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 (excluding the addressee).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
In Fijian, the paucal exclusive forms neitou and keitou (“of me and a few [two or slight more]”) are used instead. This choice is understandable in view of the introduction found in both letters to the Thessalonians, where the writer Paul indicates clearly that the letters were co-authored by two other colleagues, Silas and Timothy, hence the use of a pronoun referring to three people (“Paul, Silas and Timothy”).
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Thessalonians 3:4:
Uma: “While we were still there [with you] then [lit., yesterday], we said ahead of time that there would be those who would persecute us (incl.). And it has really come to pass, as you yourselves know, relatives.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Because when we (excl.) were there with you, we (excl.) told you beforehand that difficulties would come to us (incl.). And you know that now they have come.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “When we were still with you, we told you that the time would come when affliction would come to you, and you know now that it has come.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “because when we (excl.) were staying-with you, we (excl.) warned that our suffering/hardship would arrive and you admittedly know that that’s exactly what happened.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “For isn’t it indeed so that, when we (excl.) were still there-with-you, we (excl.) repeatedly taught you that in the future time, it would happen to us that we would be caused hardship because of this believing/obeying of ours? Well now hasn’t it truly happened?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Because while we were there where you live, we told you that it must be that you will be persecuted, and now what we told you has happened.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
This verse contains little that is new. It repeats and expands the content of verse 3, adding only “(you know) because we told you beforehand.” In the original, this new statement is emphasized by “and,” which Phillips idiomatically translates “actually we did warn you.”
Because verses 3 and 4 overlap so much, one of the stylistic problems in translation is to avoid excessive repetition of particular words. Even Good News Translation has not avoided “persecutions … persecutions … persecuted.”
Ahead of time in the original means simply “at a point of time earlier than another event”; in this context, earlier than the persecutions themselves. The same expression in English tends to mean “in advance of a fixed time,” but this is not the meaning of the Greek. Ahead of time may be rendered simply as “before it happened to you,” or “before you were caused to suffer.”
We were going to be persecuted is one way of translating a phrase which sometimes, and probably here, refers not merely to something which is going to happen in the future, but to something which has to happen (with the implication, as in verse 3, that it is part of God’s will). The same verb is used in Luke 9.31, where Good News Bible translates “… he would soon fulfill God’s purpose by dying in Jerusalem.” Good News Translation here reverses two phrases in the original, placing the semantically subordinate “as you know” before the new information “that is what happened” (exactly is implied).
The word we occurs three times in verse 4. In the first two instances Paul clearly refers to himself and his companions, but not to the Thessalonians. However, the Thessalonians are included in the third we, since they too are involved in the persecution. This distinction must be reflected in the translation in languages which distinguish between the inclusive and the exclusive first person plural.
That is exactly what happened may be rendered more specifically as “we did in fact suffer persecution.”
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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