inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (1Cor. 10:11)

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 (including the addressee).

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

complete verse (1 Corinthians 10:11)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 10:11:

  • Uma: “All that happened to them long ago to be examples to us [emphatic]. And all those happenings were written to warn us. For we, we live close to the time of the end of the world.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “This is the reason why all those things happened to them so that people would take a lesson/an example. And this is also written in the holy-book in order that we (incl.) will not do like they did because the end of the world will soon come.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The reason all of these things happend is so that everybody might know that that’s not the kind of activity that pleases God, and this was also written so that we might be taught that God will punish those who do things like that, because as for us (incl.) we will soon arrive at the fulfillment of all the things that were prophesied long ago.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “All those-things that happened to them, they show how God punishes sinful people, and he caused-(them) -to-be-written to warn us, because here-it-is close-to the end of the world.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “This happened to them as like a warning to everyone, and it was written down so that it would warn us also, we who are of the final time period.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Concerning the disaster encountered by our ancestors, it was written in the Holy Book about what happened in order that the people who live now in these days which are the last ones should be told not to do like them.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 1 Corinthians 10:11

Compare the comments on 1 Cor. 10.6. Many Greek manuscripts, followed by Good News Bible, Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Translator’s New Testament, have “all” before these things. The UBS Greek text, though, has merely “these things.” This text is followed by New Revised Standard Version, Barclay, and some other translations. The manuscript evidence is rather evenly divided.

The word translated as a warning (Good News Bible‘s “examples”) is an adverb related to “types” in verse 6. Revised English Bible again has “symbolic.”

To them: the Greek is literally “those people.” It means “other people than ourselves,” not “other people than the Israelites mentioned in earlier verses.” Some translators may want to repeat “our ancestors” here, or say “the Israelites.”

The phrase they were written down can be translated “people wrote all these events down.”

For our instruction is a little ambiguous. “As a warning to us” (Good News Bible) or “in order to warn us” gives the meaning more clearly.

End is literally “ends” in the Greek. Revised Standard Version and other translations are probably correct in assuming that copyists were influenced by the plural ages and thus wrote “ends.” The meaning is most probably end. Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente has a good translation, “We are living in a time close to the end.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:
• All these things happened to the Israelites as examples to warn other people, and people wrote all these events down in order to warn us. For we are living in a time that is close to the end.

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 .