inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Gen 19:31)

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, the Jarai and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation both use the inclusive pronoun, including everyone.

complete verse (Genesis 19:31)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 19:31:

  • Kankanaey: “On one-occasion, the older-sibling said, ‘Our (dual) father is already getting-old and there-is-no man in this land with-whom- we (dual) -will-get-married.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Newari: “One day the big daughter said to her younger sister — ‘Our father has already become an old man. There are no husbands in this world to marry us.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “One day, the older child said to her younger-one, ‘Our (incl.) father is now old and there is no man here whom we (incl.) can-marry so-that we can-give-birth like what is done everywhere.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “One day the older daughter said to the younger daughter/her sister, ‘Our father is old, and there is no man in this area who can have sex with us, as people all over the earth do.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Genesis 19:31

And the first-born said to the younger: some languages require a time transition between verses 30 and 31 to separate the setting of verse 30 from the opening event in verse 31. For example, we may say “Some time later the older daughter said…” or “One day the older daughter said…” (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Bible en français courant).

Our father is old: the older daughter takes the initiative to do something, drastic though it may be, to provide for the survival of her father’s family line. When translating old, care must be taken not to give the impression of a man who is so aged as to be unable to produce offspring. Note Good News Translation “Our father is getting old.”

There is not a man on earth to come in to us: Lot and his daughters may believe they are the only survivors in the world after the destruction that has taken place around them. In that case the observation of the older daughter should be taken literally. On the other hand man on earth may be understood as no man left in that land, that is, the land or region that has been destroyed. See Good News Translation footnote. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Bible en français courant translate “There is no man in all the region.” The sense may also be that, as survivors from Sodom, Lot’s daughters were considered taboo by the people of Zoar. The expression to come in to was first used in 6.4. See there for discussion. The meaning of this expression is to have sexual relations, and it is often best translated by an equally indirect expression. Many translations say simply “There are no men … to marry us.”

After the manner of all the earth: that is, “as is the custom” or “as people everywhere do.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .