Galatians 5:15

Galatians 5:15 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
• New International Version (NIV)If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
• English Standard Version (ESV)But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
• New King James Version (NKJV)But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!

Context of Galatians 5:15

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.’ So you must not live like wild animals. Wild animals fight and they eat each other. If you live like that, be very careful! You may destroy one another completely. 16So this is what I say: Let God's Spirit show you how to live in a good way. Then you will not do the wrong things that you may want to do, as people who are weak and human. 17The things that you want to do as a weak person are opposite to the things that God's Spirit wants. The things that God's Spirit wants are the opposite of what we want as weak people. Our own thoughts fight against what God's Spirit wants us to do. As a result, you are not free to do the things that you really want to do.

Galatians 5:15 word by word

εἰ δὲ ἀλλήλους δάκνετε καὶ κατεσθίετε, βλέπετε μὴ ὑπ᾽ ἀλλήλων ἀναλωθῆτε.¶Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Butδέde · thenG1161
• ifεἰei · ifG1487
• ye biteδάκνωdaknō · to biteG1143
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• devourκατεσθίωkatesthiō · to devourG2719
• one anotherἀλλήλωνallēlōn · one anotherG240
• take heedβλέπωblepō · to seeG991
• that ye beἀναλίσκωanaliskō · to consumeG355
• notμήmē · notG3361
• ofὑπόhupo · by/under: byG5259

Cross-references for Galatians 5:15

• Galatians 5:26We must not become proud. We must not be jealous of each other, so that we cause trouble to one another.
• 2 Samuel 2:26Abner shouted to Joab, ‘We should stop fighting. We do not want to continue killing one another for ever. In the end, we would all be very sad. Please tell your men to stop chasing after their brothers.’
• Isaiah 9:20People eat whatever food they can get, on their right side or their left side. But they are still hungry. They even eat their own family!
• Isaiah 11:5He will wear justice like a belt round his clothes. He will always be honest and true.
• 1 Corinthians 3:3You still do what your human nature wants to do. You are jealous of each other, and you quarrel with each other. Yes! This shows that you do what your human nature wants to do. You live like people who do not know God.
• 1 Corinthians 6:6But instead, some believers among you accuse other believers in front of judges. And those judges are not believers!
• 2 Corinthians 11:20You accept people who make you like their slaves. You accept people who cheat you, or take things from you. You accept people who are proud of themselves. Even if someone hits you in your face, you still accept 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.
• James 3:14But if you live in a bad way, do not think that you are wise. Are you jealous of other people so that you hate them? Do you want to make yourself important? If you live like that, do not say that you are great and wise. You are not saying what is true.
• James 4:1You fight and quarrel among yourselves. Do you know why that happens? It is because of the troubles in your thoughts. You want to do bad things that you think will make you happy.

Commentaries on Galatians 5:15

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 15If ye bite and devour one another - These Churches seem to have been in a state of great distraction; there were continual altercations among them. They had fallen from the grace of the Gospel; and, as Christ no longer dwelt in their hearts by faith, pride, anger, ill-will, and all unkind and uncharitable tempers, took possession of their souls, and they were in consequence alternately destroying each other. Nothing is so destructive to the peace of man…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 15But if ye bite - The word used here ( ́ daknō), means, properly, to bite, to sting; and here seems to be used in the sense of contending and striving - a metaphor not improbably taken from dogs and wild beasts. And devour one another - As wild beasts do. The sense is, “if you contend with each other;” and the reference is, probably, to the strifes which would arise between the two parties in the churches - the Jewish and the Gentile converts. Take heed…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 13-15Verses 13-15 The gospel is a doctrine according to godliness, 1Ti 6:3, and is so far from giving the least countenance to sin, that it lays us under the strongest obligation to avoid and subdue it. The apostle urges that all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. If Christians, who should help one another, and rejoice one another, quarrel, what can be expected but that the God of love should deny his…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 15The opposite of love is when people hurt and attack each other (see Psalm 35:25; Proverbs 30:14; Jeremiah 8:17). People who lack love are often bitter and fight with one another. They will eventually harm each other. In contrast, love brings life to others (see John 3:16; 15:12–13).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1515. bite--backbite the character. devour--the substance by injuring, extortion, &c. (Ha 1:13; Mt 23:14; 2Co 11:20). consumed, &c.--Strength of soul, health of body, character, and resources, are all consumed by broils [Bengel].Read the comment

Topics related to Galatians 5:15

• Strife

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