Tree of Life Version
Galatians 4:11
11I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain!
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 have come to know God—or rather you have come to be known by God. So how can you turn back again to those weak and worthless principles? Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again? 10You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain! 12I plead with you, brothers and sisters, become like me, for I became like you. You have done me no wrong— 13you know it was because of a physical ailment that I proclaimed the Good News to you the first time;
Read all of Galatians 4Galatians 4:11 word by word
φοβοῦμαι ὑμᾶς μή πως εἰκῇ κεκοπίακα εἰς ὑμᾶς.Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Galatians 4:11
- Galatians 4:20I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, for I don’t know what to make of you.
- 2 Corinthians 11:2For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I betrothed you to one husband, to present you to Messiah as a pure virgin.
- 2 Corinthians 12:20For I am afraid that perhaps when I come, I may find you not as I wish, or I may be found by you not as you wish—that there may be strife, envy, outbursts of anger, self-seeking disputes, lashon ha-ra , gossip, arrogance, unruly commotions.
- Galatians 2:2Because of a revelation, I went up and presented to them the Good News that I proclaim among the Gentiles. But I did so privately to those who seemed to be influential, to make sure I would not run—or had not run—in vain.
- Galatians 5:2Listen—I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Messiah will be of no benefit to you.
- Isaiah 49:4But I said, “I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and futility. Yet surely the justice due to me is with Adonai, and my reward with my God.”
- Acts 16:6They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Ruach ha-Kodesh to speak the word in Asia.
- 1 Corinthians 15:58Therefore, my dearly loved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord—because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
- Philippians 2:16holding fast to the word of life, so that I may boast in the day of Messiah that I did not run or labor in vain.
- 1 Thessalonians 3:5For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faithfulness, for fear that the tempter had tempted you and that our labor might be in vain.
- 2 John 1:8Watch yourselves, so you do not lose what we have worked for but receive a full reward.
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
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
Tree of Life Version — © 2015 The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society
Commentaries