Galatians 5:12

Galatians 5:12 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)I would they were even cut off which trouble you.
• New International Version (NIV)As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!
• English Standard Version (ESV)I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!
• New King James Version (NKJV)I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off!

Context of Galatians 5:12

10But I feel sure about you, because we belong to the Lord. I know that you will agree with what I say about this. But as for the man who is confusing you, God will punish him. It does not matter who he is, God will punish him. 11My Christian friends, do you think that I still teach that someone must circumcise believers? If I really taught that, then I would not still receive trouble from people. What I teach about Christ's death on the cross would not cause anyone to become angry. Those people who are causing trouble and want to circumcise you should cut their own bodies! Yes, that is what they should do! 13My Christian friends, God has chosen you to serve him as free people. But you are still weak and human. So you are not free to do anything that you might want to do. Instead, you must serve one another, because you love each other. 14One rule brings together all the rules in God's Law. That one rule says: ‘Love other people as much as you love yourself.’

Galatians 5:12 word by word

ὄφελον καὶ ἀποκόψονται οἱ ἀναστατοῦντες ὑμᾶς.Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• I wouldὄφελονophelon · I wish!G3785
• they wereἀποκόπτωapokoptō · to cut offG609
• evenκαίkai · andG2532
• whichὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• troubleἀναστατόωanastatoō · to cause troubleG387
• youσύsu · youG4771

Cross-references for Galatians 5:12

• Galatians 5:10But I feel sure about you, because we belong to the Lord. I know that you will agree with what I say about this. But as for the man who is confusing you, God will punish him. It does not matter who he is, God will punish him.
• Galatians 1:8Nobody should ever teach a message that is different from the good news that we taught you. Neither we ourselves, nor even an angel from heaven, should ever teach a different message. If anyone does that, I pray that God would curse him.
• Genesis 17:14If any male person among you has not been circumcised, I will not accept him as one of my people. He must become separate from his people. He has not obeyed my covenant.’
• Exodus 12:15For seven days, you must eat flat bread that has no yeast in it. On the first day of the Passover festival, you must take all the yeast out of your houses. During those seven days, if anyone eats bread with yeast in it, he will no longer belong to my people, the Israelites.
• Exodus 30:33Nobody must make a perfume that has a sweet smell like this oil. Nobody must put this oil on any person who is not a priest. Anyone who does not obey this rule will no longer belong to my people.” ’
• Leviticus 22:3One of your sons may not be clean. That son must not come near the Lord's holy offerings. But perhaps he may not obey my rule. He might go near to the holy gifts. The priests who are clean must punish him. They must send him away. He must go from God's house. I am the Lord. This rule is for now and for all time.
• Joshua 7:12That is why the Israelites are running away from their enemies. They themselves must now be destroyed because they belong to me. If you want me to continue to help you, you must destroy everything that belongs to me. You should not have taken those valuable things for yourselves.
• John 9:34The Jewish leaders answered him, ‘Since the day that you were born, you have never obeyed God's laws. You cannot teach us anything!’ And they threw him out of the meeting place.
• Acts 5:5As soon as he heard Peter say this, Ananias fell down and he died. When people heard what had happened, they were all very afraid.
• Acts 15:1Some men arrived in Antioch from Judea. They began to teach the believers there who were not Jews. They said to them, ‘God cannot save you unless someone circumcises you. This is in the Law that God gave to Moses.’

Commentaries on Galatians 5:12

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 12I would they were even cut off which trouble you - This saying has puzzled many, and different interpretations of the place have been proposed by learned men. At first sight it seems as if the apostle was praying for the destruction of the false teachers who had perverted the Churches of Galatia. Mr. Wakefield thought might be translated, I wish that they were made to weep; and in his translation of the New Testament the passage stands thus: "I wish that…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 12I would they were even cut off - That is, as I understand it, from the communion of the church. So far am I, says Paul, from agreeing with them, and preaching the necessity of circumcision as they do, that I sincerely wish they were excluded from the church as unworthy a place among the children of God. For a very singular and monstrous interpretation of this passage, though adopted by Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Jerome, Grotius, Rosenmuller…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 7-12Verses 7-12 The life of a Christian is a race, wherein he must run, and hold on, if he would obtain the prize. It is not enough that we profess Christianity, but we must run well, by living up to that profession. Many who set out fairly in religion, are hindered in their progress, or turn out of the way. It concerns those who begin to turn out of the way, or to tire in it, seriously to inquire what hinders them. The opinion or persuasion, ver. #(8), was…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 12emasculate themselves (literally cut themselves off; compare Philippians 3:2): Paul uses strong words to criticize people who demanded circumcision (cutting off the foreskin from the male sex organ). Paul might refer to pagan priests in Galatia who castrated themselves (removed their testicles) for their gods. Insisting on circumcision for Christians is similar. It involved cutting the flesh to please God through physical actions instead of faith in…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1212. they ... which trouble you--Translate, as the Greek is different from Ga 5:10, "they who are unsettling you." were even cut off--even as they desire your foreskin to be cut off and cast away by circumcision, so would that they were even cut off from your communion, being worthless as a castaway foreskin (Ga 1:7, 8; compare Php 3:2). The fathers, Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine, and Chrysostom, explain it, "Would that they would even cut themselves off,"…Read the comment

Topics related to Galatians 5:12

• Church

In the dictionaries

• Affection
• Bite
• Contrary
• Cross
• Crucify
• Debtor
• Flesh
• Gentleness
• Goodness
• Meekness

Commentaries on Galatians 5

• 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