complete verse (1 Corinthians 3:2)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 3:2:

  • Uma: “Babies that are still nursing, it is not good to give them hard/solid food. So also you, then I taught you teaching that was appropriate for people whose faith is not-yet clear. I didn’t-yet teach you teaching that was appropriate for people whose faith is clear [mature], for you were not-yet able to receive it. And-yet even up to now you still are not-yet able to receive it,” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “My preaching to you was like I figuratively gave you milk to drink because you could not yet be fed hard food. That means my preaching to you was not deep because you could not have understood if my teaching had been deep. And even up to now you still do not understand deep teaching,” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “That’s why milk and not strong food is the sustenance that I give you, which is to say, the things I taught you were not very deep because you could not yet at that time, understand deep teaching. And even now you still cannot understand things like that.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Therefore I taught you what can-be-compared to milk which is given-to babies -to-be-drunk, because you were not able-to-understand/receive deeper teaching which can-be-compared to proper food. And even now, you are still not able-to-understand,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “You say, when I taught you in the past, it was only like milk, not solid food. Because your mind/thinking didn’t grasp the point being made. And till now, it’s still like that, that your understanding of this is lacking.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “I taught you the words which are not hard for you to know. Like a child, a nursing one who drinks milk and is not given food, I treated you. Because you were not able to understand the words which are hard. And until now you are not able to understand this word.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on 1 Corinthians 3:2

This verse and the first part of verse 3 form a balanced whole: (see structure|fig:Table_1CO3-2.jpg)

The first half of verse 2, which is literally “I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able,” will almost certainly need two modifications in translation. First, translators will need to avoid suggesting “I did not give you solid food to drink.” One can avoid this mistake, either by omitting “to drink,” or by adding “to eat” after solid food, or by using some general verb like the English “to feed.” This verb can have either solid or liquid food as its object. Second, it will be necessary in most languages to say what the readers were “not ready” for (Good News Bible). Translator’s New Testament has “for you could not yet take it,” where “take” has the meaning “swallow” or “digest.”

The wording of the phrase translated even yet (Good News Bible‘s “even now”) is a little difficult in the Greek, probably because Paul is emphasizing it strongly, but the meaning is quite clear.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:
• I gave you milk to drink, not solid food to eat, because you were not ready to swallow solid food. Even now (or, Besides,) you cannot swallow it.

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 .