1 Corinthians 12:21

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the foot, "I don't need you!"

Revised Standard Version
The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And the eye can not saye vnto the honde I have no nede of the: nor ye heed also to the fete. I have no nede of you.

Hebrew Names Version
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."

International Standard Version
The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you," or the head to the feet, "I don't need you."

New American Standard Bible
And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; or again, the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."

New Century Version
The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the foot, "I don't need you!"

Update Bible Version
And the eye can't say to the hand, I have no need of you: or again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

Webster's Bible Translation
And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

English Standard Version
The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."

World English Bible
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."

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
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.

Weymouth's New Testament
It is also impossible for the eye to say to the hand, "I do not need you;" or again for the head to say to the feet, "I do not need you."

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the iye may not seie to the hond, Y haue no nede to thi werkis; or eft the heed to the feet, Ye ben not necessarie to me.

English Revised Version
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.

Berean Standard Bible
The eye cannot say to the hand, "I do not need you." Nor can the head say to the feet, "I do not need you."

Contemporary English Version
That's why the eyes cannot say they don't need the hands. That's also why the head cannot say it doesn't need the feet.

Amplified Bible
The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."

American Standard Version
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.

Bible in Basic English
And the eye may not say to the hand, I have no need of you: or again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

Complete Jewish Bible
So the eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you"; or the head to the feet, "I don't need you."

Darby Translation
The eye cannot say to the hand, I have not need of thee; or again, the head to the feet, I have not need of you.

Etheridge Translation
The eye is not able to say to the hand, Thou art not needful to me; nor is the hand able to say to the feet, You are not needful to me.

Murdock Translation
The eye cannot say to the hand, Thou art not needful to me: nor can the head say to the feet, Ye are not needful to me.

King James Version (1611)
And the eye cannot say vnto the hand, I haue no need of thee: nor againe, the head to the feete, I haue no neede of you.

New Living Translation
The eye can never say to the hand, "I don't need you." The head can't say to the feet, "I don't need you."

New Life Bible
The eye cannot say to the hand, "I do not need you." Or the head cannot say to the feet, "I do not need you."

New Revised Standard
The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."

Geneva Bible (1587)
And the eye cannot say vnto the hand, I haue no neede of thee: nor the head againe to the feete, I haue no neede of you.

George Lamsa Translation
The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you: nor can the head say to the feet, I have no need of you.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Andthe eye cannot say unto the hand - I have no need of thee, - nor, again, the head, unto the feet - I have no need of you: -

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the eye cannot say to the hand: I need not thy help. Nor again the head to the feet: I have no need of you.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the eye can not say vnto ye hande, I haue no neede of thee: Nor, the head agayne to the feete, I haue no neede of you.

Good News Translation
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!"

Christian Standard Bible®
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”

King James Version
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.

Lexham English Bible
Now the eye is not able to say to the hand, "I do not have need of you," or again, the head to the feet, "I do not have need of you."

Literal Translation
And the eye is not able to say to the hand, I have no need of you; or again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

Young's Literal Translation
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.'

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The eye can not saye vnto the hande: I haue no nede of the: or agayne the heade vnto the fete, I haue no nede of you:

Mace New Testament (1729)
and the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of thee:" nor again, the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."

New English Translation
The eye cannot say to the hand, "I do not need you," nor in turn can the head say to the foot, "I do not need you."

New King James Version
And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."

Simplified Cowboy Version
Your eye cannot say to the hand, "I'm more important and I don't need you." Your head cannot say to the to the feet, "I'm more important and you don't serve any purpose."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; or again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."

Legacy Standard Bible
And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; or again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."

Contextual Overview

¹²You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you're still one body. It's exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive. ¹⁴I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn't just a single part blown up into something huge. It's all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. If Foot said, "I'm not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don't belong to this body," would that make it so? If Ear said, "I'm not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don't deserve a place on the head," would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it. ¹⁹But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn't be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, "Get lost; I don't need you"? Or, Head telling Foot, "You're fired; your job has been phased out"? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the "lower" the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it's a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn't you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair? ²⁵The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don't, the parts we see and the parts we don't. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Numbers 10:31, Numbers 10:32, 1 Samuel 25:32, Ezra 10:1-5, Nehemiah 4:16-21, Job 29:11

Reciprocal: Exodus 18:24 - General Judges 13:23 - his wife Proverbs 22:2 - rich Acts 18:26 - expounded Acts 28:15 - he thanked 1 Corinthians 12:17 - General

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the eye cannot say unto the hand,.... Every member of the natural body is useful and necessary. The eye, the seat of the sense of seeing, cannot say to the communicating and working hand,

I have no need of thee: I can do without thee: so the seers and overseers of the church, the ministers of the Gospel, cannot say to the liberal and munificent hands, we have no need of you; for as the one stand in need of the light, instruction, comfort, advice, and direction of the other, so the other stand in need of communication from them; and as God has made it a duty, that he that is taught in the word should communicate to him that teacheth in all good things; and as it is his ordinance that they which preach the Gospel should live of it; so he has generally ordered it in his providence, that they that teach should need such assistance:

nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. The head, which is the seat of the senses, and is superior to, and has the command and government of all the members of the body, cannot say to the lowest and most distant parts of it, the feet, you are needless and useless; so those that are set in the first place in the church, are over others in the Lord, and have the rule over them, cannot say to those that are under them, and submit unto them, even the lowest and meanest of them, that they are of no use and service to them; they can no more be without them, than the head can be without the feet, or than princes can do without subjects, or magistrates without citizens, or generals without soldiers.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And the eye cannot say unto the hand ... - The hand in its place is as needful as the eye; and the feet as the head. Nay, the eye and the head could not perform their appropriate functions, or would be in a great measure useless but for the aid of the hands and feet. Each is useful in its proper place. So in the church. Those that are most talented and most richly endowed with gifts, cannot say to those less so, that there is no need of their aid. All are useful in their place. Nay, those who are most richly endowed could very imperfectly perform their duties without the aid and cooperation of those of more humble attainments.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 21. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee — The apostle goes on, with his principal object in view, to show that the gifts and graces with which their different teachers were endowed were all necessary for their salvation, and should be collectively used; for not one of them was unnecessary, nor could they dispense with the least of them; the body of Christ needed the whole for its nourishment and support. The famous apologue of Menenius Agrippa, related by Livy, will serve to illustrate the apostle's reasoning: the Roman people, getting into a state of insurrection and rebellion against the nobility, under pretext that the great men not only had all the honours but all the emoluments of the nation, while they were obliged to bear all the burdens, and suffer all the privations; they then in riotous assemblage left their homes and went to Mount Aventine. Matters were at last brought to such an issue, that the senators and great men were obliged to fly from the city, and the public peace was on the point of being utterly ruined: it was then thought expedient to send Menenius Agrippa to them, who was high in their esteem, having vanquished the Sabines and Samnites, and had the first triumph at Rome. This great general, who was as eloquent as he was valiant, went to the Mons Sacer, to which the insurgents had retired, and thus addressed them: Tempore, quo in homine non, ut nunc emnia in unum consentiebant, sed singulis membris suum cuique consilium, suus sermo fuerat, indignatas reliquas partes, sua cura, suo labore ac ministerio ventri omnia quaeri; ventrem, in medio quietum, nihil aliud, quam datis voluptatibus frui. Conspirasse inde, ne manus ad os cibum ferrent, nec os acciperet datum, nec dentes conficerent. Hac ira, dum ventrem fame domare vellent, ipsa una membra totumque corpus ad extremam tabem venisse. lnde apparuisse, ventris quoque haud segne ministerium esse: nec magis ali, quam alere eum, reddentem in omnes corporis partes hunc, quo vivimus vigemusque, divisum pariter in venas maturum, confecto cibo, sanquinem. T. Livii, Histor. lib. ii. cap. 32. "In that time in which the different parts of the human body were not in a state of unity as they now are, but each member had its separate office and distinct language, they all became discontented, because whatever was procured by their care, labour, and industry, was spent on the belly; while this, lying at ease in the midst of the body, did nothing but enjoy whatever was provided for it. They therefore conspired among themselves, and agreed that the hands should not convey food to the mouth, that the mouth should not receive what was offered to it, and that the teeth should not masticate whatever was brought to the mouth. Acting on this principle of revenge, and hoping to reduce the belly by famine, all the members, and the whole body itself, were at length brought into the last stage of a consumption. It then plainly appeared that the belly itself did no small service; that it contributed not less to their nourishment than they did to its support, distributing to every part that from which they derived life and vigour; for by properly concocting the food, the pure blood derived from it was conveyed by the arteries to every member."

This sensible comparison produced the desired effect; the people were persuaded that the senators were as necessary to their existence as they were to that of the senators, and that it required the strictest union and mutual support of high and low to preserve the body politic. This transaction took place about 500 years before the Christian era, and was handed down by unbroken tradition to the time of Titus Livius, from whom I have taken it, who died in the year of our Lord 17, about forty years before St. Paul wrote this epistle. As his works were well known and universally read among the Romans in the time of the apostle, it is very probable that St. Paul had this famous apologue in view when he wrote from the 14th verse to the end of the chapter. 1 Corinthians 12:1; 1 Corinthians 12:14-31