complete verse (1 Timothy 1:6)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Timothy 1:6:

  • Uma: “There are some people who no longer follow this way. They have circumvented/turned-aside from the true way, and they continually talk about words that have no benefit.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “There are (some) people who do no longer follow/obey this and what they do is always argue which is of no use.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “There are some people there who have not taken any notice of this, what they value is arguments about things of no value.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “There are some people who have left/abandoned this good behavior, and that’s the reason they have been sidetracked/led-astray by discussion/debate that has no purpose/usefulness.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But as for those others, they’ve gotten far away from these things. What they’ve replaced them with is, telling-stories which accomplish nothing.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Because there are some people who have now separated from the word I tell you of, they only want arguments.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 1 Timothy 1:6

Here the importance of the virtues mentioned in the previous verse is emphasized by mentioning what happened to some people who did not hold on to them. Certain persons are the same ones referred to in verse 3, where the same Greek word is used, and in some languages it will be helpful to translate Certain persons as “Those false teachers.” These people have been swerving from these Christian virtues; the verb used here literally means “to miss the mark” and has the extended meaning of “to deviate,” to “turn away from” (Good News Translation). Other ways to express this are “strayed from” or even “forsaken.” In some languages it will be helpful to make these explicit by saying “strayed from these teachings.”

As a result of their deviating from these important Christian virtues, these people have wandered away into vain discussion. Wandered away (Good News Translation “lost their way”) is a term that is used in Greek philosophical writing during the second century before the time of Christ; it carries the idea of turning away from something important into something less desirable. The notion of turning away from the faith is one of the main features of the Pastoral Letters. Wandered away may also be expressed as “got enmeshed in,” or “have entangled themselves,” or idiomatically, “have got themselves bogged down in.” Vain discussion translates a term that is also used in Greek writings during the second century before Christ. The term is a combination of two words. The first word means “vain,” “useless,” “of no value,” and is used frequently in the New Testament to describe the worship of idols and other undesirable conduct. The second word is the word logos, which in this context means not simply “word” but “speech” or “discussion.” These two words put together form a term that describes any foolish discussions or senseless arguments (so New Revised Standard Version [New Revised Standard Version] “meaningless talk”).

An alternative translation model for this verse is:
• Those false teachers have strayed from these teachings and have entangled themselves in foolish discussions.

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to Timothy. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1995. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 Timothy 1:6

1:6

This verse contrasts the way that the false teachers were behaving with the way that Paul wanted the believers in Ephesus to behave (1:5).

1:6a

Some: The word Some refers to the false teachers whom Paul had referred to in 1:3c.

have strayed from these ways: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as strayed from originally meant “to miss the mark.” Later it came to mean “to miss, fail, deviate, and depart.” Here it has a figurative meaning, that is, that the false teachers no longer had these characteristics that Paul had just been describing. See the note on 6:10b and 6:21b. This verb also occurs in 2 Timothy 2:18.

these ways: This phrase refers to the characteristics that Paul had mentioned in 1:5, that is, “a pure heart,” “a good conscience,” and “a sincere faith.”

1:6b

turned aside to empty talk: Paul here continued his figure of speech. If you cannot say turned aside to empty talk, you may want to say:

and have started talking about meaningless things

empty talk: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as empty talk only occurs here in the New Testament. It indicates that what the false teachers taught had no real meaning. It might have sounded good but it had no value. See Titus 1:10 where Paul used a similar word.

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.