1 Corinthians 12:22

Good News Translation

On the contrary, we cannot do without the parts of the body that seem to be weaker;

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
No, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are actually very important.

Revised Standard Version
On the contrary, the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are indispensable,

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Ye rather a greate deale those mebres of the body which seme to be most feble are most necessary.

Hebrew Names Version
No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.

International Standard Version
On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are in fact indispensable,

New American Standard Bible
On the contrary, it is much truer that the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary;

New Century Version
No! Those parts of the body that seem to be the weaker are really necessary.

Update Bible Version
No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary:

Webster's Bible Translation
Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:

English Standard Version
On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,

World English Bible
No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Yea, the members of the body, which appear to be weaker, are much more necessary.

Weymouth's New Testament
No, it is quite otherwise. Even those parts of the body which are apparently somewhat feeble are yet indispensable;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
But myche more tho that ben seyn to be the lowere membris of the bodi, ben more nedeful;

English Revised Version
Nay, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary:

Berean Standard Bible
On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,

Contemporary English Version
In fact, we cannot get along without the parts of the body that seem to be the weakest.

Amplified Bible
But quite the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are [absolutely] necessary;

American Standard Version
Nay, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary:

Bible in Basic English
No, those parts which seem to be feeble are the more necessary;

Complete Jewish Bible
On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be less important turn out to be all the more necessary;

Darby Translation
But much rather, the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary;

Etheridge Translation
But those members which are considered to be feeble, of them is the more especial need;

Murdock Translation
But rather, those members which are accounted feeble, are indispensable.

King James Version (1611)
Nay, much more those members of the bodie, which seeme to bee more feeble, are necessary.

New Living Translation
In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary.

New Life Bible
Some of the parts we think are weak and not important are very important.

New Revised Standard
On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,

Geneva Bible (1587)
Yea, much rather those members of the body, which seeme to be more feeble, are necessarie.

George Lamsa Translation
But rather those members of the body which are considered to be delicate are necessary.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Nay! much more, the members which seem to be weaker are necessary,

Douay-Rheims Bible
Yea, much, more those that seem to be the more feeble members of the body are more necessary

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Yea, rather a great deale, those members of the body which seeme to be more feeble, are necessary:

Christian Standard Bible®
On the contrary, those parts of the body that are weaker are indispensable.

King James Version
Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:

Lexham English Bible
But by much more the members of the body which are thought to be weaker are necessary,

Literal Translation
But much rather the members of the body seeming to be weaker are necessary.

Young's Literal Translation
But much more the members of the body which seem to be more infirm are necessary,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
but rather a greate deale the mebres of the body which seme to be most feble, are most necessary:

Mace New Testament (1729)
nay, those parts of the body, which seem to be of the least account, are much more necessary.

New English Translation
On the contrary, those members that seem to be weaker are essential,

New King James Version
No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.

Simplified Cowboy Version
In fact, some parts of the body that seem unimportant and unnecessary are really the most needed.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary;

Legacy Standard Bible
On the contrary, how much more is it that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary,

Contextual Overview

¹² Christ is like a single body, which has many parts; it is still one body, even though it is made up of different parts. ¹³ In the same way, all of us, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether slaves or free, have been baptized into the one body by the same Spirit, and we have all been given the one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ For the body itself is not made up of only one part, but of many parts. ¹⁵ If the foot were to say, "Because I am not a hand, I don't belong to the body," that would not keep it from being a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear were to say, "Because I am not an eye, I don't belong to the body," that would not keep it from being a part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were just an eye, how could it hear? And if it were only an ear, how could it smell? ¹⁸ As it is, however, God put every different part in the body just as he wanted it to be. ¹⁹ There would not be a body if it were all only one part! ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts but one body. ²¹ So then, the eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" Nor can the head say to the feet, "Well, I don't need you!"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Proverbs 14:28, Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, Ecclesiastes 5:9, Ecclesiastes 9:14, Ecclesiastes 9:15, 2 Corinthians 1:11, Titus 2:9, Titus 2:10

Reciprocal: Acts 28:15 - he thanked Romans 15:1 - ought 1 Corinthians 12:16 - is it Philippians 2:4 - General 1 Peter 3:7 - giving

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Nay, much more those members of the body,.... The apostle, in a beautiful gradation, proceeds to take notice of such parts of the body as are more weak, dishonourable, and uncomely, showing the necessity and usefulness of them:

which seem to be more feeble; than others, do not consist of a strong bony substance, and are not fenced with sinews, as the belly and its intestines: yet these

are necessary; nor could the body be sustained, nourished, and refreshed, without them; so the more weak and feeble saints, whose hearts and hands are to be strengthened, whose infirmities are to be bore, have their usefulness; and the effectual working in the measure of every part, even of the feeble and tender, maketh increase of the body, to the edifying of itself in love: and these God has seen fit, as necessary to call by his grace, and place in the body, that his strength may be made perfect in their weakness, and to confound the mighty; and out of the mouths even of babes and sucklings to ordain strength and praise.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Which seem to be more feeble - Weaker than the rest; which seem less able to bear fatigue and to encounter difficulties; which are more easily injured, and which become more easily affected with disease. It is possible that Paul may here refer to the brain, the lungs, the heart, etc., as more feeble in their structure, and more liable to disease than the hands and the feet, etc., and in reference to which disease is more dangerous and fatal.

Are more necessary - The sense seems to be this. A man can live though the parts and members of his body which are more strong were removed; but not if those parts which are more feeble. A man can live if his arm or his leg be amputated; but not if his brain, his lungs or his heart be removed. So that, although these parts are more feeble, and more easily injured, they are really more necessary to life, and therefore more useful than the more vigorous portions of the frame. Perhaps the idea is - and it is a beautiful thought - that those members of the church which are most retiring and feeble apparently which are concealed from public view, unnoticed and unknown - the humble. the meek, the peaceful, and the prayerful - are often more necessary to the true welfare of the church than those who are eminent for their talent and learning. And it is so. The church can better spare many a man, even in the ministry, who is learned, and eloquent, and popular, than some obscure and humble Christian, that is to the church what the heart and the lungs are to the life. the one is strong. vigorous, active, like the hands or the feet, and the church often depends on them; the other is feeble, concealed, yet vital, like the heart or the lungs. The vitality of the church could be continued though the man of talent and learning should be removed; as the body may live when the arm or the leg is amputated; but that vitality could not continue if the saint of humble and retiring piety, and of fervent prayerfulness, were removed, any more than the body can live when there is no heart and no lungs.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 22. Those members - which seem to be more feeble — These, and the less honourable and uncomely, mentioned in the next verses, seem to mean the principal viscera, such as the heart, lungs, stomach, and intestinal canal. These, when compared with the arms and limbs, are comparatively weak; and some of them, considered in themselves, uncomely and less honourable; yet these are more essential to life than any of the others. A man may lose an eye by accident, and an arm or a leg may be amputated, and yet the body live and be vigorous; but let the stomach, heart, lungs, or any of the viscera be removed, and life becomes necessarily extinct. Hence these parts are not only covered, but the parts in which they are lodged are surrounded, ornamented, and fortified for their preservation and defence, on the proper performance of whose functions life so immediately depends.