complete verse (1 Corinthians 15:33)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 15:33:

  • Uma: “Don’t you be deceived! If you follow them who reject [the idea] that the dead will live again, your good behavior will change and become evil too [the same as their, implied].” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Don’t make a mistake in your thinking. If we (dual) are companions with bad people, we (dual) are also influenced to do bad.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But don’t you allow yourself to believe things like this, because they are false. It’s really true, the proverb which says, ‘If you go around with a person whose activities are bad, then you will come to imitate what he does and what he thinks.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Watch out so you are not deceived, because it’s true what people say, ‘If you (sing.) companion-with bad people, your (sing.) good behavior will be destroyed.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Don’t lie to yourselves. If we fellowship/make-friends with people whose nature/ways are evil and whose thinking is wrong, it won’t be long before our nature/ways and thinking are destroyed.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Do not let anyone deceive you. Because if you are companions with people who walk evilly, then they will spoil the good which you walk in.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 1 Corinthians 15:33

Do not be deceived: in this verse the bad influence of other people is suggested. Perhaps one may translate “Do not let people deceive you.”

The words Bad company ruins good morals are found in a play by Menander (4th–3rd century B. C.) but may well have become a common saying by Paul’s time.

The word translated company sometimes means “conversation” but has also the wider meaning of company. Good News Bible makes this word more concrete with the translation “Bad companions.”

Some languages will have proverbs that have a meaning equivalent to the saying in this verse. For example, Thai Common Language Version has a proverb in the form of a poetic couplet that says literally “Associate bad people—mischievously lead to badness.”

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 .