complete verse (1 Timothy 1:6)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Timothy 1:6:

  • Uma: “There are some people who no longer follow this way. They have circumvented/turned-aside from the true way, and they continually talk about words that have no benefit.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “There are (some) people who do no longer follow/obey this and what they do is always argue which is of no use.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “There are some people there who have not taken any notice of this, what they value is arguments about things of no value.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “There are some people who have left/abandoned this good behavior, and that’s the reason they have been sidetracked/led-astray by discussion/debate that has no purpose/usefulness.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But as for those others, they’ve gotten far away from these things. What they’ve replaced them with is, telling-stories which accomplish nothing.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Because there are some people who have now separated from the word I tell you of, they only want arguments.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 1 Timothy 1:6

Here the importance of the virtues mentioned in the previous verse is emphasized by mentioning what happened to some people who did not hold on to them. Certain persons are the same ones referred to in verse 3, where the same Greek word is used, and in some languages it will be helpful to translate Certain persons as “Those false teachers.” These people have been swerving from these Christian virtues; the verb used here literally means “to miss the mark” and has the extended meaning of “to deviate,” to “turn away from” (Good News Translation). Other ways to express this are “strayed from” or even “forsaken.” In some languages it will be helpful to make these explicit by saying “strayed from these teachings.”

As a result of their deviating from these important Christian virtues, these people have wandered away into vain discussion. Wandered away (Good News Translation “lost their way”) is a term that is used in Greek philosophical writing during the second century before the time of Christ; it carries the idea of turning away from something important into something less desirable. The notion of turning away from the faith is one of the main features of the Pastoral Letters. Wandered away may also be expressed as “got enmeshed in,” or “have entangled themselves,” or idiomatically, “have got themselves bogged down in.” Vain discussion translates a term that is also used in Greek writings during the second century before Christ. The term is a combination of two words. The first word means “vain,” “useless,” “of no value,” and is used frequently in the New Testament to describe the worship of idols and other undesirable conduct. The second word is the word logos, which in this context means not simply “word” but “speech” or “discussion.” These two words put together form a term that describes any foolish discussions or senseless arguments (so New Revised Standard Version [New Revised Standard Version] “meaningless talk”).

An alternative translation model for this verse is:
• Those false teachers have strayed from these teachings and have entangled themselves in foolish discussions.

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to Timothy. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1995. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .