complete verse (2 Corinthians 11:1)

Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Corinthians 11:1:

  • Uma: “So, relatives, I request that you please give me opportunity to praise myself for just a little while. For it is like I am acting stupid now, but I request that you be patient for a while listening to my words.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “If you only were not tired/fed-up listening to me even though because of my saying I am like stupid. Indulge in me/endure me just now.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Please just put up with what I have to say to you, even though it seems as if I am stupid.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “May you be patient to listen to this little that I will tell you. Please don’t turn-a-deaf-ear-to-it, even though I am like a person who is mentally-lacking (lit. has lacks).” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “I hope you really will forgive me if I continue to speak to you like I am stupid. Just forbear with this that I will say.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Concerning myself, I want and I don’t want to tell you the word I tell you. But endure this word I want to tell you.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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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).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on 2 Corinthians 11:1

The pronoun you in this verse and throughout chapter 11 is plural, referring to the Christian community at Corinth, or to some group within it.

The verb bear with, used twice in this verse, may also be rendered “be patient with,” as in Translator’s New Testament. The same Greek word is translated “endure” in 1 Cor 4.12, and later in this chapter (verse 4) it is rendered “submit.” The idea of being patient or tolerant with someone or something is rendered in some languages as “close your heart for,” “accept,” or “support.”

The pronoun me in Greek may be taken with the verb bear with as in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, or with the noun foolishness as in New International Version (“put up with a little of my foolishness”; so also New Jerusalem Bible). Probably the pronoun should go with the verb, as it does at the end of the verse, but either way the meaning is essentially the same.

Foolishness: the terms for “fool” and “foolishness” occur more frequently in 2 Corinthians than in any other New Testament book. These terms are derived from the verb meaning “to foam at the mouth,” which was thought to be a sign of an insane person. Here, of course, foolishness is used in a figurative sense of not using one’s good judgment. The word for “foolishness” is repeated in verses 17 and 21. Related terms are found in verses 16 and 19 of this chapter and in 12.6, 11.

The verb in the second sentence of this verse is taken as a command by Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, but it is also possible to understand the verb as a statement of fact, as in New International Version and Translator’s New Testament for example, since the verb form may be either imperative (command) or indicative (statement). The first two Greek words in this second sentence are left untranslated in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, but they may be understood as expressing emphasis (so Anchor Bible, “Indeed, do put up with me!”) or as expressing a contrast with the first sentence of the verse, as in New International Version (“but you are already doing that”). Either interpretation fits the context, but perhaps the context favors taking 11.1b as a command, as in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation.

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 .