Third person imperatives such as Let no one seek are not very common in modern English, so Good News Bible changes the construction into a statement using “should,” in the sense of “ought to.” Paul is here giving general advice; there is nothing in the language to suggest that he is referring to a particular person. For this reason, although his own and his neighbor are in the singular in the Greek, Good News Bible is right in English to translate neighbor as “others,” since more than one person is implicit here. As elsewhere, Good News Bible uses “you” forms in order to avoid masculine pronouns.

In some languages it will be helpful to translate this verse in the following way: “You should work for the interests of others rather than your own interests.”

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .