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 inclusive form (including the reader of the letter).
The Tok Pisin translators have selected the exclusive form.
Source: SIL International Translation Department (1999)
Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Corinthians 3:13:
Uma: “We(excl.) don’t hide anything. We(excl.) are not like the prophet Musa long ago, who hid his face with a veil. He hid his face so that the Yahudi people would not see its shine that was decreasing until it vanished/went-out.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “There is nothing that we (excl.) have hidden. We (excl.) are not like Musa. He covered-his-head-including-face so that the people of Isra’il would not see God’s brightness in his face decrease and eventually disappear.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “We are not like Moses because we have nothing to hide; because as for Moses, he covered up his face so that his fellow descendants of Israel could not see the shining power which was slowly fading/being removed.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “We (excl.) are not like Moses who hid-his face -from-view in order that the descendants of Israel would not see-it when-its dazzling-brightness -was-weakening.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “This is not like Moises who veiled his face so that the Israelita would not see the now disappearing dazzlingness of his face.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “I do not do like Moses did, in that he covered his face, not wanting the Jews to see that his face shone. Because he did not want the people to see the shining disappear from his face.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here ).
In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:
The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).
In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).
In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the eye make up he would have worn as the adopted son of an Egyptian princess. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)
“Moses” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL
The beginning of verse 13 is literally “and not as Moses put a veil on his face.” Translators may need to supply words such as “and we do not act like Moses” in order to make this an independent sentence instead of continuing from verse 12 as in Revised Standard Version. Revised English Bible begins this verse “it is not for us to do as Moses did: he put a veil….” But the relationship to the idea of speaking boldly in verse 12 may still be obscure in some languages. Knox shows the relationship more clearly with “It is not for us to use veiled language, as Moses veiled his face.”
Veil: the term thus translated is found only in this section (although a related verb is used in 1 Cor 11.6). The related verb means simply “to hide.” It was therefore a kind of cloth used to conceal something, in this case Moses’ face. In many languages the only alternative will be to use the word “cloth.” Note that Contemporary English Version uses the verb “cover” without indicating what kind of material fulfilled that purpose.
The Israelites is literally “the sons of Israel,” but this is more naturally translated “the people of Israel” in most languages (see 3.7).
On the meaning of the word translated see in Revised Standard Version, see comments on “could not look at” in 3.7. Here again the idea is to stare or to look for longer periods of time.
The end of the fading splendor does not mean that the splendor stopped fading and yet remained to some degree. The end of the fading splendor of the fading splendor means that the splendor ceased to exist altogether. The participle translated as the fading splendor in Revised Standard Version is neuter as in 3.11 (referring to the old covenant), and not feminine as in 3.7 (referring to the splendor).
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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