inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (2Cor. 1:11)

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.

complete verse (2 Corinthians 1:11)

Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Corinthians 1:11:

  • Uma: “And you also, relatives, must hold-us (excl.)-up with your prayers. For if many people pray for us (excl.), God will bless us (excl.), with the result that many people will say thank you to God.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “And you can also help us (excl.) if you pray/request to God for us (excl.). If many of you pray/request to God for us (excl.) and when God gives what you ask, then many will give thanks to him because of his help to us (excl.).” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And it’s necessary that you also help us by praying, and then it will be possible that many will give thanks to God because of His favor toward us, because of the praying of many people.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “provided you help with your prayers. And if you do that, God will answer your many prayers and will bless us (excl.), and many will give-thanks to him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But we (excl.) are asking that you will also continue your help to us in prayer. For if many are praying, after the answers, of course many will then praise and thank God because of his help to us.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But it is necessary that you help me now by praying to God for me. If many people pray to God for me, then many people will thank God when they see how God blesses me.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Highland Totonac: “Help me with your prayers in order that thus many will give thanks to God because of the mercies which he would show toward us because of many.” (Source: Herman Aschmann in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 171ff. )

Translation commentary on 2 Corinthians 1:11

Good News Translation rearranges the order of the clauses in this verse to present the ideas in a logical or chronological order. In the Revised Standard Version translation it sounds as if the many prayers have already been answered when Paul writes. The thought is rather that: (1) the people will pray for Paul and Timothy; (2) God will answer the prayers and will bless Paul and Timothy; and (3) other people will thank God.

Verse 11 begins with a participle in Greek. Several options exist for translating this participle. (1) Sometimes participles have the force of an imperative, as in Revised Standard Version, “You also must help us.” (2) Participles may also express the means by which an action is accomplished, or may express the circumstances under which an action is accomplished. This latter use of the participle is reflected in Good News Translation, “as you help us.” Similar to Good News Bible is New Revised Standard Version, “as you also join in helping us” (so also Revised English Bible). (3) Participles may express a condition: “if you too cooperate on our behalf” (Barrett). The context does not favor one interpretation over the others, but the third option, “if you too cooperate,” is probably the most widely accepted by recent interpreters.

You also must help us by prayer: literally “you also cooperating in helping us by prayer.” The Greek does not state with whom the Corinthians cooperate. With one another? With Paul and Timothy? With God? Revised English Bible seems to suggest that they cooperate with God: “Yes, he will continue to deliver us, while you cooperate by praying for us.”

On our behalf: as the note in NIV indicates, many manuscripts read “on your behalf.” The meaning would then be that many Christians gave thanks for the intercessory prayers of the Corinthians. Such a reading makes very little sense in the context and is not likely to be original.

For the blessing granted us: as noted above, Paul is referring to blessings from God that have not yet been granted (see Good News Translation). The granting of blessings and the thanksgiving that will follow will come after the prayers that Paul is urging in this verse. The Revised Standard Version translation is not a good model here. It is better to follow Good News Bible with the future tense of the verb “to bless,” or to say something like “for the blessing that God will give [or, bestow on] us.”

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 .