The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, and Greek that is translated in English typically as “obedience” or “obey” is translated in Tepeuxila Cuicatec as “thing hearing,” because “to hear is to obey.” (Source: Marjorie Davis in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 34ff. )
In Huba it is translated as hya nǝu nyacha: “follow (his) mouth.” (Source: David Frank in this blog post )
In Central Mazahua it is translated as “listen-obey” and in Huehuetla Tepehua as “believe-obey” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), and in Noongar as dwangka-don, lit. “hear do” (source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).
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 (only referring to the author).
Source: SIL International Translation Department (1999)
Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Corinthians 10:6:
Uma: “So, when your submission to us (excl.) is evident, relatives, we (excl.) are ready to punish them who are still rejecting [us (excl.)].” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Now, if you really follow Almasi’s commands, but there is still someone there who doesn’t follow Almasi’s commands we (excl.) will surely punish him.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when you show that you have carried out the commands of Christ, then we will punish any other believers there who do not wish to obey His commands.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “And when/if you show that you are properly obeying Cristo, then we (excl.) will punish whoever refuses to obey him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Well, I will first give you an opportunity so that we (excl.) will comprehend whether you have now truly repented and dropped your sin, but I am fully-prepared to punish all those who are still opposing (me).” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “When it has appeared that you obeyed very well the word I tell you, then concerning those people who reject that word, I will be strengthened to reprimand what they do.” (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).
At this point Paul switches from “capturing” people in general for Christ to a discussion of the Corinthian Christians being captured for Christ. Once they are captured and become obedient to Christ, strict measures must be followed to discipline anyone who reverts to a life of disobedience and disloyalty.
Being ready is an expression used of military troops standing ready for battle. Anchor Bible says “We stand at the ready.”
Every disobedience, that is, of those in Corinth who continue to disobey. It is not actually the disobedience that is punished. What is meant here is that “we will be ready to punish any person who acts disobediently” or “we will be prepared to exercise discipline whenever someone is insubordinate.”
The object of obedience is probably Christ (see verse 5). So it may be advisable in some languages to translate “when we see that you are obeying Christ completely.”
Good News Translation changes the order of the two main statements of this verse in order to place the thought in chronological order. This will be a good model for many other languages as well.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. 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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