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”).
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Thessalonians 2:6:
Uma: “We also did not request-to-be-praised to you or to other people. Actually we would not have been wrong to request [things] of you, relatives, because we really are Kristus’s apostles.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “We (excl.) did not want to be respected/made great/honored by men, by you or by other people,” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “We did not seek praise from you; we did not seek praise from others. Since we are apostles of Christ, which is to say, He sent us, it is possible that we give you orders, however we did not do this.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “And it wasn’t your praise/honor or the praise of other people that we (excl.) were seeking,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Also it’s not a major-concern to us (excl.) to be well spoken of by people, either by you or by anyone else,” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “We did not speak the word because we wanted that people look well upon us, not you nor any other people. We did not speak strongly to order you, even though we could have done so as being representatives of Christ.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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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).
The third negative statement, following the denial of flattery and greed, amplifies the last part of verse 4. Paul does not feel the need to repeat anything like “it is from God alone that we seek praise” (cf. Romans 2.29; John 5.41, 44). Good News TranslationKnoxTranslator’s New Testament (cf. Bible en français courant) rightly prefer praise to “glory,” a term which is passing out of use, except in church language. Paul is referring to someone’s good opinion of a man, not to a man’s real worth. MoffattPhillipsJerusalem BibleNew English Bible Best (cf. Biblia Dios Habla HoyBijbel in Gewone Taal) have “honour”; Barclay has “human reputation” (but a reputation is not necessarily good!); Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch transforms the noun into a verb: “We do not want to be honored by men.”
Paul did not try to get (literally “seek”) praise, but he uses the same word in 2.20 to express the idea that, in another sense, the Thessalonians were a source of “pride” or “glory” to him. The expression to get praise from anyone is essentially a causative, and it may therefore be necessary to change the order of participants, for example, “we did not try to cause anyone to praise us,” or “we did not do things just so that people would praise us.”
On the two possible meanings of either from you or from others, see the general note on verses 3-7a. It is not necessary to specify either meaning in translation. Either from you or from others is an emphatic indication of the range of agents which might be involved in the praise. Hence, this entire verse 6 may be rendered as “We did not try to get anyone to praise us” or “… to cause anyone to praise us,” or “We did not try to get you to praise us, and we did not try to get anyone else to praise us.”
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 .
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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