inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Jas. 4:13)

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 (third group of people talking among each other).

In Huautla Mazatec and Tok Pisin, however, the translators selected the inclusive we.

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

complete verse (James 4:13)

Following are a number of back-translations of James 4:13:

  • Uma: “This is my advice to you who have high hearts [i.e., are haughty]. You speak like this: ‘Today or tomorrow morning, we (excl.) will leave for so-and-so village, we’ll (excl.) stay there for about a year doing business and we’ll (excl.) make a profit.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Listen to me, you the ones who say that tomorrow or the day after you will go to another country/place and live there for one year to trade in order to gain/earn much money.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Listen you who say, ‘Today, and if not then tomorrow, we will go to another town, and there we will do business for a year in order to get money.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “All right then, if there are some among you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we (excl.) are going to a different town to do-business there for a year so that we (excl.) will get-rich (lit. get-monied).’ Think-over this that I say.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Think too about this which I am saying, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we (excl.) will go to that city. About a year is how long we (excl.) will be there. We(excl.) will-go-into-business there so that money will increase.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “There are some who say among themselves: ‘Today or tomorrow let us go to some city. We will live there one year, we will find that to work at, we will gain money,’ they say. But those who speak like this should listen to this word here.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on James 4:13

Come now: James shifts to a conversational style by calling for the attention of his readers. This expression is used only here and in 5.1 in the New Testament. It is a form of address, an attention getter, for which a number of equivalent expressions may be used; for example, “Now listen to me” (Good News Translation), “Listen carefully” (Japanese New Interconfessional Translation), “But wait” (Translator’s New Testament), “Stop and think a minute!” (Barclay), “Just a moment, now” (Phillips), “You should know better than…” (Contemporary English Version). The people addressed are you who say …, an imaginary group of business people who say what is said in the quotation.

Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and get gain: what we have here are the typical plans of ordinary business people. Their business plans include setting the time of departure, selecting a location, determining the length of stay, projecting the profit, and so on. Notice that all four verbs are in the future tense: “will go,” “will spend,” “will trade,” and “will get gain.” This shows that their plans are firm and full of confidence and expectations. Notice also the progression Today … tomorrow … a year. In cultures where it is not natural to talk about particular times such as Today, tomorrow, or a year, we may translate, for example, “Very soon [or, In a little while] we will go to the town, where we will stay for a long time [or, for many moons].” The expression such and such a town is an idiomatic way of referring to a certain location without naming the place specifically. In this way the story can be applied to any city and any situation. Thus the idiom may be rendered as “this and that town” (Barclay, New International Version). Other translations restructure this as “we’ll go to the city” (Contemporary English Version), or “we will travel to a certain city” (Good News Translation); such a restructuring will be more natural in many languages. In cultures where large towns do not exist, but only villages of various sizes, we may express town as “a large village,” “a place with many houses,” or even “a large village with a strong wall [or, fence] around it.” The verb trade means “do business” (Translator’s New Testament) or “go into business” (Good News Translation). The expression get gain may be rendered more naturally as “make money” (Translator’s New Testament, New International Version) or “make a profit” (New American Bible). James is obviously not rebuking his readers for making detailed and wise business decisions in advance. The problem is that they make plans without the Great Planner; they leave God out of their planning.

Quoted with permission from Loh, I-Jin and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Letter from James. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .