naked

The Greek, Latin and Hebrew that is translated as “naked” in English is translated in Enlhet with a figure of speech: “(one’s) smoothness.” (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )

In Elhomwe the word for “naked” is “shameful to use, and would never be used by a preacher in church.” Therefore “without clothes” is used. (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (2Cor. 5:3)

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.

The Mal, Karbi and Copainalá Zoque translators chose an inclusive form. D. Filbeck says: “We do not feel that Paul expected to be made an exception to believers in general. Informant insists on inclusive.”

Source: Roy and Margaret Harrison in Notes on Translation with Drills, p. 173ff. (Mal), David Filbeck in The Bible Translator 1994, p. 401ff. (Copainalá Zoque) and Source: W. R. Hutton in The Bible Translator April 1953, p. 86ff. (Karbi).

complete verse (2 Corinthians 5:3)

Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Corinthians 5:3:

  • Uma: “Actually, we don’t want to die and leave this body. Our desire is that we will exchange this body of ours with that new body of ours.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “The reason that we (dual) want bodies like that is so that when we (dual) die our (dual) spirit/soul will not be like a person naked/clothes-fallen-off.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For when we are raised from the dead in the future, it is necessary that we have a body.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “so that our spirits will immediately have something-to-put-on so they will not be made-naked when we leave our original bodies.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “so that when we are like clothed with that one, it won’t be said that our soul is like naked because it has no body.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “There will be a new home where we will live. We cannot say that we are without a home.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 2 Corinthians 5:3

Verse 3 explains why they long to put on the heavenly body.

So that: this indicates the purpose of being protected by the heavenly dwelling. In some languages it will be more natural to begin a new sentence here saying something like “We want to do this so that…” or “We long to put on this God-given body in order that….”

On the verb putting … on, see comments on 5.2. Instead of the word for putting on, a few manuscripts have the verb for “taking off.” The two verbs differ in spelling by one letter only. The editors of the UBS Greek New Testament chose the reading “taking off” but indicate that the correct reading is very uncertain. Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation both accept the reading putting on: “by being clothed with it [the home which comes from heaven].” New American Bible, on the other hand, follows the reading “taking off”: “if indeed, when we have taken it [the earthly body] off, we shall not be found naked.” Either way the message that results is basically the same. Paul longs to put on the heavenly dwelling in order not to be found “without a body.”

The verb be found naked has no explicit agent in the Greek. Revised English Bible takes the verb as reflexive: “we shall not find ourselves naked.” Both the passive and the reflexive may present problems in other languages, but it may be possible to say simply “be naked” or “not have any covering.” And in languages where the metaphor is changed in the previous verse, this verse may be rendered “therefore, when we are hidden there, we are not homeless.”

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 .