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Galatians 3:16-18
New English Translation

16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant.[a] Scripture[b] does not say, “and to the descendants,”[c] referring to many, but “and to your descendant,”[d] referring to one, who is Christ. 17 What I am saying is this: The law that came 430 years later does not cancel a covenant previously ratified by God,[e] so as to invalidate the promise. 18 For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise, but God graciously gave[f] it to Abraham through the promise.

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Footnotes

  1. Galatians 3:16 tn Grk “his seed,” a figurative extension of the meaning of σπέρμα (sperma) to refer to descendants (L&N 10.29).
  2. Galatians 3:16 tn Grk “It”; the referent (the scripture) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The understood subject of the verb λέγει (legei) could also be “He” (referring to God) as the one who spoke the promise to Abraham.
  3. Galatians 3:16 tn Grk “to seeds.” See the note on “descendant” earlier in this verse. Here the term is plural; the use of the singular in the OT text cited later in this verse is crucial to Paul’s argument.
  4. Galatians 3:16 tn See the note on “descendant” earlier in this verse.sn A quotation from Gen 12:7; 13:15; 17:7; 24:7.
  5. Galatians 3:17 tc Most mss (D F G I 0176 0278 1505 M it sy) read “ratified by God in Christ” whereas the omission of “in Christ” is the reading in P46 א A B C P Ψ 6 33 81 1175 1241 1739 1881 2464 co. The shorter reading is strongly supported by the ms evidence, and it is probable that a copyist inserted the words as an interpretive gloss. However, this form of the “in Christ” expression is somewhat atypical in the corpus Paulinum (εἰς Χριστόν [eis Christon] rather than ἐν Χριστῷ [en Christō]), a fact which tempers one’s certainty about the shorter reading. Nevertheless, the expression is used more in Galatians than in any other of Paul’s letters (Gal 2:16; 3:24, 27), and may have been suggested by such texts to early copyists.
  6. Galatians 3:18 tn On the translation “graciously gave” for χαρίζομαι (charizomai) see L&N 57.102.
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Galatians 2
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