1 Corinthians 12:17 BSB

1 Corinthians 12:17

If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

KJV

If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

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Commentary

1 voice

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)

If the whole body ... - The idea in this verse is, that all the parts of the body are useful in their proper place, and that it would be as absurd to require or expect that all the members of the church should have the same endowments, as it would be to attempt to make the body “all eye.” If all were the same; if all had the same endowments, important offices which are now secured by the other members would be unknown.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

14 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
εἰ	ei	If	G1487 →
ὅλον	holon	all	G3650 →
τὸ	to	the	G3588 →
σῶμα	sōma	body [were]	G4983 →
ὀφθαλμός,	ophthalmos	an eye,	G3788 →
ποῦ	pou	where	G4226 →
ἡ	hē	[would be] the	G3588 →
ἀκοή;	akoē	hearing?	G189 →
εἰ	ei	If	G1487 →
ὅλον	holon	all	G3650 →
ἀκοή,	akoē	[were] hearing,	G189 →
ποῦ	pou	where	G4226 →
ἡ	hē	[would be] the	G3588 →
ὄσφρησις;	osphrēsis	sense of smell?	G3750 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Psalms 94:9
He who affixed the ear, can He not hear? He who formed the eye, can He not see?
leads to
- Exodus 4:11
  And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD?
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
- Jeremiah 23:23–24
  “Am I only a God nearby,” declares the LORD, “and not a God far away?”
- Psalms 44:21
  would not God have discovered, since He knows the secrets of the heart?
- Proverbs 20:12
  Ears that hear and eyes that see—the LORD has made them both.
- Psalms 11:4
  The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD is on His heavenly throne. His eyes are watching closely; they examine the sons of men.
Through
Proverbs 20:12
Ears that hear and eyes that see—the LORD has made them both.
leads to
- Matthew 13:13–16
  This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’
- Psalms 94:9
  He who affixed the ear, can He not hear? He who formed the eye, can He not see?
- Psalms 119:18
  Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from Your law.