complete verse (2 Timothy 2:4)

Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Timothy 2:4:

  • Uma: “For a good soldier, he is certainly patient shouldering suffering, and he is not busy arranging his own arrangements, for he wants to please the heart of his warchief.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “A person who is a soldier (lit. mag-soldier), he wants that his leader be pleased with him. That’s why he does not join in the doing/work of civilians.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “A person who has become a soldier, it is not possible for him to do what people who aren’t soldiers do. For he must always be ready to obey the commands of his master.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Follow-as-an-example also the way a soldier doesn’t get-sidetracked by/in what civilians are doing, because he wants his boss to be satisfied/content with him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “For while he’s a soldier, he doesn’t interfere/get-involved in anything other than his soldiering. On the contrary what he really perseveres in is, that the one who caused him to be a soldier will be pleased with him.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The person who is like a soldier of Christ is ordered by his Lord and it is He whose will he does. He does not decide for himself what work he will do.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

army

The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin that is translated as “army” in English is translated in Chichewa as “group of warriors.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 2 Timothy 2:4

This verse continues the metaphor of the soldier. Soldier on service translates a term that can refer either to a soldier actually engaged in warfare, or to a person who is currently serving as a soldier; the latter seems to be in focus here, hence “A soldier on active duty” (Good News Translation; also New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Phillips). The phrase No soldier on service may also be expressed as “No soldier who is doing his work as a soldier” or “… who is doing a soldier’s job.” There are also a number of ways to express the phrase No soldier; for example, “A soldier” (Good News Translation), “Soldiers” (Contemporary English Version), “Any soldier” and so on, moving the negative to the verb, “does not get entangled….”

Gets entangled translates a rare verb that occurs only here and in 2 Peter 2.20, and refers to the act of getting so involved in something that one becomes restricted and controlled, no longer free to do what one should.

Pursuits translates a word that occurs only here in the New Testament and that is used for ordinary things that people do everyday. Civilian, on the other hand, translates the prepositional phrase “of the life” (or “of life”), with the word for “life” referring to ordinary existence. The two terms together describe the activities of ordinary life as contrasted to that of the life of a soldier in active duty, hence “everyday affairs” (New Revised Standard Version), “affairs of civilian life” (Good News Translation, Translator’s New Testament), “outside jobs” (Contemporary English Version).

To satisfy is literally “to please,” “to gain someone’s approval.” The one who enlisted him translates the dative participle of a Greek verb that means “to enlist someone as a soldier.” The second half of this verse is introduced by the Greek word “in order that,” which marks either result or, more likely, purpose. The purpose of the soldier not being involved in affairs other than that of his job as a soldier is so that he may be pleasing and acceptable to the one who enlisted him. This purposive element is retained in New American Bible, Revised, “To satisfy the one who recruited him, a soldier does not become entangled….” Another way of expressing to satisfy the one who enlisted him is “to cause the person who commands him (or, his commander) to be pleased with him.” Languages will differ as to the ordering of the sentences in this verse. Translators in some languages will find Revised Standard Version‘s ordering more natural, while others will follow Good News Translation.

Alternative translation models for this verse are:
• Soldiers who are doing military (or, soldier) work don’t want to involve themselves with other kinds of work, since they want to cause their commander to be pleased with them.

Or:
• A soldier who is doing his military work wants to cause his commander to be satisfied with him. So he does not involve himself with other kinds of work.

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

SIL Translator's Notes on 2 Timothy 2:4

2:4–6

In 2:4–6, Paul compared the Christian to three types of people. Then in 2:7 he advised Timothy to think deeply about the meaning of these three comparisons. This shows that the point of comparison in Paul’s illustrations would not be immediately clear even to Timothy. He needed to think about what Paul wrote to him. Because of this, you should avoid making the points of comparison explicit in your translation.

2:4a

A soldier: This refers to a soldier on active duty.

entangling himself: This phrase is the translation of one Greek verb. It occurs only here and in 2 Peter 2:20. It means “to get entangled in” or “to get mixed up with.”

in civilian affairs: This phrase is literally “matters/affairs of life.” It can refer to any matter in general, or more specifically, to a business or job that is not a military job. A soldier may have brief times when he is not actually working as a soldier, but even during those times he is not free to start working at some other kind of job.

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

everyday matters (New Century Version)
-or-
non-military activities (God’s Word)

2:4b

in order to: In the Greek text, the conjunction hina (in order to) connects 2:4a and 2:4b. There are several ways to show this connection.

• Make the conjunction implicit. The New International Version (2011 Revision) uses a dash to indicate the connection between these two verse parts.

4aNo one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—4bhe wants to please his commanding officer.

Other translations (God’s Word, Contemporary English Version) begin a new sentence at 2:4b.

4aSoldiers on duty don’t work at outside jobs. 4bThey try only to please their commanding officer. (Contemporary English Version)

• Make the conjunction explicit like the Berean Standard Bible and and New American Standard Bible do. For example, the New American Standard Bible says:

No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

• State 2:4b negatively like the NET Bible does.

No one in military service gets entangled in matters of everyday life; otherwise he will not please the one who recruited him.

See also New Living Translation (2004 Revision), and Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English.

• Reorder 2:4a and 2:4b.

4bA soldier wants to please his commanding officer, 4aso he does not get involved in civilian affairs.

You should use the option that is most natural in your language.

the one who enlisted him: In Greek, this is literally “the one having enlisted (him).” The Berean Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, and NET Bible translate this literally. However, a literal translation like “the enlistment officer” may give the wrong impression. In Paul’s time, each officer gathered together (or enlisted) the men he later commanded. This was different than many of today’s armies where the enlistment officer is a completely different person than the commanding officer. Therefore, a term like “commanding officer” or “commander” may be more appropriate.

General Comment on 2:4

The Christian’s commanding officer is Christ. The point of the comparison between a soldier and a person who serves Christ is that the soldier and the Christian must each completely commit himself to his commander, doing whatever the commander tells him to do.

However, the point of comparison should not be made explicit in the translation because in 2:7, Paul asked Timothy to think about what he was saying and said that the Lord would help Timothy to understand it. Therefore, Paul was not trying to be completely explicit.

© 2003 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

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.