New International Version
Galatians 5:15
15If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
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.
- 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!
- New Living Translation (NLT)But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.
Context of Galatians 5:15
13You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. 16So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.
Read all of Galatians 5Galatians 5:15 word by word
εἰ δὲ ἀλλήλους δάκνετε καὶ κατεσθίετε, βλέπετε μὴ ὑπ᾽ ἀλλήλων ἀναλωθῆτε.¶Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Galatians 5:15
- Galatians 5:26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
- 2 Samuel 2:26Abner called out to Joab, “Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize that this will end in bitterness? How long before you order your men to stop pursuing their fellow Israelites?”
- Isaiah 9:20On the right they will devour, but still be hungry; on the left they will eat, but not be satisfied. Each will feed on the flesh of their own offspring:
- Isaiah 11:5Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
- 1 Corinthians 3:3You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?
- 1 Corinthians 6:6But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers!
- 2 Corinthians 11:20In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps you in the face.
- 2 Corinthians 12:20For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.
- James 3:14But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.
- James 4:1What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?
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
In the dictionaries
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
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