1 Corinthians 12:24

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
The more beautiful parts don't need this special care. But God put the body together and gave more honor to the parts that need it.

Revised Standard Version
which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior part,

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
For oure honest members nede it not. But God hath so disposed the body ad hath geven most honoure to that parte which laked

Hebrew Names Version
whereas our presentable parts have no such need. But God composed the body together, giving more abundant honor to the inferior part,

International Standard Version
However, our attractive parts don't need this. But God has put the body together and has given special honor to the parts that lack it,

New American Standard Bible
whereas our more presentable parts have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that part which lacked,

New Century Version
The more respectable parts of our body need no special care. But God put the body together and gave more honor to the parts that need it

Update Bible Version
whereas our comely [parts] have no need: but God tempered the body together, giving more abundant honor to that [part] which lacked;

Webster's Bible Translation
For our comely [parts] have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that [part] which lacked:

English Standard Version
which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it,

World English Bible
whereas our presentable parts have no such need. But God composed the body together, giving more abundant honor to the inferior part,

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
For our comely parts have no need; but God hath tempered the body together, giving more abundant honour to that which lacked:

Weymouth's New Testament
But it was God who built up the body, and bestowed more abundant honor on the part that felt the need,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For oure oneste membris han nede of noon; but God tempride the bodi, yyuynge more worschip to it, to whom it failide,

English Revised Version
whereas our comely [parts] have no need: but God tempered the body together, giving more abundant honour to that [part] which lacked;

Berean Standard Bible
whereas our presentable parts have no such need. But God has composed the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it,

Contemporary English Version
but we don't have to be modest about other parts. God put our bodies together in such a way that even the parts that seem the least important are valuable.

Amplified Bible
while our more presentable parts do not require it. But God has combined the [whole] body, giving greater honor to that part which lacks it,

American Standard Version
whereas our comely parts have no need: but God tempered the body together, giving more abundant honor to that part which lacked;

Bible in Basic English
But those parts of the body which are beautiful have no need of such care: and so the body has been joined together by God in such a way as to give more honour to those parts which had need of it;

Complete Jewish Bible
while our attractive parts have no need for such treatment. Indeed, God has put the body together in such a way that he gives greater dignity to the parts that lack it,

Darby Translation
but our comely [parts] have not need. But God has tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to [the part] that lacked;

Etheridge Translation
24 But those members that are honourable in us have no need of adornment: [fn] but Aloha hath contempered the body, and given the more honour to the member which is inconsiderable;

Murdock Translation
For the honorable members in us, have no need of honor: for God hath tempered the body, and given more honor to the member which is inferior;

King James Version (1611)
For our comely parts haue no need: but God hath tempered the bodie together, hauing giuen more abundant honour to that part which lacked:

New Living Translation
while the more honorable parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity.

New Life Bible
The parts that can be seen do not need as much care. God has made the body so more care is given to the parts that need it most.

New Revised Standard
whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member,

Geneva Bible (1587)
For our comely partes neede it not: but God hath tempered the body together, and hath giuen the more honour to that part which lacked,

George Lamsa Translation
For our comely parts have no need for attention: But God has so tempered the body together, and has given greater honor to the member which is inferior:

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Whereas, our comely parts, have, no need. But, God, hath tempered the body together, - unto that which was lacking, giving more abundant honour; -

Douay-Rheims Bible
But our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, giving to that which wanted the more abundant honour.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For our comely members neede it not: But God hath tempered the body together, and hath geuen the more honour to that [part] which lacked:

Good News Translation
which the more beautiful parts do not need. God himself has put the body together in such a way as to give greater honor to those parts that need it.

Christian Standard Bible®
which our respectable parts do not need.

King James Version
For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked.

Lexham English Bible
but our presentable parts do not have need of this. Yet God composed the body by giving more abundant honor to the part which lacked it,

Literal Translation
But our presentable members have no need. But God tempered the body together, giving more abundant honor to the member having need,

Young's Literal Translation
and our seemly things have no need; but God did temper the body together, to the lacking part having given more abundant honour,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For oure honest membres neade it not. But God hath so measured ye body, and geuen most honoure vnto that mebre which had nede,

Mace New Testament (1729)
of which the graceful have no need: but God has contrived the symmetry of the body, by bestowing an additional advantage where it seem'd to want it.

New English Translation
but our presentable members do not need this. Instead, God has blended together the body, giving greater honor to the lesser member,

New King James Version
but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it,

Simplified Cowboy Version
But there are other parts that are just as important that we never cover up. God put this whole body together, and while some parts are more visible, the entire body should be honored.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked,

Legacy Standard Bible
whereas our more presentable members have no such need. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked,

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

Genesis 2:25, Genesis 3:11

Reciprocal: 1 Corinthians 12:18 - hath

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For our comely parts have no need,.... As the face, eyes, nose, lips, cheeks, c. which stand in no need of an external covering, of any outward ornament: so such as are blessed with the bounties of nature and providence, with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and are eminent for grace and holiness, and are enabled to walk worthy of their calling, and to have their conversations as become the Gospel of Christ, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience, these have no need of such a covering, as the former have, to hide and conceal them from the world:

but God hath tempered the body together he hath composed it in such a forth, constituted it in such an order, mixed and united all its parts in such a manner, as that they are all beneficial to each other; and such is the harmonious contexture of the whole, that it is a most beautiful structure:

having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked; or, as the Syriac version renders it, "which is the least"; and such is the temperament and constitution of the church, having mixed rich and poor persons, of greater and lesser gifts, together, for mutual good.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For our comely parts - The face, etc. “Have no need.” No need of clothing or ornament.

But God hath tempered the body together - Literally, “mingled” or mixed; that is, has made to coalesce, or strictly and closely joined. He has formed a strict union; he has made one part dependent on another, and necessary to the harmony and proper action of another. Every part is useful, and all are suited to the harmonious action of the whole. God has so arranged it, in order to produce harmony and equality in the body, that those parts which are less comely by nature should be more adorned and guarded by apparel.

Having given more abundant honour ... - By making it necessary that we should labor in order to procure for it the needful clothing; thus making it more the object of our attention and care. We thus bestow more abundant honor upon those parts of the body which a suitable protection from cold, and heat, and storms, and the sense of comeliness, requires us to clothe and conceal. The “more abundant honor,” therefore, refers to the greater attention, labor, and care which we bestow on those parts of the body.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 24. For our comely parts have no need — It would be easy to go into great detail in giving an anatomical description of the different members and parts to which the apostle refers, but it would not probably answer the end of general edification; and to explain every allusion made by the apostle, would require a minuteness of description which would not be tolerated except in a treatise on the anatomy of the human body. My readers will therefore excuse my entering into this detail.