complete verse (Galatians 5:12)

Following are a number of back-translations of Galatians 5:12:

  • Uma: “It is better for those people who are shaking your faith to be not just circumcised, it is better for them to actually be castrated!” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “If (only) those people who trouble you would not only be circumcised but continue-on to castrate themselves.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And as for those people who are troubling you by means of their false teaching, I wish that they would not only observe circumcision but that they would also observe castration!” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Now as for those-aforementioned who are confusing you, if circumcision is extremely-valuable to them, they should also go and get-castrated!” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Really, those ones bothering you, it would be good if they not only had themselves circumcised, but had themselves castrated!” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The men who are getting after you saying that is it necessary to mark you bodies by cutting, why don’t these men cut themselves good until they are castrated?” (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 Galatians 5:12

Once again Paul refers to the false teachers in the plural, describing them as the people who are upsetting you, that is “unsettle, disturb, agitate” (used only here by Paul). He even expresses a strong wish that they would go all the way (that is, go beyond circumcision) and castrate themselves. Most scholars understand Paul here to be referring to actual self-emasculation, similar to the practices of the priests of certain mystery cults with which the Galatians would be familiar. This sense is found in most translations (for example, New English Bible “had better … make eunuchs of themselves”; Revised Standard Version “would mutilate themselves”; Knox “should lose their own manhood”). One may also translate “cut off their male organs.”

A possible alternative interpretation is that Paul may have had in mind the Old Testament understanding of castration which involved exclusion from God’s people (Deut 23.1). This would mean, therefore, that Paul here is using the figure of self-mutilation to speak of an intended result, which is exclusion from the church. This interpretation is followed by Phillips: “would cut themselves off from you altogether.”

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Galatians 5:12

5:12

Paul concluded his discussion about circumcision by condemning those who were troubling the Galatians.

As for those who are agitating you, I wish: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as agitating also means “disturbing,” “upsetting,” or “troubling.”

The clause those who are agitating you refers to the false teachers whom Paul has criticized in this letter. He has also called them “false brothers” (2:4), people who had “bewitched” the Galatians (3:1), and those who were “zealous” for them (4:17). These people disturbed the Galatian believers by telling them that they needed to be circumcised in order to be made right with God.

Some other ways to translate this clause are:

I wish that those who are troubling you (New American Standard Bible)
-or-
I wish that the people who are upsetting you (Good News Translation)
-or-
I wish the people who are bothering you (New Century Version)

would proceed to emasculate themselves: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as emasculate is literally “cut off.” In this discussion about circumcision, it is an allusion to castration. It refers to cutting off their testicles.

Some other ways to translate this verse are:

would castrate themselves (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
would cut off their own testicles
-or-
would not only get circumcised, but would cut off much more (Contemporary English Version)

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