complete verse (2 Corinthians 6:5)

Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Corinthians 6:5:

  • Uma: “We(excl.) are beaten, we (excl.) are imprisoned, people throng together to attack us (excl.). We(excl.) work hard, sometimes we (excl.) can’t sleep, sometimes we (excl.) can’t eat.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “We (excl.) have experienced whipping and imprisonment. Sometimes people come and cause trouble/drive us (excl.) away. We often work hard. Sometimes we (excl.) cannot sleep and we (excl.) don’t eat.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “We were beaten; we were inprisoned; we were harmed by those causing a riot; there was a time when we worked too hard and we lost sleep and we were hungry also.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “These are some of the hardships that we (excl.) have experienced. How many times we (excl.) have been whipped and imprisoned and rioted-on! We (excl.) have worked until we (excl.) were exhausted, and we (excl.) have also endured hunger and fatigue-from-loss-of-sleep.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “in what we (excl.) have experienced which is having been whipped, imprisoned, and set-upon by crowds of people whose anger was unabating, and in our (excl.) exceedingly difficult work which includes lack-of-sleep and hunger.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “There are times then the people beat me. There are times when I am jailed. There are times when people have mobbed me. There are times when I work without letup. There are times I don’t have time to sleep. There are times when I hunger.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): “I am beaten, languish in prison, work myself to exhaustion, find no sleep, get nothing to eat.”

Translation commentary on 2 Corinthians 6:5

The six nouns in this verse continue Paul’s list of specific sufferings that they have endured. Good News Translation twice adds “We have been” in order to keep the subject from verse 4 in focus and to make a separate sentence of this verse.

Beatings: there is nothing in the word used here that indicates exactly what kind of beating is involved or what kinds of instruments may have been used, but it certainly involved a rather brutal striking of the body which resulted in noticeable wounds.

Tumults: this refers to violent opposition that involves mob action, hence Good News Translation‘s “mobbed.” Contemporary English Version says “hurt in riots.” The same word is translated “confusion” in 1 Cor 14.33 and “disorder” in 2 Cor 12.20.

Labors: the Greek word suggests labor to the point of fatigue or exhaustion, hence the translation “overworked” (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible).

Watching is literally “sleeplessness” (so Good News Translation, Revised English Bible).

In certain languages it may be necessary to go a step further than Good News Translation and make separate verb phrases out of each noun. And since there are many passive ideas involved, some languages will require an active formulation: “they [indefinite] beat us; they threw us into prison; they caused us harm in riots; they made us work very hard, and we did not have enough food to eat or enough time to sleep.”

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 .