Galatians 4:21

Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, don’t you listen to the law?

World English Bible
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Other translations

WEBBE

Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, don’t you listen to the law?

BSB

Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not understand what the law says?

KJV

Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?

ASV

Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?

BBE

Say, you whose desire it is to be under the law, do you not give ear to the law?

Original Greek

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Λέγετέ Legete do tell G3004 μοι moi me G3165 οἱ hoi you who [are] G3588 ὑπὸ hupo under G5259 νόμον nomon [the] Law G3551 θέλοντες thelontes wishing G2309 εἶναι einai to be G1511 τὸν ton the G3588 νόμον nomon Law G3551 οὐκ ouk not G3756 ἀκούετε; akouete you do listen to G191

The early church

He says rightly, "ye that desire," for the matter was not one of a proper and orderly succession of things but of their own unseasonable contentiousness. It is the Book of Creation which he here calls the Law, which name he often gives to the whole Old Testament.
John Chrysostom · d. 407Homilies on Galatians

Commentary

Matthew Henry · Verses 21–27

The difference between believers who rested in Christ only, and those who trusted in the law, is explained by the histories of Isaac and Ishmael. These things are an allegory, wherein, beside the literal and historical sense of the words, the Spirit of God points out something further. Hagar and Sarah were apt emblems of the two different dispensations of the covenant. The heavenly Jerusalem, the true church from above, represented by Sarah, is in a state of freedom, and is the mother of all believers, who are born of the Holy Spirit. They were by regeneration and true faith, made a part of the true seed of Abraham, according to the promise made to him.

Read Matthew Henry on Galatians 4 →

Cross-references

15

Topics

Justification

Cross-references: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Hebrew and Greek data from STEPBible.org (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0. Library: sources.