complete verse (2 Corinthians 3:9)

Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Corinthians 3:9:

  • Uma: “The Yahudi people long ago became guilty/wrong in God’s sight because they broke his Law. But even so, no kidding was God’s power that the Yahudi people saw at that time. So, how much more is the power of God’s new Promise, for that Promise makes-us-straight in his sight.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “If the law was great and it is the underlying-reason that mankind is judged to be put in hell, the new covenant is much greater because it is the underlying-reason that mankind is considered straight.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “If the power of the Law, which is the reason mankind is to be punished, is great, how much greater is the power of the way by which mankind can be made righteous.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because if the dazzling-gleam of God was seen in his giving the law that condemns people, his godhood is seen even-more on account of his plan to make-people -righteous.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Yes indeed, if God’s glory/praiseworthiness was seen in that system (lit. trail) which reveals (lit. makes-shallow) the punishment upon sin, is it not so that God’s glory/praiseworthiness can be all the more observed in this system (lit. trail) which can give righteousness/straightness in his sight?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Now if this word which says that the people will be punished is beautiful in its appearance, then how much greater in beauty is the word in which God tells us that now our sins are cleared.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

righteous, righteousness

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The Greek, Hebrew, and Latin terms that are translated in English mostly as “righteous” as an adjective or personified noun or “righteousness” (also as “upright(ness)” and “just(ice)”) are most commonly expressed with concept of “straightness,” though this may be expressed in a number of ways. (Click or tap here to see the details)

Following is a list of (back-) translations of various languages:

  • Bambara, Southern Bobo Madaré, Chokwe (ululi), Amganad Ifugao, Chol, Eastern Maninkakan, Toraja-Sa’dan, Pamona, Batak Toba, Bilua, Tiv: “be straight”
  • Laka: “follow the straight way” or “to straight-straight” (a reduplicated form for emphasis)
  • Sayula Popoluca: “walk straight”
  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl, Kekchí, Muna: “have a straight heart”
  • Kipsigis: “do the truth”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “do according to the truth”
  • Huautla Mazatec: “have truth”
  • Yine: “fulfill what one should do”
  • Indonesian: “be true”
  • Navajo (Dinė): “do just so”
  • Anuak: “do as it should be”
  • Mossi: “have a white stomach” (see also happiness / joy)
  • Paasaal: “white heart” (source: Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
  • (San Mateo del Mar Huave: “completely good” (the translation does not imply sinless perfection)
  • Nuer: “way of right” (“there is a complex concept of “right” vs. ‘left’ in Nuer where ‘right’ indicates that which is masculine, strong, good, and moral, and ‘left’ denotes what is feminine, weak, and sinful (a strictly masculine viewpoint!) The ‘way of right’ is therefore righteousness, but of course women may also attain this way, for the opposition is more classificatory than descriptive.”) (This and all above from Bratcher / Nida except for Bilua: Carl Gross; Tiv: Rob Koops; Muna: René van den Berg)
  • Central Subanen: “wise-good” (source: Robert Brichoux in OPTAT 1988/2, p. 80ff. )
  • Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “live well”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “goodness before the face of God” (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl: “the result of heart-straightening” (source: Nida 1947, p. 224)
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “entirely good” (when referred to God), “do good” or “not be a debtor as God sees one” (when referred to people)
  • Carib: “level”
  • Tzotzil: “straight-hearted”
  • Ojitlán Chinantec: “right and straight”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “walk straight” (source for this and four previous: John Beekman in Notes on Translation November 1964, p. 1-22)
  • Makonde: “doing what God wants” (in a context of us doing) and “be good in God’s eyes” (in the context of being made righteous by God) (note that justify / justification is translated as “to be made good in the eyes of God.” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Aari: The Pauline word for “righteous” is generally rendered by “makes one without sin” in the Aari, sometimes “before God” is added for clarity. (Source: Loren Bliese)
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun: “having sin taken away” (Source: Nida 1952, p. 144)
  • Nyamwezi: wa lole: “just” or “someone who follows the law of God” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Venda: “nothing wrong, OK” (Source: J.A. van Roy in The Bible Translator 1972, p. 418ff. )
  • Ekari: maakodo bokouto or “enormous truth” (the same word that is also used for “truth“; bokouto — “enormous” — is being used as an attribute for abstract nouns to denote that they are of God [see also here]; source: Marion Doble in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 37ff. ).
  • Guhu-Samane: pobi or “right” (also: “right (side),” “(legal) right,” “straightness,” “correction,” “south,” “possession,” “pertinence,” “kingdom,” “fame,” “information,” or “speech” — “According to [Guhu-Samane] thinking there is a common core of meaning among all these glosses. Even from an English point of view the first five can be seen to be closely related, simply because of their similarity in English. However, from that point the nuances of meaning are not so apparent. They relate in some such a fashion as this: As one faces the morning sun, south lies to the right hand (as north lies to the left); then at one’s right hand are his possessions and whatever pertains to him; thus, a rich man’s many possessions and scope of power and influence is his kingdom; so, the rich and other important people encounter fame; and all of this spreads as information and forms most of the framework of the people’s speech.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in Notes on Translation 1964, p. 11ff.)
  • German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): Gerechtheit, a neologism to differentiate it from the commonly-used Gerechtigkeit which can mean “righteousness” but is more often used in modern German as “fairness” (Berger / Nord especially use Gerechtheit in Letter to the Romans) or Gerechtestun, also a neologism, meaning “righteous deeds” (especially in Letter to the Ephesians)
  • “did what he should” (Eastern Highland Otomi)
  • “a clear man, good [man]” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter 2004)

See also respectable, righteous, righteous (person), devout, and She is more in the right(eous) than I.

Translation commentary on 2 Corinthians 3:9

Verse 9, like verses 7 and 8, continues or repeats the argument of “from the lesser to the greater.” It is actually a restatement in slightly different words of what has already been said.

For: while this conjunction is omitted in Good News Translation and New International Version, some kind of transition may be needed in the receptor language. Here it seems to mark the continuation of the argument started in verse 7.

As in verse 7, the word if does not mean that Paul had doubt. Good News Translation omits the word if to avoid suggesting any question of doubt in Paul’s statement.

Of condemnation and of righteousness describe the kinds of dispensation. The Law of Moses “brings condemnation,” and the gospel “brings salvation” (Good News Translation).

Righteousness stands in contrast with condemnation and is used here in the sense in which the equivalent Hebrew word is often used in the Old Testament: “salvation” (Good News Translation), “acquittal” (Revised English Bible, God’s New Covenant), “justification” (New Revised Standard Version).

The meaning of this verse is clearly expressed in Contemporary English Version: “If something that brings the death sentence is glorious, won’t something that makes us acceptable to God be even more glorious?” Or as Knox puts it, “If there is a splendour in the proclamation of our guilt, there must be more splendour yet in the proclamation of our acquittal.” Another possible model taken from an African translation: “If the work that [habitually] gives people punishment had glory, then the work that [habitually] makes people just in the eyes of God will have even more glory.”

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 .