1 COR 11:18 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=minor/spelling Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

Key: khaki:verbs, orange:accusative/object, pink:genitive/possessor, cyan:dative/indirect object.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULT For first, I hear that in your coming together in the church, there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.

UST Here is the first thing I will speak about: some people have told me that you split up into rival groups when you gather as fellow believers to worship God. I believe that this is partly true.

BSB First of all, I hear that [when] you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.

MSB (Same as BSB above)

BLB For first indeed, of you coming together in an assembly, I hear there to be divisions among you, and in part I believe it.

AICNT For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you; and in part I believe it.

OEB To begin with, I am told that when you meet together as a church there are divisions among you. In part I believe this,

WEBBE For first of all, when you come together in the assembly, I hear that divisions exist amongst you, and I partly believe it.

WMBB (Same as above)

NET For in the first place, when you come together as a church I hear there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.

LSV for first, indeed, coming together in an assembly, I hear of divisions being among you, and I partly believe [it],

FBV First of all, I hear that when you have church meetings that you are split into different factions, and I believe there's some truth to this.

TCNT For in the first place, I hear that there are divisions among you when you come together as a church, and in some part I believe it.

T4T First of all, people have told me that when you gather together as a group to worship God, you divide into groups that are hostile to each other. To some extent I believe that is true.

LEB For in the first place, when you[fn] come together as a church, I hear there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.

11:18 *Here “when” is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle (“come together”)

BBE For first of all, it has come to my ears that when you come together in the church, there are divisions among you, and I take the statement to be true in part.

Moff First of all, in your church-meetings I am told that cliques prevail. And I partly believe it.

Wymth for, in the first place, when you meet as a Church, there are divisions among you. This is what I am told, and I believe that there is some truth in it.

ASV For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and I partly believe it.

DRA For first of all I hear that when you come together in the church, there are schisms among you; and in part I believe it.

YLT for first, indeed, ye coming together in an assembly, I hear of divisions being among you, and partly I believe [it],

Drby For first, when ye come together in assembly, I hear there exist divisions among you, and I partly give credit [to it].

RV For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and I partly believe it.
(For first of all, when ye/you_all come together in the church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and I partly believe it. )

SLT For truly first, ye coming together in the church, I hear divisions to be among you; and some part I believe.

Wbstr For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there are divisions among you; and I partly believe it.

KJB-1769 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.
(For first of all, when ye/you_all come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. )

KJB-1611 For first of all when yee come together in the Church, I heare that there be [fn]diuisions among you, and I partly beleeue it.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from capitalisation and punctuation and footnotes)

11:18 Or, schismes.

Bshps For first of all, when ye come together in the Churche, I heare that there is dissention among you, and I partly beleue it.
(For first of all, when ye/you_all come together in the Church, I hear that there is dissention among you, and I partly believe it.)

Gnva For first of all, when ye come together in the Church, I heare that there are dissentions among you: and I beleeue it to be true in some part.
(For first of all, when ye/you_all come together in the Church, I hear that there are dissentions among you: and I believe it to be true in some part. )

Cvdl First, whan ye come together in the congregacion, I heare, that there are discensions amonge you, and I partly beleue it.
(First, when ye/you_all come together in the congregation, I hear, that there are discensions among you, and I partly believe it.)

TNT Fyrst of all when ye come togedder in the congregacion I heare that ther is dissencion amonge you: and I partly beleve it.
(Fyrst of all when ye/you_all come together in the congregation I hear that there is dissencion among you: and I partly believe it. )

Wycl First for whanne ye comen togidere in to the chirche, Y here that discenciouns ben, and in parti Y bileue.
(First for when ye/you_all came together in to the church, I here that discenciouns been, and in parti I believe.)

Luth Zum ersten, wenn ihr zusammen kommt in der Gemeinde, höre ich, es seien Spaltungen unter euch; und zum Teil glaube ich‘s.
(Zum first, when you(pl)/their/her together comes in the/of_the Gemeinde, listen I, it be Spaltungen under you; and for_the part/portion believed I...it.)

ClVg Primum quidem convenientibus vobis in ecclesiam, audio scissuras esse inter vos, et ex parte credo.
(Primum indeed concoming to_you(pl) in/into/on church, I_hear scissuras to_be between you(pl), and from in_part/partly credo. )

UGNT πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ συνερχομένων ὑμῶν ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ, ἀκούω σχίσματα ἐν ὑμῖν ὑπάρχειν, καὶ μέρος τι πιστεύω.
(prōton men gar sunerⱪomenōn humōn en ekklaʸsia, akouō sⱪismata en humin huparⱪein, kai meros ti pisteuō.)

SBL-GNT πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ συνερχομένων ὑμῶν ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ ἀκούω σχίσματα ἐν ὑμῖν ὑπάρχειν, καὶ μέρος τι πιστεύω.
(prōton men gar sunerⱪomenōn humōn en ekklaʸsia akouō sⱪismata en humin huparⱪein, kai meros ti pisteuō.)

RP-GNT Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ συνερχομένων ὑμῶν ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ, ἀκούω σχίσματα ἐν ὑμῖν ὑπάρχειν, καὶ μέρος τι πιστεύω.
(Prōton men gar sunerⱪomenōn humōn en ekklaʸsia, akouō sⱪismata en humin huparⱪein, kai meros ti pisteuō.)

TC-GNT Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ συνερχομένων ὑμῶν ἐν [fn]ἐκκλησίᾳ, ἀκούω σχίσματα ἐν ὑμῖν ὑπάρχειν, καὶ μέρος τι πιστεύω.
(Prōton men gar sunerⱪomenōn humōn en ekklaʸsia, akouō sⱪismata en humin huparⱪein, kai meros ti pisteuō. )

11:18 εκκλησια ¦ τη εκκλησια TR

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs (from our SR-GNT base).

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 11:17–34: Eat the Lord’s Supper in the proper way

In this section Paul discussed some problems with how the believers in Corinth ate the Lord’s Supper. Some people started eating and did not wait for others to arrive. Some people ate too much while others had little or nothing.

Christians should eat the Lord’s Supper in order to remember the Lord Jesus. They should repent from sin before eating and drinking, and they should wait for everyone to arrive before beginning the Supper. If anyone is hungry, they should eat at home so that they do not come under judgment.

The celebration of the Lord’s Supper is also described in Matthew 26:26–28, Mark 14:22–24 and Luke 22:17–20.

Here are some other possible section headings:

How to observe/celebrate the Lord’s Supper

Instructions about the Lord’s Supper

The Lord’s Supper should be honored

Paragraph 11:17–22

In this paragraph Paul scolded the Corinthians for divisions in the church, and for their greed while eating the Lord’s Supper.

11:18a

First of all, I hear that when you come together as a church,

To start with, people tell me that when you^(plur) meet as a church,
First, people say that when you meet to worship God,

The Greek text of 11:18 begins with a conjunction that the BSB does not translate. Paul used this conjunction to introduce an explanation of why the meetings did more harm than good. You should introduce this explanation in a way that is natural in your language.

Here are some ways to translate this Greek conjunction:

For

Because

First of all: The phrase First of all is often used to introduce the first item in a list. However, Paul did not continue this list with “Second,” but instead spoke about a different issue. Because of this, some versions omit this phrase.

I hear that: Paul had not seen this behavior himself. Others told him about it.

Here is another way to translate this clause:

People have told me that

when you come together as a church: The phrase when you come together as a church refers to the times when the believers gathered for worship services. They probably gathered in homes rather than in a church building. There were several such gatherings in the city of Corinth.There may have been gatherings in the homes of Titius Justus (Acts 18:7), Chloe (1 Corinthians 1:11), Gaius (Romans 16:23), and Crispus (1 Corinthians 1:14) among others. See Kistemaker, p. 386.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

when you meet to worship God

in your meetings

11:18b

there are divisions among you,

you^(plur) separate into different groups/factions,
you argue with each other,

there are divisions among you: The phrase there are divisions among you means that among the people in the church there were groups or factions that disagreed with each other. It does not mean that the groups met in separate houses.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

you^(plur) break into different groups/factions/sides

you argue with each other

you are not in harmony

11:18c

and in part I believe it.

and I believe this to be at least partly true.
and I tend to believe what they are saying.

and in part I believe it: Paul had heard this news from others. He had not observed this behavior himself. So, he gave a cautious reply. He said that he expected that there were some divisions, but he did not accuse everyone of behaving badly.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

I suppose/expect there is some truth to this

I tend to believe what they are saying

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: translate-ordinal

πρῶτον

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Πρῶτον μέν γάρ συνερχομένων ὑμῶν ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ ἀκούω σχίσματα ἐν ὑμῖν ὑπάρχειν καί μέρος τὶ πιστεύω)

If your language does not use ordinal numbers, you can use a cardinal number here. Alternate translation: [one]

Note 2 topic: grammar-connect-words-phrases

πρῶτον

Paul uses first, but he never moves on to “second.” Most likely, Paul had in mind other things he wanted to say, but he either never mentions them or he tells the Corinthians in [11:34](../11/34.md) that he will “give directions” about these “remaining things” when he visits them. If it would be helpful in your language, you could translate first to make it clearer that Paul addresses the other items in [11:34](../11/34.md).

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / extrainfo

ἀκούω

˱I˲_˓am˒_hearing

Here Paul does not state from whom he “heard” this information. He does this to avoid causing unnecessary conflict among the Corinthians based on who told things to Paul. If you must specify who spoke to Paul, you could use a vague or indefinite statement. Alternate translation: [I hear from somebody that]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / pastforfuture

ἀκούω

˱I˲_˓am˒_hearing

Here Paul is speaking as if he currently “is hearing” about the divisions. By speaking in the present tense, he emphasizes that this is information he received while or immediately before he wrote this letter. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the use of present tense with a tense that most naturally refers to when Paul was writing this letter. Alternate translation: [I have heard that]

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ

in assembly

Here, in the church is a spatial metaphor that speaks of the church as if it were a place in which the Corinthians could come together. Paul speaks in this way to indicate the situation in which the Corinthians come together: a gathering of believers that meet to worship God. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express in the church by clarifying that the Corinthians are the church or are meeting to worship God. Alternate translation: [as the church] or [in a Christian meeting]

Note 6 topic: translate-unknown

σχίσματα

divisions

Here, divisions refers to when one group splits into multiple different groups because they have different leaders, beliefs, or opinions. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the idea behind this word with a comparable noun or a short phrase that makes this clear. Alternate translation: [opposing parties]

Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

μέρος τι πιστεύω

part (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Πρῶτον μέν γάρ συνερχομένων ὑμῶν ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ ἀκούω σχίσματα ἐν ὑμῖν ὑπάρχειν καί μέρος τὶ πιστεύω)

Here, in part qualifies how much Paul “believes.” If it would be helpful in your language, you could express in part with a word or phrase that identifies “part of” something. Alternate translation: [I believe part of it] or [I believe some of it]

Parallel 1 COR 11:18

Section 11:17–34: Eat the Lord’s Supper in the proper way

Paragraph 11:17–22

11:18a

11:18b

11:18c

Parallel 1 COR 11:18