6that no one wrong or exploit a brother or sister in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, just as we have already told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.
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”).
The Greek that is translated in English as “brother” or “brother and sister” (in the sense of fellow believers), is translated with a specifically coined word in Kachin: “There are two terms for brother in Kachin. One is used to refer to a Christian brother. This term combines ‘older and younger brother.’ The other term is used specifically for addressing siblings. When one uses this term, one must specify if the older or younger person is involved. A parallel system exists for ‘sister’ as well. In [these verses], the term for ‘a Christian brother’ is used.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae)
In Matumbi is is translated as alongo aumini or “relative-believer.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
In Martu Wangka it is translated as “relative” (this is also the term that is used for “follower.”) (Source: Carl Gross)
In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is often translated as Mitchristen or “fellow Christians.”
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Thessalonians 4:6:
Uma: “In the behavior/matter of men and women, don’t do what is wrong to another or deceive another. We already plainly told you before that God would punish people who act like that.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “And about this one thing really do not sin against your fellow-men, or deceive them, because God will truly punish whoever sins like that. We (excl.) admonished/instructed you already beforehand about this.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “It’s necessary that there is none of you who sins against or deceives his companions by means of activity like this, for God will punish the one who behaves like that. We thoroughly taught you this.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Concerning this then, watch-out that none of you sins against his fellow. Don’t be cheating (him) by taking/snatching what isn’t yours. Because the Lord will punish those who are doing sins like those which is exactly what we (excl.) thoroughly warned you previously.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Yes indeed, it’s necessary that no one cheats sexually on (lit. wounds the liver of) another, especially his sibling in believing. Don’t trespass on his/her spouse. For isn’t it so that we (excl.) taught and warned you that whoever still does like this, he will without doubt be punished by God?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Concerning a woman who is married to someone, he must not want her. Because I have told you already before that men who do thus will be greatly punished by God.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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).
The Hebrew adonai in the Old Testament typically refers to God. The shorter adon (and in two cases in the book of Daniel the Aramaic mare [מָרֵא]) is also used to refer to God but more often for concepts like “master,” “owner,” etc. In English Bible translations all of those are translated with “Lord” if they refer to God.
In English Old Testament translations, as in Old Testament translations in many other languages, the use of Lord (or an equivalent term in other languages) is not to be confused with Lord (or the equivalent term with a different typographical display for other languages). While the former translates adonai, adon and mare, the latter is a translation for the tetragrammaton (YHWH) or the Name of God. See tetragrammaton (YHWH) and the article by Andy Warren-Rothlin in Noss / Houser, p. 618ff. for more information.
In the New Testament, the Greek term kurios has at least four different kinds of use:
referring to “God,” especially in Old Testament quotations,
meaning “master” or “owner,” especially in parables, etc.,
as a form of address (see for instance John 4:11: “Sir, you have no bucket”),
or, most often, referring to Jesus
In the first and fourth case, it is also translated as “Lord” in English.
Most languages naturally don’t have one word that covers all these meanings. According to Bratcher / Nida, “the alternatives are usually (1) a term which is an honorific title of respect for a high-ranking person and (2) a word meaning ‘boss’, ‘master’, or ‘chief.’ (…) and on the whole it has generally seemed better to employ a word of the second category, in order to emphasize the immediate personal relationship, and then by context to build into the word the prestigeful character, since its very association with Jesus Christ will tend to accomplish this purpose.”
When looking at the following list of back-translations of the terms that translators in the different languages have used for both kurios and adonai to refer to God and Jesus respectively, it might be helpful for English readers to recall the etymology of the English “Lord.” While this term might have gained an exalted meaning in the understanding of many, it actually comes from hlaford or “loaf-ward,” referring to the lord of the castle who was the keeper of the bread (source: Rosin 1956, p. 121).
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight
Following are some of the solutions that don’t rely on a different typographical display (see above):
Iyansi: Mwol. Mwol is traditionally used for the “chief of a group of communities and villages” with legal, temporal, and spiritual authority (versus the “mfum [the term used in other Bantu languages] which is used for the chief of one community of people in one village”). Mwol is also used for twins who are “treated as special children, highly honored, and taken care of like kings and queens.” (Source: Kividi Kikama in Greed / Kruger, p. 396ff.)
Binumarien: Karaambaia: “fight-leader” (Source: Oates 1995, p. 255)
Warlpiri: Warlaljamarri (owner or possessor of something — for more information tap or click here)
We have come to rely on another term which emphasizes God’s essential nature as YHWH, namely jukurrarnu (see tetragrammaton (YHWH)). This word is built on the same root jukurr– as is jukurrpa, ‘dreaming.’ Its basic meaning is ‘timelessness’ and it is used to describe physical features of the land which are viewed as always being there. Some speakers view jukurrarnu in terms of ‘history.’ In all Genesis references to YHWH we have used Kaatu Jukurrarnu. In all Mark passages where kurios refers to God and not specifically to Christ we have also used Kaatu Jukurrarnu.
New Testament references to Christ as kurios are handled differently. At one stage we experimented with the term Watirirririrri which refers to a ceremonial boss of highest rank who has the authority to instigate ceremonies. While adequately conveying the sense of Christ’s authority, there remained potential negative connotations relating to Warlpiri ceremonial life of which we might be unaware.
Here it is that the Holy Spirit led us to make a chance discovery. Transcribing the personal testimony of the local Warlpiri pastor, I noticed that he described how ‘my Warlaljamarri called and embraced me (to the faith)’. Warlaljamarri is based on the root warlalja which means variously ‘family, possessions, belongingness’. A warlaljamarri is the ‘owner’ or ‘possessor’ of something. While previously being aware of the ‘ownership’ aspect of warlaljamarri, this was the first time I had heard it applied spontaneously and naturally in a fashion which did justice to the entire concept of ‘Lordship’. Thus references to Christ as kurios are now being handled by Warlaljamarri.” (Source: Stephen Swartz, The Bible Translator 1985, p. 415ff. )
Mairasi: Onggoao Nem (“Throated One” — “Leader,” “Elder”) or Enggavot Nan (“Above-One”) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Obolo: Okaan̄-ene (“Owner of person(s)”) (source: Enene Enene)
Lotha Naga: Opvui (“owner of house / field / cattle”) — since both “Lord” and YHWH are translated as Opvui there is an understanding that “Opvui Jesus is the same as the Opvui of the Old Testament”
Seediq: Tholang, loan word from Min Nan Chinese (the majority language in Taiwan) thâu-lâng (頭儂): “Master” (source: Covell 1998, p. 248)
Thai: phra’ phu pen cao (พระผู้เป็นเจ้า) (divine person who is lord) or ong(kh) cao nay (องค์เจ้านาย) (<divine classifier>-lord-boss) (source: Stephen Pattemore)
Arabic often uses different terms for adonai or kurios referring to God (al-rabb الرب) and kurios referring to Jesus (al-sayyid الـسـيـد). Al-rabb is also the term traditionally used in Arabic Christian-idiom translations for YHWH, and al-sayyid is an honorary term, similar to English “lord” or “sir” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin).
Tamil also uses different terms for adonai/kurios when referring to God and kurios when referring to Jesus. The former is Karttar கர்த்தர், a Sanskrit-derived term with the original meaning of “creator,” and the latter in Āṇṭavar ஆண்டவர், a Tamil term originally meaning “govern” or “reign” (source: Natarajan Subramani).
Burunge: Looimoo: “owner who owns everything” (in the Burunge Bible translation, this term is only used as a reference to Jesus and was originally used to refer to the traditional highest deity — source: Michael Endl in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 48)
Yagaria: Souve, originally “war lord” (source: Renck, p. 94)
Aguacateco: Ajcaw ske’j: “the one to whom we belong and who is above us” (source: Rita Peterson in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 49)
Konkomba: Tidindaan: “He who is the owner of the land and reigns over the people” (source: Lidorio 2007, p. 66)
Chichewa: AmbuyeAmbuye comes from the singular form Mbuye which is used to refer to: (1) someone who is a guardian or protector of someone or group of people — a grandparent who has founded a community or village; (2) someone who is a boss or master over a group of people or servants and has absolute control over them; (3) owner of something, be it a property, animals and people who are bound under his/her rule — for people this was mostly commonly used in the context of slaves and their owner. In short, Mbuye is someone who has some authorities over those who call him/her their “Mbuye.” Now, when the form Ambuye is used it will either be for honorific when used for singular or plural when referring to more than one person. When this term is used in reference to God, it is for respect to God as he is acknowledged as a guardian, protector, and ruler of everything. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation).
Hdi uses rveri (“lion”) as a title of respect and as such it regularly translates adon in the Old Testament. As an address, it’s most often with a possessive pronoun as in rvera ɗa (“my lion” = “my lord” or “sir”). So, for example, Genesis 15:2 (“O Lord God”) is Rvera ɗa Yawe (“My lion Yahweh”) or Ruth to Boaz in Ruth 2:13: “May I find your grace [lit. good-stomach] my lion.” This ties in nicely with the imagery of the Lord roaring like a lion (Hosea 11:10; Amos 3:8; Joel 3:16). Better still, this makes passages like Revelation 5:5 even richer when we read about rveri ma taba məndəra la Yuda, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah”. In Revelation 19:16, Jesus is rveri ta ghəŋa rveriha “the lion above lions” (“lord of lords”). (Source: Drew Maust)
Law (2013, p. 97) writes about how the Ancient GreekSeptuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew adonai was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments: “Another case is the use of kurios referring to Jesus. For Yahweh (in English Bibles: ‘the Lord‘), the Septuagint uses kurios. Although the term kurios usually has to do with one’s authority over others, when the New Testament authors use this word from the Septuagint to refer to Jesus, they are making an extraordinary claim: Jesus of Nazareth is to be identified with Yahweh.”
In some languages it may be important to amplify the phrase in this matter, so as to make clear that the reference is to the relation between men and women. Therefore, it may be possible to render this transitional phrase as “in the way in which a man conducts himself toward women he should not wrong his brother.” If our conclusions in the general notes on this passage are correct, the meaning of “brother” here is properly limited to male fellow-Christians.
Do wrong to his fellow Christian is often rendered as “to cheat his brother” or “to do something against his brother,” but it may be necessary in this particular context to render “brother” as fellow Christian. If would be all too easy for persons to understand “brother” in its literal sense, because in this context one is speaking about intimate family relations.
The expressions do wrong to and take advantage of are essentially similar in meaning. The second expression simply reinforces the first. It is, therefore, possible in translation to employ one expression but with some kind of emphatic qualifier, for example, “he should not cheat his brother in anything at all.”
We strongly warned you may be rendered as “we told you forcefully what would happen,” or “we said to you with strong words that you should beware.”
The Lord, as usual (cf. notes on 1.2), means Jesus, but Paul’s thought (as in 3.11-12 and 4.1-3) moves easily between Jesus and God the Father. Paul will return in 2 Thess. 1.8 to the role of Jesus in judgment.
The background of will punish, which is related to the word for “justice,” is the Old Testament idea of retributive justice, whereby a man, a group, or a people was punished, either by God or by a human judge acting on his behalf, in proportion to the crime which had been committed. This was a personal activity, but one related to the law. Modern western culture does not share with the Bible the view of law as based on a personal activity of God. Translators of this and similar texts therefore often have to choose whether to emphasize the idea of just punishment or that of personal hostility. The former is more appropriate, since “avenger” and related words, used by King James VersionRevised Standard VersionMoffatt (cf. Bible de JérusalemTraduction œcuménique de la Bible), have come to be associated with vendettas, gang warfare, and similar illegal activities.
In many languages punish is translated literally as “make to suffer.”
Those who do that is literally “concerning all these.” King James Version understood “these” to refer to people: “the Lord is the avenger of all such” (presumably the “brothers” mentioned, though in the singular). But “these” is much more likely to refer to things, that is, in general terms, to the sins just mentioned. “All” has the effect of making the reference more general: “the Lord will punish those who do this kind of thing.” This general reference is brought out by the word “such” in Barclay (cf. Die Bibel im heutigen DeutschBible en français courant).
There is much overlap of meaning between told you … before and strongly warned you, the second verb being stronger than the first, and the two together stronger than either would be alone. Some translations combine the two: “we have already most solemnly warned you” (Translator’s New Testament cf. Revised Standard Version), “we told you before with all emphasis” (New English Bible), “we have already very definitely told you” (Barclay cf. Bible en français courantBiblia Dios Habla Hoy). The repeated reference to Paul’s earlier oral teaching suggest that he means “we told you before now” rather than “we told before the punishment comes.” Strongly warned could also mean “bore witness” (“testified” King James Version), and Phillips expands this interpretation into “we have seen this work out in our experience of life.” Phillips‘ interesting rendering does not limit or restrict God’s activity of punishing to the “last days,” but the coming judgment is such a frequently recurring theme in this letter that Phillips‘ interpretation is unlikely, and it is not shared by other translators.
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 .
no one should ever violate or exploit his brother: The implied information in this part of the verse is “by having sexual intercourse with his brother’s wife.”
violate…his brother: That is, “sin against his brother.”
exploit his brother: If a man has intercourse with the wife of another man, he is doing wrong, and he is also cheating that man by taking something that belongs to him.
his brother: Paul was focusing here on sinning against fellow Christians. See the note on 1:4.
in this regard: This is literally “in the matter.” Commentators do not agree about what Paul was referring to here. There are two possibilities:
(1) It refers to what Paul had already been discussing, that is, sexual immorality.
(2) It refers to a new subject, that of business dealings.
Nearly all English versions follow the first option (as is shown by translations like “in this regard,” which in English clearly refer to what Paul had just been discussing). Therefore it is recommended that you also follow the first option (1).
4:6b
because the Lord will avenge all such acts: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as because indicates that what Paul was about to say was a reason for obeying what he commanded in 4:3b–6a.
the Lord: This refers to the Lord Jesus.
as we have already told you and solemnly warned you: Paul was referring once more to what he and his companions had taught the Thessalonians while he was in Thessalonica.
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.