2 COR 11:22 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 11:16–33: Paul suffered for serving Jesus

In this section, Paul first warned the Corinthians that he was not a fool (11:16a). But he wanted them to listen to what he was foolishly going to boast about (11:16b–d). He told them that Jesus would not foolishly boast in this way (11:17). He told them that he would boast in the way that the false teachers were boasting (11:18). Using irony, he rebuked them for accepting people who boasted (11:19), implying that they were wrong to accept the false teachers because the false teachers boasted about themselves. Again using irony, he told them that they should not tolerate the false teachers taking advantage of them (11:20–21a).

In 11:21b Paul began foolishly to boast about things similar to the ones that the false teachers boasted about. Recounting all his hardships, he showed that he was more devoted to serving Jesus than they were (11:23–29).

Then Paul explained the correct kind of boasting (11:30). He gave an example (11:32–33), with an oath to God to indicate he was not lying (11:31).

Other examples for this section heading are:

Paul Boasts About His Sufferings (NIV)

Paul’s Sufferings as an Apostle (ESV)

11:22a–c

Paul asked three rhetorical questions. The answer to all three is “yes.” The false teachers bragged about being Hebrews, Israelites, and descendants of Abraham. Paul could brag about those things too.

11:22a

Are they Hebrews? So am I.

Do they boast that they are Hebrews? I am too.
They boast that they are Hebrews. Well, I also can boast that I am a Hebrew.

Are they Hebrews?: This is a rhetorical question. It emphasizes the fact that the false teachers were Hebrews. The context implies that the false teachers were boasting that they were Hebrews. Translate in a way that emphasizes that meaning. Some ways to translate this are:

As a rhetorical question. For example:
Do they boast that they are Hebrews?
They boast that they are Hebrews, isn’t that so?
As a statement. For example:
They boast that they are Hebrews.

Hebrews: This word refers to people who were Jews both from their ancestors and in their culture. Their ancient language was Hebrew and their Bible (what Christians call the Old Testament) was written mostly in Hebrew.Hebrew was also the religious language. The language of daily use was Aramaic, which was very similar to Hebrew.

In some languages people are not familiar with this name. If that is true in your language, you may want to explain in a footnote. For example:

The word “Hebrews” refers to Jews.

11:22b

Are they Israelites? So am I.

Do they boast that they are Israelites? I am too.
They boast that they are Israelites. Well, I also can boast that I am an Israelite.

Are they Israelites?: This is also a rhetorical question. It emphasizes the fact that the false teachers were Israelites. The context implies that the false teachers were boasting that they were Israelites. Translate it in a similar way to the rhetorical question in 11:22a. For example:

As a rhetorical question. For example:
Do they boast that they are Israelites?
They boast that they are Israelites, isn’t that so?
As a statement. For example:
They are boasting that they are Israelites.

Israelites: This word refers to people who were descendants of Jacob (also known as Israel). He was the founder of the nation of Israel. But in this context the word implies the relationship that the Jews had with God based on a covenant with him (Exodus 19–20). The “-ites” ending means “people of.” For example:

people of Israel

Israel people

In some languages people are not familiar with this name. If that is true in your language, you may want to explain in a footnote. For example:

The word “Israelites” also refers to Jews. Here, the word indicates that the Jews had a relationship with God based on the covenant he made with them. No other nation had a relationship or covenant like the one the Jews had.

11:22c

Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.

Do they boast that they are Abraham’s descendants? I am too.
They boast that they descend from Abraham. Well, I also can boast that I descend from Abraham.

Are they descendants of Abraham?: This is also a rhetorical question. It emphasizes the fact that the false teachers were descendants of Abraham. The context implies that the false teachers were boasting that they were descendants of Abraham. Translate it in a similar way to the rhetorical question in 11:22a. For example:

As a rhetorical question. For example:
Do they boast that they are descended from Abraham?
They boast that they are Abraham’s descendants, isn’t that so?
As a statement. For example:
They boast that they are descendants of Abraham.

descendants of Abraham: The Jews descended from Abraham.Other nations descended from Abraham, but Jews use the words “descendants of Abraham” to refer to themselves and God’s promises to Abraham (Genesis 12–22). In this context the phrase implies that the Jews benefited from the promises that God made with Abraham.

In some languages people do not know that the Jews are descendants of Abraham. If that is true in your language, you may want to explain in a footnote. For example:

The Jews use the words “descendants of Abraham” to refer to themselves. Using these words implies that the Jews received the promises that God made with Abraham (Genesis 12–22).

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / rquestion

Ἑβραῖοί εἰσιν? κἀγώ. Ἰσραηλεῖταί εἰσιν? κἀγώ. σπέρμα Ἀβραάμ εἰσιν? κἀγώ

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ἑβραῖοι εἰσίν Κἀγώ Ἰσραηλῖται εἰσίν Κἀγώ Σπέρμα Ἀβραάμ εἰσίν Κἀγώ)

Paul is using the question form to compare himself to what his opponents claim to be. If you would not use the question form for this purpose in your language, you could translate these questions as comparisons or statements. Alternate translation: [If they are Hebrews, I am also. If they are Israelites, I am also. If they are offspring of Abraham, I am also.] or [When they claim to be Hebrews, so do I. When they claim to be Israelites, so do I. When they claim to be offspring of Abraham, so do I.]

Note 2 topic: grammar-collectivenouns

σπέρμα Ἀβραάμ

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ἑβραῖοι εἰσίν Κἀγώ Ἰσραηλῖται εἰσίν Κἀγώ Σπέρμα Ἀβραάμ εἰσίν Κἀγώ)

In this verse, the word offspring is singular in form, but it refers to many offspring as a group. If it would be helpful in your language, you could say this plainly. Alternate translation: [members of the offspring of Abraham] or [descended from Abraham]

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.

Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.

OET interlinear 2 COR 11:22

SR Greek word order

Section 11:16–33: Paul suffered for serving Jesus

11:22a–c

11:22a

11:22b

11:22c

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

OET interlinear 2 COR 11:22

SR Greek word order

Section 11:16–33: Paul suffered for serving Jesus

11:22a–c

11:22a

11:22b

11:22c

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

OET interlinear 2 COR 11:22