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 (“we have worked” in English) (including the reader). Note that some manuscripts and therefore some translations use “you” here.
Source: SIL International Translation Department (1999).
Following are a number of back-translations of 2 John 1:8:
Uma: “That’s why you must be careful, lest you let-go-of your faith in the Lord Yesus, with the result that there is no use to our (excl.) work bringing the Good News to you. Keep believing in the Lord, so that you will get all the return/recompense of your faith in the future.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Therefore take care so that all that we (incl.) have labored for is not lost, but/instead that you will receive in-total/completely your reward from God.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Be on your guard so that what you have worked so hard for might not be removed from you and so that the reward of God to you in the future might not be lessened.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Be-careful then so that what we (excl.) taught you that was correct does not come-to-nothing, because if you do that, the reward that you will get/enjoy in a future day will not be taken-away-from/lessened.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Therefore you need to be careful, so that what you’ve-worked-hard-for/suffered-hardship-for won’t be lost, but rather you will be able to receive the best reward.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Be careful in order that you will not lose what you are working at. You should want that you will be rewarded completely.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Yatzachi Zapotec: “Do not believe them, because if you believe them, the benefit God wants to give to you because of our will be lost. Do you so that you will receive all the benefit which God wants to give to you.”
Eastern Highland Otomi: “Guard yourselves so that no one will deceive you; and it will be lost what we have worked for. But continue well so that you will gain (earn, win) all that God wants to give you afterwards.”
Isthmus Zapotec: “Watch carefully that which we did among you so that you won’t lose it but rather you will receive all that which god has prepared for you.” (Source for this and two above: John Beekman in Notes on Translation 12, November 1964, p. 1ff.)
Look to yourselves, or “watch yourselves” (Good News Translation), ‘take care,’ ‘be on your guard,’ ‘walk with thought.’ This and similar expressions are often used in warnings in connection with the Last Hour; compare a passage like Mark 13.5.
That you may not lose what …: this dependent clause is in some cases better rendered as a coordinated sentence; for example, ‘look to yourselves; if you don’t do so (or if not, or otherwise), you will lose what…,’ ‘be on your guard; don’t lose what….’
To lose is used here with reference to good things they had obtained and has the sense of ‘to find missing,’ ‘to suffer the loss of’; or more actively, ‘to destroy.’ In some cases a shift to an intransitive construction is preferable, as in ‘take care that what … may not disappear (or be without results, or be in vain).’
What you have worked for, preferably “what you have accomplished,” ‘the work you have done,’ referring to work done by the readers in the congregation and in mission.
There is a variant reading of the Greek text, in which the verb is in the first person plural instead of in the second person. It is not easy to decide between the two. If the first person is accepted as the original reading (as done among others by Nestle, New English Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, Luther 1984), it should be taken as referring to John and his helpers and, therefore, having exclusive force.
Similar variant readings are given for the preceding verb, “to lose,” and the following verb, “to win,” but the chances that the first person is the original reading are less in these two cases than in the phrase under discussion.
But (that you) may win a full reward: this and the preceding clause form an antithetical pair, which states virtually the same thing, first in a negative, next in a positive construction. If the preceding clause has been restructured, it is preferable for the present one to follow the same structure.
To win a full reward, or to ‘obtain/receive/be-given a full reward,’ is a standing Jewish expression (compare, for example, Ruth 2.12 in the Greek version of the Old Testament). In the New Testament this and similar expressions are used in connection with eschatological expectations; compare Matt 5.12; Mark 9.41; 1 Cor 3.8, 14; Rev 11.18; 22.12.
A full reward, or ‘your full/whole/complete reward’: the adjective is sometimes better rendered as an adverbial qualification; for example, ‘win your reward in full (or completely, or without anything lacking).’ The noun indicates what one receives because of the work one has done. Here it probably refers to the eternal life the believers receive from God because they obey his commandments and follow Jesus.
Some versions can render reward simply by the common term for “wages,” such as, ‘your-work-its-price.’ In others one can better use renderings like ‘all God promised to grant you,’ ‘all (the benefit) which God wants to give you,’ ‘all that which God has prepared for you.’
Quoted with permission from Haas, C., de Jonge, M. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on The Second Letter of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. 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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