complete verse (2 Corinthians 11:20)

Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Corinthians 11:20:

  • Uma: “If there are leaders who make you slaves, you just receive them. If there are those who deceive you and de-flesh you [i.e., take advantage of you, ‘bleed you dry’], if there are those who make their hearts high and slap you, you actually put up with it.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “You just endure even if people rule/lord-it over you. Even if they finish/get your wealth or make fools of you, you don’t do a thing. Even if they criticize you or slap you, it is only good to you.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For if there is anybody who lords it over you, and if anybody takes your possessions or cheats you and if anybody treats you in a snobbish manner, or if they beat you, then you put up with it.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “They are turning-you -into their slaves, they are using up your possessions, they are cheating you, they are being proud (lit. making-high their bodies) to you, and they are excessively shaming you, but you are still putting-up-with them!” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “For look at this, you are happily accepting them even though you are being enslaved, having your possessions used up, being deceived, being forced to submit to their alleged authority, and being-struck-on-the-face.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “And the teachers to whom you pay attention now want to rule you. But you continue to bear with them in what they do to you. These are people who only want to extract money from you. They make themselves your bosses and think you are of no value. They even slap your faces. Yet you endure it all.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 2 Corinthians 11:20

As elsewhere in 2 Corinthians, if is used for the effect that it creates and is not intended to express doubt about the reality of what follows. See comments on 11.4. Good News Translation therefore omits the word if.

A man is literally “any one.” Paul alludes indirectly to his opponents in Corinth. See also 11.21 and 10.7, where the same pronoun is used with the same referent. In view of the indefinite reference of this term, some languages may prefer to translate it by a plural, “people” or “they.”

A major difficulty in translating this verse lies in deciding whether some or all of the verbs are to be taken as metaphorical language. If so, will a literal translation be understood literally by the readers?

The words makes slaves of you are used metaphorically. The sense is that Paul’s opponents in Corinth are dominating the congregation there, treating the members of the church as if they were slaves. To avoid a literal understanding, some translations drop the metaphorical language (so Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and Revised English Bible: “If someone tyrannizes over you”) or change the metaphor to a simile (“commands you as slaves,” Bible en français courant).

Preys upon you is literally “eats you up.” This is metaphorical language also, meaning “takes advantage of you” (Good News Translation) or “exploits you” (New International Version, Revised English Bible). Or in a slightly more literal sense, Paul may mean that the opponents are being supported entirely by the Corinthians (so Barrett: “eats you out of house and home”). Contemporary English Version adopts this same material interpretation in translating “steal from you.”

Takes advantage of you: literally “if anyone receives [you].” The same verb is used in 12.16, where it is rendered “got the better of you.” Barrett translates “gets you in his power.”

Puts on airs: literally “lifts himself up.” A direct rendering of the Revised Standard Version expression will be absurd in most languages. The verb used here is found also in 10.5, where it is translated in Revised Standard Version by the adjective “proud.” Here it can be translated “behaves proudly” or, as Anchor Bible puts it, “acts presumptuously.” New Jerusalem Bible speaks of one who “sets himself above you” (New Jerusalem Bible).

Strikes you in the face is probably not to be taken literally, though nearly all translations render this phrase literally. Paul’s opponents were insulting the Corinthians by the way they treated them. Martin says “even when he deeply insults you!” Knox also seeks to render the figurative sense here while maintaining the image of beating when he translates “browbeats you.”

Moffatt provides a model worth considering for the verse as a whole: “You put up with a man who assumes control over your souls, with a man who spends your money, with a man who dupes you, with a man who gives himself airs, with a man who flies in your face.”

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 .