1.) τολμᾳ τις ὐμων πραγμα εχων προς τον ἒτερον κρινεσθαι επι των αδικων και ουκι επι των ἁγιων:
2.) η ουκ οιδατε ὃτι οἱ αγιοι τον κοσμον κεροῦμεν; και ει εν υμιν ὁ κοσμος κρινεται, αξιοι εστε κριτεριων ελαχιστων;
3.) ουκ οιδατε ὃτι αγγελους κρινοῦμεν; μετιγη βιοτικα.
4.) βιοτικα μεν ουν κριτερια εαν εχετε, τους εξοθενημενους εν τῃ εκκλεσια, τουτους καθιζετε.
5.) προς εντροπην υμιν λεγω. τουτῶς ουκ ενι εν υμιν ουδεις σοφος, ὃς δυνησεται διακριναι ανα μεσον του αδελφου αυτου;
6.) αλλα αδελφος μετα αδελφου κρινεται, και τουτο επι απιστων.
7.) ἣδη μεν ουν ὁλως ἡμμητα υμιν εστιν ὃτι κριματα εχετε μεθ᾽ ἑαυτων. δια τί μαλλον αδικεισθε; δια τί μαλλον αποστερεισθε;
8.) αλλα υμεις αδικειτε και αποστερειτε, και τουτο αδελφους.
Please forgive the many mistakes and sporadic accents, it was mostly from memory. One thing which immediately popped out even more clearly in Greek (not in the Greek!) was the κρινω words (judgement/law words). Apparently Greek gets quite a lot of mileage out of this one verb:
- κρινεσθαι- go the law (the passive form)
- κεροῦμεν- we will judge
- κριτεριων- to preside over, sit as judges
- κριτερια- lawsuits, disputes
- κριματα- lawsuits
The κρινω words are everywhere in this passage! In fact, I suspect I’d find the same thing throughout the letter. I had considered doing a study on judgment in 1 Corinthians, and this just makes me want to do it even more! I probably won’t get to it anytime soon however.
And now, for a rather rough translation-
1.) Dare any of you who have a dispute with another, dare you take it before the unjust for judgment instead of before the saints?
2.) Or don’t you know that the saints will judge the world? And if by you the world is judged, are worthy to judge trivial matters?
3.) Don’t you know that we will judge angels? How much more trivial things!
4.)If you have disputes about trivial things, appoint even those who are of little account in the Church!
5.) I say this to your shame. Can it truly be that there is no one among you who is wise? Who is able to judge a dispute between one brother and another?
6.) But one brother goes to law with another, and this in front of unbelievers!
7.) This is already a complete defeat for you, because you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be unjustly treated? Why not rather be cheated?
8.) Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and do this to your brothers!
This is horribly awkward and inconsistent as it stands, but I’ll leave it without editing it. Some particularly difficult places:
1.) The verb τολμᾳ (dare you) at the beginning is very hard maintain when translating into English. I like it at the beginning because it sets the tone up for the rest of the passage, so I chose to just insert it again later in the verse.
2.) I’m wondering how many different ways the phrase και ει εν υμιν ο κοσμος κρινεται can be taken. The supplied “and if by you the world is judged” is pretty literal, but I also have the image of the world going to law against the saints. The first rendering is preferred, most likely, since Paul does later highlight the saints’ role in the final judgment.
3-4.) I wasn’t quite sure how to render βιωτικα. The UBS dictionary has “things pertaining to everyday life,” so trivial things may have been too strong a word. Things pertaining to everyday life was way too long though, so I went with “trivial things” to try and capture the contrast with judging angels. The NIV’s “things of this life” is probably better!
5.) Just awkward ;-)
7-8.) I wanted to keep the “just” root in αδικεισθε, which I why I used “unjustly treated.” The NIV’s cheated is nicer though, particularly for brevity’s sake.
Oh, and for 1-8, I often wanted to use a ‘!’? as punctuation since the questions are mostly of the biting, rhetorical kind. It looked too awkward though.
When I do this in the future, I’ll probably copy and paste the Greek text (or just eschew accents altogether when typing) It was great practice to type it out, but it took forever!
~alex
P.S. You can find my many mistakes by comparing me with this site.
Alex Poulos, PhD 