inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (2Cor. 1:7)

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 exclusive form referring to only Paul.

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

Mal uses 4 forms of the first-person plural pronoun: inclusive dual “we” (includes the person that the speaker addresses), exclusive dual “we” (includes the speaker plus another person but excludes the person that the speaker addresses), inclusive plural “we” (includes all persons that the speaker addresses), exclusive plural “we” (includes the speaker plus at least two other persons but excludes the other persons person that the speaker addresses).

In this verse the Mal translation is using the exclusive dual form, which includes Timothy (see verse 1:1) but excludes all addressees.

Source: David Filbeck in The Bible Translator 1994, p. 401ff.

hope

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“Hope is sometimes one of the most difficult terms to translate in the entire Bible. It is not because people do not hope for things, but so often they speak of hoping as simply ‘waiting.’ In fact, even in Spanish, the word esperar means both ‘to wait’ and ‘to hope.’ However, in many instances the purely neutral term meaning ‘to wait’ may be modified in such a way that people will understand something more of its significance. For example, in Tepeuxila Cuicatec hope is called ‘wait-desire.’ Hope is thus a blend of two activities: waiting and desiring. This is substantially the type of expectancy of which hope consists.

In Yucateco the dependence of hope is described by the phrase ‘on what it hangs.’ ‘Our hope in God’ means that ‘we hang onto God.’ The object of hope is the support of one’s expectant waiting. In Ngäbere the phrase “resting the mind” is used. This “implies waiting and confidence, and what is a better definition of hope than ‘confident waiting’.” (Source for this and above: Nida 1952, p. 20, 133)

Other languages translate as follows:

  • Mairasi: “vision resting place” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Enlhet: “waitings of (our) innermost” (“innermost” or valhoc is a term that is frequently used in Enlhet to describe a large variety of emotions or states of mind — for other examples see here) (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )
  • Kwang: “one’s future is restored to one’s soul like a fresh, cool breeze on a hot day.” (Source: Mark Vanderkooi right here )
  • Noongar: koort-kwidiny or “heart waiting” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Anjam: “looking through the horizon” (source: Albert Hoffmann in his memoirs from 1948, quoted in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 7)
  • Ron: kintiɓwi or “put lip” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
  • Highland Totonac “wait with expectation” (to offset it from the every-day meaning of hope or wait — source: Hermann Aschmann in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 171ff. ).
  • Alekano: “wait not hearing two ears” (meaning to “wait without being double-minded” — source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation June 1986, p. 36ff.)
  • Marathi aasha (आशा) with a stronger emphasis on desire
  • Tamil: nampikkai (நம்பிக்கை) with a stronger emphasis on expectation (source for this and above: J.S.M. Hooper in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 2ff. )

In Mwera “hope” and “faith” are translated with the same word: ngulupai. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

C.M. Doke looks at a number of Bantu languages and their respective translations of “hope” with slightly varying connotations (in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 9ff. ):

  • Xhosa and Zulu: themba “hope, expect,” also “have faith in, rely upon”
  • Tswana: tsholofelo “hope, expect, look for confidently”
  • Southern Sotho: tshepo “trust, rely on, believe in, have confidence in”
  • Kuanyama: eteelelo “waiting for”
  • Swahili: tumaini “confidence, trust, expectation, hope” (as a verb: “hope, trust, expect, be confident, be truthful, rely on”
  • Luganda: okusuubira “hope, trust, expect” also “look forward to, rely upon, anticipate, reckon”
  • Chichewa: chiyembekezo “wait for, wait, expect”
  • Koongo: vuvu “hope, expectancy, expectation, anticipation”
Syntyche D. Dahou (in Christianity Today, January 2021 or see here the same article in French ) reports on the two different terms that are being used in French (click or tap here to see the details):

“Unlike English, which uses the word hope broadly, the French language uses two words that derive from the word espérer (to hope): espoir and espérance. Both can first refer to something hoped for. In this sense, the word espoir usually refers to an uncertain object; that is, someone who hopes for something in this way does not have the certainty that it will happen (“I hope the weather will be nice tomorrow”). On the other hand, espérance describes what, rightly or wrongly, is hoped for or expected with certainty. It often refers to a philosophical or eschatological object (‘I hope in the goodness of human beings’; ‘I hope for the return of Jesus Christ’).

“When we speak of espoir or espérance, we then have in mind different types of objects hoped for. This difference matters, because both terms also commonly refer to the state of mind that characterizes the hopeful. And this state of mind will be different precisely according to the object hoped for.

“Having espoir for an uncertain yet better future in these difficult times may be a good thing, but it is not enough. Such hope can be disappointed and easily fade away when our wishes and expectations (our hopes) do not materialize.

“The opposite is true with espérance, which is deeper than our desire and wish for an end to a crisis or a future without pain and suffering. To face the trials of life, we need peace and joy in our hearts that come from expecting certain happiness. This is what espérance is: a profound and stable disposition resulting from faith in the coming of what we expect. In this sense, it is similar in meaning to the English word hopefulness.

“If we have believed in the Son of the living God, we have such a hope. It rests on the infallible promises of our God, who knows the plans he has for us, his children — plans of peace and not misfortune, to give us a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). By using the two meanings of the word, we can say that the espérance that the fulfillment of his promises represents (the object hoped for) fills us with espérance (the state of mind).”

complete verse (2 Corinthians 1:7)

Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Corinthians 1:7:

  • Uma: “That’s why our (excl.) hearts are not uncertain about you, we (excl.) know that you will indeed endure in sufferings. For we (excl.) know that you get sufferings the same as we (excl.) do, and God will definitely strengthen your hearts the same as [he strengthens] us (excl.).” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So then we (excl.) don’t have two-thoughts/doubts about you. We (excl.) know that because you are like us (excl.) suffering trouble, you will also be helped by God as he helped us (excl.).” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And because of this, our trust in you is strengthened because we know that when you are enduring difficulty, just like we endured it, in the same way also you are helped by God, just like He helped us also.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Therefore big is our (excl.) hope in you, for we (excl.) know that if you join-in-experiencing our (excl.) hardships, you will also join-in-experiencing God’s helping us (excl.).” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “That is why our (excl.) hope concerning you is firm, because we (excl.) know that even if you experience also the hardhips that we are enduring, God will also comfort you, just like (he does) us.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “And now I am assured that your faith will come out well. Because I know that when you have suffered like I have, God also will comfort your hearts like he comforts my heart.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Highland Totonac: “Also our hope is in you that it will be so. We know very well that as you share with us in our suffering, in the same way you will share with us in our comfort the same as we do.” (Source: Herman Aschmann in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 171ff. )

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 2 Corinthians 1:7

Our hope: the possessive pronoun here does not include the Corinthians, since it involves something Paul and Timothy hope for them. The hope to which Paul refers is the hope that the Corinthian Christians will continue in their faith despite the afflictions and suffering that they experience. In English the word hope often suggests a degree of uncertainty. But in the New Testament the sense is more often that of “confidence” or “assurance.” In some languages the noun hope has to be translated by a verbal expression such as “we put our hearts on you…” or something similar.

For you: note, however, that Good News Translation has “in you.” This probably does not reflect a difference in meaning in these two versions. Both indicate confidence that the Corinthian Christians will stand firm in times of trouble and affliction.

Unshaken: another way of saying this is “Our hope for you is certain [or secure, or firmly grounded]” (Anchor Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Revised English Bible), or in some languages it may be necessary to use the adjective “strong.” If a verbal phrase is used to translate hope as suggested above, an adverb like “firmly” or “completely” may be used to translate this word. Note that Contemporary English Version renders this whole clause as “you never disappoint us.”

We know that is literally “knowing that.” Though Good News Translation does not make explicit the relationship between the two parts of this verse, the participle “knowing” introduces the cause or reason that their hope is unshaken. Revised Standard Version adds the word for in order to express clearly this relationship.

Our suffering … our comfort: Paul does not actually say our suffering … our comfort in spite of the renderings of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. The introduction of the possessive pronoun is misleading, according to some commentators (Anchor Bible, page 112). Revised English Bible reads “if you share in the suffering, you share also in the comfort.” But the use of the definite article in Greek (reflected in Revised English Bible) seems to indicate that some particular suffering is in view. So “the suffering” and “the comfort” probably do refer to those of Paul (and Timothy). But the sufferings that Paul mentions are not made specific here. Though the distress may have been caused by a severe illness, the following verses suggest that the suffering was a result of external forces.

As you share in our sufferings: as with the last part of verse 6, the meaning is that they suffer the same kind of suffering as Paul and Timothy. Some languages will require that this be made more explicit by saying something like “when you suffer as we have, you will also receive comfort just as we have.”

You will also share in our comfort: literally “thus also in the comfort.” The meaning may be that the Corinthians will be able to comfort others, but the parallelism with the preceding phrase favors the sense that they will receive the same comfort that Paul and Timothy receive. Following the latter interpretation, translators may want to follow the model of Phillips and make explicit that the help comes from God: “then, like us, you will find the comfort and encouragement of God.”

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 .