) cause-of-rejoicing and the reason we (excl.) will be praised.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Yes indeed, because of you indeed, our (excl.) happiness is really far-from-ordinary, and our (excl.) praising of God is big.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Very much do we rejoice because of you.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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 (excluding the addressee).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
In Fijian, the paucal exclusive forms neitou and keitou (“of me and a few [two or slight more]”) are used instead. This choice is understandable in view of the introduction found in both letters to the Thessalonians, where the writer Paul indicates clearly that the letters were co-authored by two other colleagues, Silas and Timothy, hence the use of a pronoun referring to three people (“Paul, Silas and Timothy”).
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).
Verse 20 adds no new idea. Pride means practically the same as reason for boasting (v. 19), which New English Bible translates “pride”; and joy is repeated from the previous verse. The function of this sentence is simply to sum up and reemphasize, and this is indicated by indeed (also PhillipsNew English Bible; Bible en français courantDie Bibel im heutigen Deutsch have “Yes”). The word translated pride means “glory” in other contexts. The causative relation implied in our pride and our joy may be expressed in some languages as “It certainly is true that you are the ones who cause us to be proud and to have joy.” It is important to employ a rendering of pride which will not suggest a haughty or boastful attitude. Paul’s pride is not in himself but in the Thessalonians. It may be possible to render our pride as “you are the ones who cause us to be so proud of you.”
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
You are indeed our glory and our joy: The clause You are indeed our glory and our joy repeats in a positive/declarative statement some of what Paul said in the rhetorical question in 2:19.
glory: This is not the same word that the Berean Standard Bible translated as “boasting” in 2:19c. Here Paul used the normal NT word for glory, doxa. In this context there are two possible meanings:
(1) It has a similar meaning to that in 2:19c, even though the Greek words are different. Therefore, it means that Paul and his companions were proud of the Thessalonians.
(2) It means that Paul and his companions will receive “glory,” that is, that Christ will praise/honor them because the Thessalonians continued to believe strongly in Jesus Christ.
No English version clearly supports the second view, though some commentators do. So it is recommended that you follow the first option (1).
(1) As a time clause, that is, it gives the time at which 3:1b occurred. When Paul could no longer tolerate not knowing how the Thessalonians were doing, he sent Timothy to find out about them.
(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision), New Century Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New Living Translation (2004 Revision), King James Version, Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, SSA)
(2) As the reason why Paul sent Timothy to the Thessalonians: Because Paul could no longer tolerate not knowing what was happening in Thessalonica, he sent Timothy to find out.
(Good News Translation, God’s Word)
It is recommended that you follow the first option (1), along with the majority of English translations.
we could bear it no longer: It may be necessary for you to make explicit what Paul and his companions could no longer bear. For example: “when we could no longer bear not knowing how you were doing.”
we: This is an exclusive pronoun, since it refers to Paul and his companions, but not to the Thessalonian believers.
bear: The verb bear means to “carry the weight of, endure”. Paul and his companions could not tolerate waiting longer to know how the Thessalonians were doing spiritually.
3:1b
we were willing: This translates the same Greek word that was translated “we were delighted to” in 2:8b. In this context it means “we decided, it seemed good to us.” This refers to Paul and Silvanus (Silas) since they were the ones who were left in Athens. If your language has a dual form, you may wish to use it here. For example:
we(dual) were willing
to be left on our own in Athens: Timothy and Silas had joined Paul sometime after he got to Athens (Acts 17:15–16). It was sometime later that Paul sent Timothy back to Thessalonica. We do not know exact times for these events.
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.
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®).
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.