complete verse (2 Corinthians 1:17)

Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Corinthians 1:17:

  • Uma: “But that plan of mine the other day [lit., yesterday] changed. Do you say/think that my word/promise is not dependable [lit., straight]? Do you say/think that I make my purpose according to my own wants, one time saying ‘Yes,’ turn-around and I say ‘No’?” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Now, because I did not proceed to come to you, that does not mean that I do not keep my word. My desire to go has not changed. Perhaps you think-mistakenly that my intentions come just from my desire, saying yes first and then no.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And since I could not do this, you suppose mistakenly perhaps, that my mind is always changing. Perhaps you thought mistakenly also, that my thinking is just like the thinking of a person whose evil desires control him. You thought mistakenly that when I said that I was coming there, that the thing that was really in my breath was that I would not come.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Since this plan of mine was not fulfilled, you perhaps think that I easily change-and-change my mind, but no. Neither do I plan like the worldly person who says ‘Yes,’ come-to-find-out what is truly in his mind is ‘No.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Well now, since I couldn’t carry out that plan of mine, maybe you’re thinking that I am an unstable fellow. Maybe you mistakenly-think that what I think is constantly-changing, like what the people do who only think of their own desires, who say ‘yes’ now, (and) later say ‘no.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But now it happened that I could not go there. Do you think that it wasn’t true concerning what I said when I decided to go there? Is it possible that you can say that this word I said I would do is like the word spoken by the people who live here in the world in that they only say that they will do something but they know that they won’t do it?” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 2 Corinthians 1:17

Revised English Bible begins this verse with “that was my intention,” indicating that Paul had wanted to visit Corinth, and implying that he had not done so. This may be a good model for certain other languages.

Since Paul canceled the return trip (see 1.23), he was accused by some in Corinth of vacillating, or being “fickle.” Revised English Bible says “Did I lightly change my mind?” Literally the Greek says “This therefore intending, did I act with the fickleness?” The presence of the definite article “the” before the noun “fickleness” may indicate that Paul is responding to a specific accusation that he was fickle or vacillating.

To do this refers to his plans to visit the Corinthians both on his way to Macedonia and on his return from there. In some cases it may be helpful to spell out what the word this means in the first part of the verse rather than waiting to read my plans in the second part. The second question is, in fact, more general. Here the reference is to his specific plan to visit Corinth. Translators may consider saying something like “Do you think that I decided on this trip without thinking?” or “When I made these plans, did that mean that I lacked determination?”

Do I make my plans…?: this second question is less restricted in nature than the first. Here Paul is not talking only about his specific plan to visit the Corinthians but about plans in general. The habitual verb form should probably be used in those languages that have it.

Like a worldly man is literally “according to the flesh.” “Flesh” in this context, as elsewhere in Paul’s writings, means humankind in its opposition to God. So Good News Translation says “from selfish motives.” But in some languages it may be most natural to translate “like the people of this world,” if this gives the idea of self-interest.

The form of both questions presupposes that only a negative answer is appropriate. If this will not be clear in the receptor language in this context, it will be better to translate the questions as negative statements: “I was not fickle when I planned to visit you. And I do not make my plans like the people of this world….”

Paul had planned to return to Corinth after his trip to Macedonia, but in 1.23–2.1 he indicates that he did not return to Corinth as he had planned. Originally Paul had planned to go to Macedonia first before he visited Corinth (1 Cor 16.5-8). Then he changed his plans and visited Corinth before going to Macedonia, intending to return through Corinth again on his return home from Macedonia. Then he again changed his plans and did not return to Corinth after his visit to Macedonia. Because of these changes in his plans, Paul was criticized by some people in the Corinthian church.

Ready to say Yes and No at once?: though some manuscripts say Yes and No (followed by Revised Standard Version), the original form was probably “Yes, yes and No, no” (followed by Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version). The meaning is the same either way. Most translations add the words “at the same time” (Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible; similarly New International Version) to make explicit what Paul leaves implicit. By this rhetorical question Paul declares that he does not say one thing and then deny it all in the same breath.

Yes and No: in the context of these verses, the word Yes refers to his promise to visit Corinth, and No refers to his decision not to visit as planned. Revised English Bible says “First saying ‘Yes, yes’ and then ‘No, no’?” In some languages it may be more natural and more easily understood to say “saying ‘Yes’ and then ‘No’ or ‘No’ and then ‘Yes,’ ” or “saying ‘Yes’ when I mean ‘No’ and ‘No’ when I mean ‘Yes.’ ” And in some cases the use of the words “Yes” and “No” in such a context may be unnatural. In such cases one may translate more dynamically, using verbal expressions: “agreeing and refusing all at the same time” or “accepting and rejecting the same idea in a short time.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .