Passage

1 Corinthians 12.21

Book: 1 Corinthians · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

19. And if they were all one member, where were the body? 20. But now they are many members, but one body.

21. And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee: or again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

Nay, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary: 23. and those parts of the body, which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness; (1 Corinthians 12:19-23, ASV)

WEB

19. If they were all one member, where would the body be? 20. But now they are many members, but one body.

21. The eye can’t tell the hand, “I have no need for you,” or again the head to the feet, “I have no need for you.”

No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. 23. Those parts of the body which we think to be less honorable, on those we bestow more abundant honor; and our unpresentable parts have more abundant propriety; (1 Corinthians 12:19-23, WEB)

KJV

19. And if they were all one member, where were the body? 20. But now are they many members, yet but one body.

21. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: 23. And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. ^{bestow: or, put on} (1 Corinthians 12:19-23, KJV)

YLT

19. and if all were one member, where the body? 20. and now, indeed, [are] many members, and one body;

21. and an eye is not able to say to the hand, 'I have no need of thee;' nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.'

But much more the members of the body which seem to be more infirm are necessary, 23. and those that we think to be less honourable of the body, around these we put more abundant honour, and our unseemly things have seemliness more abundant, (1 Corinthians 12:19-23, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

TBD
TBD
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Quoted in

Concepts:

Tongues as Evidence of the Spirit

Lexicon:

G1577 - ekklesia, via 1 Corinthians 12.12-27
G4983 - soma, via 1 Corinthians 12.12-27

Notes

Your annotations.

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.