wild animal

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated in English as “wild animal” or similar is translated in Newari as “animal that lives in the jungle.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)

drink

In Telugu different verbs for humans drinking (tāgu / తాగు) and animals drinking (cēḍu / చేడు) are required.

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (1Cor. 15:32)

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 15:32)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 15:32:

  • Uma: “Here in the village of Efesus, I was once ganged-up-on by people who were vicious like animals. Yet if for instance I suffered all that while living in this world, and people who die won’t live again, what is the use [‘poor me’ particle]? If the dead won’t be caused to live again, we should just eat and drink to seek happiness, for tomorrow or the next day, we’ll die, and our life just finishes there. So are the words of some people.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Here in Epesus my enemies are like cruel animals who wish to swallow me. Why should I still endure like this if my reward is here in this world only. If it were true that I will not be made alive again in the last day, it would be better if I would make merry, like the saying goes, ‘Let us (incl.) eat and drink because perhaps we (dual) will die tomorrow and that will be the end of us (dual).'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “I’m having many hard things here in Ephesus, because my enemies are like harmful animals that want to eat me up. And why do I keep on enduring things like this if I’m not going to be raised from the dead in the future? Because if that’s what it is, then it would be better if I just obeyed the proverb which says, ‘Let us (incl.) have a good time; let’s drink and let’s eat because we might very soon die and all of this will go out of existence.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Extreme is the hardship I have experienced here in Efeso because of those who have been opposing me who are like fierce animals. What perhaps have I gained from that hardship if based only on the opinion of people? Nothing at all. Therefore if it were true that the dead don’t live again, it would be better if we followed the saying of people which says, ‘Let’s eat, let’s drink, because if we die tomorrow, that’s the end of it.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “For if I were just like people who don’t believe that they will be made to live again in the future, well what would I gain from my opposing those who challenge my teaching here in Efeso, people who are just like fierce/man-eating animals in their fighting? Isn’t it so that if it were true that the dead will not be made to live again, we should just follow that saying which says, ‘Let’s pig-out-while-we-can eating and drinking, inasmuch as tomorrow we just die anyway.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “I suffered much in the city of Ephesus, because the people who opposed me were like wild animals. And now, if it is that dead people do not resurrect, what do we gain from what we are doing then? It would be better for one to say: ‘let’s have a feast, let’s drink what we can. Because tomorrow we will die’ he will say.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 1 Corinthians 15:32

The first part of this verse raises various problems.

(1) Fought with beasts is a single verb in Greek, not used elsewhere in the Bible. Most scholars agree that the beasts are human beings acting like wild beasts, and that the “fighting” is figurative too. That is why Good News Bible puts “wild beasts” in quotation marks and adds “as it were.” Related words are used to describe human beings as “evil beasts” in a quotation in Titus 1.12, and in speaking of “fighting” (Good News Bible‘s “quarrels”) in 2 Cor 7.5. However, the strong language used in previous verses (“in peril,” verse 30; “I die,” verse 31) suggests that in the present verse the “fighting” must have involved some physical risk. Roman citizens such as Paul were not punished by being set to fight with wild beasts. However, before we exclude a literal meaning for fought with beasts, let us examine the following questions.

(2) A majority of commentators believe that the conditional clause beginning If … refers to some conflict in which Paul was actually engaged. It is, however, grammatically possible to understand this clause as an unfulfilled condition: “if I were to fight with wild beasts.” In this case the objection that Paul could not legally undergo such a punishment would lose much of its force. If this argument is correct, “wild beasts” is more likely to be figurative.

(3) Humanly speaking may be connected either with I fought or with beasts. Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible choose the first option, which implies “I fought for my life like someone who expects no life after death”; compare New Revised Standard Version “with merely human hopes” (similarly Revised English Bible); New Jerusalem Bible “in a purely human perspective.” The second option would probably mean “I fought with people who can only be described, in human language, as ‘wild beasts.’ ” This would be Paul’s way of softening his otherwise hard language. It is difficult to choose between these two options, since in the Greek “I-fought-with-wild-beasts” is a single word. However, the first is probably better.

What do I gain…?: this rhetorical question implies “if I have no resurrection to hope for, there would be no point in my living such a hard and dangerous life.”

The words “as it were” (Good News Bible) are implied and have the same function as the quotation marks around “wild beasts” in Good News Bible.

At Ephesus: Good News Bible adds “here,” since Paul is writing from Ephesus (see 16.8).

Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die is an exact quotation from Isa 22.13.

Good News Bible‘s “as the saying goes” is implicit. The words are added to make it clear that the following words are a quotation. Isa 22.13 is part of scripture, but the quoted words are spoken by people whom the prophet condemns. Therefore, to introduce them by “as the scripture says,” as Good News Bible did in 10.26, might misleadingly suggest that Paul approves the attitude expressed in the quotation. The phrase “as the saying goes” may also be rendered as “as people often say” or “according to the popular saying.”

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 .