New English Translation
Galatians 4:9
9But now that you have come to know God (or rather to be known by God), how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless basic forces? Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again?
Galatians 4:9 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
- New International Version (NIV)But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?
- English Standard Version (ESV)But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?
- New King James Version (NKJV)But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?
Context of Galatians 4:9
7So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if you are a son, then you are also an heir through God. 8Formerly when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods at all. But now that you have come to know God (or rather to be known by God), how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless basic forces? Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again? 10You are observing religious days and months and seasons and years. 11I fear for you that my work for you may have been in vain.
Read all of Galatians 4Galatians 4:9 word by word
νῦν δὲ γνόντες θεόν, μᾶλλον δὲ γνωσθέντες ὑπὸ θεοῦ, πῶς ἐπιστρέφετε πάλιν ἐπὶ τὰ ἀσθενῆ καὶ πτωχὰ στοιχεῖα οἷς πάλιν ἄνωθεν δουλεύειν θέλετε;Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Butδέde · thenG1161
- nowνῦνnun · nowG3568
- after that ye have knownγινώσκωginōskō · to knowG1097
- Godθεόςtheos · GodG2316
- ratherμᾶλλονmallon · more: ratherG3123
- ofὑπόhupo · by/under: byG5259
- howπῶςpōs · how?!G4459
- turn yeἐπιστρέφωepistrephō · to turnG1994
- againπάλινpalin · againG3825
- toἐπίepi · upon/to/againstG1909
- the weakἀσθενήςasthenēs · weakG772
- andκαίkai · andG2532
- beggarlyπτωχόςptōchos · poorG4434
- elementsστοιχεῖονstoicheion · principleG4747
- whereuntoὅςhos hē ho · whichG3739
- ye desireθέλωthelō ethelō · to will/desireG2309
- ·ἄνωθενanōthen · from above/againG509
- to be in bondageδουλεύωdouleuō · be a slaveG1398
- ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
Cross-references for Galatians 4:9
- 1 Kings 8:43Then listen from your heavenly dwelling place and answer all the prayers of the foreigners. Then all the nations of the earth will acknowledge your reputation, obey you like your people Israel do, and recognize that this temple I built belongs to you.
- 1 Chronicles 28:9“And you, Solomon my son, obey the God of your father and serve him with a submissive attitude and a willing spirit, for the Lord examines all minds and understands every motive of one’s thoughts. If you seek him, he will let you find him, but if you abandon him, he will reject you permanently.
- Psalms 9:10Your loyal followers trust in you, for you, Lord, do not abandon those who seek your help.
- Proverbs 2:5then you will understand how to fear the Lord, and you will discover knowledge about God.
- Jeremiah 31:34“People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me. For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” says the Lord. “For I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.”
- Habakkuk 2:14For recognition of the Lord’s sovereign majesty will fill the earth just as the waters fill up the sea.
- Matthew 11:27All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son decides to reveal him.
- John 17:3Now this is eternal life – that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.
- 1 Corinthians 15:34Sober up as you should, and stop sinning! For some have no knowledge of God – I say this to your shame!
- 2 Corinthians 4:6For God, who said “Let light shine out of darkness,” is the one who shined in our hearts to give us the light of the glorious knowledge of God in the face of Christ.
- Ephesians 1:17I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in your growing knowledge of him,
- 2 Peter 2:20For if after they have escaped the filthy things of the world through the rich knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they again get entangled in them and succumb to them, their last state has become worse for them than their first.
- 1 John 2:3Now by this we know that we have come to know God: if we keep his commandments.
- 1 John 5:20And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us insight to know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This one is the true God and eternal life.
- Exodus 33:17The Lord said to Moses, “I will do this thing also that you have requested, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”
- Psalms 1:6Certainly the Lord guards the way of the godly, but the way of the wicked ends in destruction.
Commentaries on Galatians 4:9
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 9Now, after that ye have known God - After having been brought to the knowledge of God as your Savior. Or rather are known of God - Are approved of him, having received the adoption of sons. To the weak and beggarly elements - After receiving all this, will ye turn again to the ineffectual rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic law - rites too weak to counteract your sinful habits, and too poor to purchase pardon and eternal life for you? If the Galatians were…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 9But now - The sense is, that since they had been made free from their ignoble servitude in the worship of false gods, and had been admitted to the freedom found in the worship of the true God, it was absurd that they should return again to that which was truly slavery or bondage, the observance of the rites of the Jewish law. That ye have known God - The true God, and the ease and freedom of his service in the gospel. Or rather are known of God - The…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. 9Now that you know God: Christians have a relationship with God like a child with a parent, not like a slave with a master (4:5–7). how is it that you are turning back? Paul was confused that Christians would want to return to their old life of spiritual slavery (4:19–20). are known by God: God is the one who saves and has taken the initiative in understanding their souls and forgiving them freely (Psalm 139:1–6, 23–24; Luke 2:34–35; Hebrews 4:12). By…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 4:9
In the dictionaries
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
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