Galatians 4:11

Galatians 4:11 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
• New International Version (NIV)I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.
• English Standard Version (ESV)I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.
• New King James Version (NKJV)I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.

Context of Galatians 4:11

9But now you do know God. Or really, I should say that God knows you. So you must not turn back to serve those weak spirits that rule this world. Why do you want to obey their useless rules and become their slaves again? 10You say that certain days, or months, or seasons, or years are special. That is how you want to please God. I am afraid about you. I worked very much to help you. I do not want my work to have no results. 12My Christian friends, please become like me! I ask you to do this, because when I was with you, I became like you. You did not then do anything wrong to me. 13You must remember that I first came to you because I was ill. That was when I first told God's good news to you.

Galatians 4:11 word by word

φοβοῦμαι ὑμᾶς μή πως εἰκῇ κεκοπίακα εἰς ὑμᾶς.Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• I am afraid ofφοβέωphobeō · to fearG5399
• youσύsu · youG4771
• lestμήπωςmēpōs mē pōs · so thatG3381
• I have bestowedκοπιάωkopiaō · to laborG2872
• uponεἰςeis · towardG1519
• in vainεἰκῇeikē · in vainG1500

Cross-references for Galatians 4:11

• Galatians 4:20I want very much to be there with you now. Then I would know better how to speak to you. As it is, I do not know what to think about you.
• 2 Corinthians 11:2God wants to keep you for himself. And that is what I want too. I have brought you to Christ, like a pure bride who marries one husband. I want you to be pure and to belong only to him.
• 2 Corinthians 12:20When I come there to visit you, I hope you will be living in a good way. But I am afraid that I will not see what I want to see. Then you will see that I am different from what you want me to be! I am afraid that you may be quarrelling. You may be jealous of each other. You may be very angry with each other. Some of you may just want to please yourselves. You may be insulting one another, or telling lies about one another. You may be proud of how good you are. You may be causing trouble for one another. Yes, I am afraid that all those things may be happening among you.
• Galatians 2:2I went there because God had shown me that I should go. I talked to the Christian leaders there. I explained to them the good news that I teach to the Gentiles. But I talked only to those men who seemed to be the leaders. I wanted to be sure that they agreed with the message that I taught. I did not want my work, both in past times and now, to be worth nothing.
• Galatians 5:2Listen carefully! I, Paul, tell you this. If you agree that someone should circumcise you, then Christ will be worth nothing to you.
• Isaiah 49:4I said, ‘My work has been useless. I have worked hard with no results.’ But the Lord will do what is right for me. He will give me what I deserve for my work.
• Acts 16:6Paul and his friends wanted to go to the region of Asia to speak God's message. But the Holy Spirit stopped them from doing this. So they travelled through the regions of Phrygia and Galatia.
• 1 Corinthians 15:58So you must continue to be strong in your spirits, my Christian friends that I love. Do not let anything move you away from your faith. Continue to work hard as you serve the Lord. You know that whatever you do for him will not be useless.
• Philippians 2:16Tell people the true message that can give them life with God. Then I will know that my work among you had good results. Because of that, I will be very happy on the day when Christ returns.
• 1 Thessalonians 3:5That is why I had to send Timothy to come to you. I could not wait to hear news about you any longer. I wanted to know whether you still trusted Christ. I was afraid that Satan had deceived you. If he had made you turn away from Christ, our work among you would have had no results.
• 2 John 1:8So be careful! Do not believe their lies. Do not lose the good things that we have worked for. Make sure that you receive all the good things that God has promised to give you.

Commentaries on Galatians 4:11

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 11I am afraid of you - I begin now to be seriously alarmed for you, and think you are so thoroughly perverted from the Gospel of Christ, that all my pains and labor in your conversion have been thrown away.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 11I am afraid of you … - I have fears respecting you. His fears were that they had no genuine Christian principle. They had been so easily perverted and turned back to the servitude of ceremonies and rites, that he was apprehensive that there could be no real Christian principle in the case. What pastor has not often had such fears of his people, when he sees them turn to the weak and beggarly elements of the world, or when, after having “run well,” he sees…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 8-11Verses 8-11 The happy change whereby the Galatians were turned from idols to the living God, and through Christ had received the adoption of sons, was the effect of his free and rich grace; they were laid under the greater obligation to keep to the liberty wherewith he had made them free. All our knowledge of God begins on his part; we know him because we are known of him. Though our religion forbids idolatry, yet many practise spiritual idolatry in their…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 11I fear for you: The Galatians were in danger of turning away from Christ by depending on the law. If they did, Paul's efforts would have been wasted. The good news would not benefit them (compare Hebrews 6:4–6; 2 Peter 2:20–22). See Acts 13:44–14:24 for a description of Paul's work for the Christians in that region.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 8-118-11. Appeal to them not to turn back from their privileges as free sons, to legal bondage again. then--when ye were "servants" (Ga 4:7). ye knew not God--not opposed to Ro 1:21. The heathen originally knew God, as Ro 1:21 states, but did not choose to retain God in their knowledge, and so corrupted the original truth. They might still have known Him, in a measure, from His works, but as a matter of fact they knew Him not, so far as His eternity, His…Read the comment

Topics related to Galatians 4:11

• Backsliders
• Instability
• Love
• Works
• Zeal, Religious

In the dictionaries

• Doubt
• Flesh
• Observe
• Zealously
• Galatians, Epistle to the

Commentaries on Galatians 4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings