imitate

The Greek that is usually translated in English as “imitate” in Chokwe as kwimbulula or “sing over after another.” D. B. Long (in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 87ff.) explains: “To imitate is to sing over something after someone else has given us the tune. Christ has sung His heavenly tune, and we, having learned it, are now to sing it over and over again.”

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (2Thess. 3:7)

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”).

Source: Joseph Hong in The Bible Translator 1994, p. 419ff.

complete verse (2 Thessalonians 3:7)

Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Thessalonians 3:7:

  • Uma: “You know yourselves, relatives, our behavior when we were with you before, that we were not lazy. That behavior of ours is what you must follow.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Because you, you really know that it is us (excl.) whom you should copy/join. When we (excl.) were there with you, you did not see us (excl.) not working.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “You already know what you ought to do in order to imitate what we do. For when we were with you you were not lazy.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because you yourselves, you certainly know of-course that you ought to follow-as-an-example our (excl.) behavior when we (excl.) were staying-with you. Because we (excl.) certainly weren’t (too) lazy to work.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Probably as for you, it’s clear to you that what you need to copy is our (excl.) perseverance in work. We(excl.) really weren’t being lazy about earning a living when we (excl.) were there with you.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “You know that the way you should live is that you should do just like you saw us do when we were with you, we were not lazy in nay way in our example.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 2 Thessalonians 3:7

From here to verse 10, Paul refers back to his conduct while he was in Thessalonica, in order to support the statement in verse 6. The relation with verse 6 is shown in the text by an introductory “for,” which most modern translations leave unexpressed.

There is an inherent problem in the first sentence of verse 7, since you should do just what we did could refer to more than one kind of event. It could suggest, for example, that the Thessalonians were to keep away from fellow believers who were lazy, even as Paul and his colleagues kept away from them. However, this sentence refers to what follows and not to what precedes. Such a reference may be difficult in some languages, and therefore it may be better to use a term for do which suggests a general pattern of behavior or living, for example, “You yourselves know very well that you should live in the same way that we lived,” or even “… that you should work in the same way that we worked.”

Again, we were not lazy may be rendered as “we did not refuse to work.” But even this may be somewhat misleading. It could suggest, for example, some forced labor which Paul did not refuse to do. Therefore it may be useful to change the negative statement not lazy to a positive one, for example, “we worked hard.”

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Thessalonians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .