Galatians 3:19

Bible in Basic English (1941)

What then is the law? It was an addition made because of sin, till the coming of the seed to whom the undertaking had been given; and it was ordered through angels by the hand of a go-between.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

Τί οὖν ὁ νόμος; Τῶν παραβάσεων χάριν προσετέθη, ἄχρις οὗ ἔλθῃ τὸ σπέρμα ᾧ ἐπήγγελται· διαταγεὶς διʼ ἀγγέλων ἐν χειρὶ μεσίτου.

Transliteration

What then the nomos? Of the parabaseōn charin it was prosetethē, until which should elthē the sperma to whom it has been epēngeltai; having been diatageis through angelōn in cheiri of mesitou.

Grammar Details

• *nomos*: nominative, masculine, singular - law
• *parabaseōn*: genitive, feminine, plural - transgressions/violations
• *charin*: preposition with genitive - for the sake of/because of
• *prosetethē*: aorist, passive, indicative, 3rd person, singular - was added
• *elthē*: aorist, active, subjunctive, 3rd person, singular - might come
• *sperma*: nominative, neuter, singular - seed/offspring
• *epēngeltai*: perfect, passive, indicative, 3rd person, singular - has been promised
• *diatageis*: aorist, passive, participle, nominative, masculine, singular - having been ordained/arranged
• *angelōn*: genitive, masculine, plural - angels/messengers
• *cheiri*: dative, feminine, singular - hand
• *mesitou*: genitive, masculine, singular - mediator/intermediary

Word Meanings

• *nomos*: law/legal system/Torah
• *parabaseōn*: transgressions/violations/breaches of law
• *charin*: for the sake of/because of/on account of
• *prosetethē*: was added/was introduced
• *elthē*: might come/should arrive
• *sperma*: seed/offspring/descendant
• *epēngeltai*: has been promised/has been announced
• *diatageis*: having been ordained/arranged/appointed/established
• *angelōn*: angels/messengers
• *mesitou*: mediator/intermediary/go-between

Referenced Verses

• Acts 7:53 : 53 You, to whom the law was given as it was ordered by angels, and who have not kept it.
• Gal 3:16 : 16 Now to Abraham were the undertakings given, and to his seed. He says not, And to seeds, as of a great number; but as of one, he says, And to your seed, which is Christ.
• Rom 7:7-9 : 7 What then is to be said? is the law sin? in no way. But I would not have had knowledge of sin but for the law: for I would not have been conscious of desire if the law had not said, You may not have a desire for what is another's. 8 But sin, taking its chance through that which was ordered by the law, was working in me every form of desire: because without the law sin is dead. 9 And there was a time when I was living without the law: but when the law gave its orders, sin came to life and put me to death; 10 And I made the discovery that the law whose purpose was to give life had become a cause of death: 11 For I was tricked and put to death by sin, which took its chance through the law. 12 But the law is holy, and its orders are holy, upright, and good. 13 Was then that which is good, death to me? In no way. But the purpose was that sin might be seen to be sin by working death to me through that which is good; so that through the orders of the law sin might seem much more evil.
• Heb 2:2 : 2 Because if the word which came through the angels was fixed, and in the past every evil act against God's orders was given its full punishment;
• Deut 5:5 : 5 (I was between the Lord and you at that time, to make clear to you the word of the Lord: because, through fear of the fire, you did not go up the mountain;) saying,
• Acts 7:38 : 38 This is the man who was in the church in the waste land with the angel who was talking to him in Sinai, and with our fathers; and to him were given the living words of God, so that he might give them to you.
• Rom 4:15 : 15 For the outcome of the law is wrath; but where there is no law it will not be broken.
• Rom 5:20-21 : 20 And the law came in addition, to make wrongdoing worse; but where there was much sin, there was much more grace: 21 That, as sin had power in death, so grace might have power through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
• Gal 3:21-25 : 21 Is the law then against the words of God? in no way; because if there had been a law which was able to give life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. 22 However, the holy Writings have put all things under sin, so that that for which God gave the undertaking, based on faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who have such faith. 23 But before faith came, we were kept in prison under the law, waiting for the revelation of the faith which was to come. 24 So the law has been a servant to take us to Christ, so that we might have righteousness by faith. 25 But now that faith is come, we are no longer under a servant.
• Gal 4:1-4 : 1 But I say that as long as the son is a child, he is in no way different from a servant, though he is lord of all; 2 But is under keepers and managers till the time fixed by the father. 3 So we, when we were young, were kept under the first rules of the world; 4 But when the time had come, God sent out his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
• 1 Tim 1:8-9 : 8 We are conscious that the law is good, if a man makes a right use of it, 9 With the knowledge that the law is made, not for the upright man, but for those who have no respect for law and order, for evil men and sinners, for the unholy and those who have no religion, for those who put their fathers or mothers to death, for takers of life,
• Heb 2:5 : 5 For he did not make the angels rulers over the world to come, of which I am writing.
• Deut 5:22-33 : 22 These words the Lord said to all of you together on the mountain, out of the heart of the fire, out of the cloud and the dark, with a great voice: and he said no more; he put them in writing on the two stones of the law and gave them to me. 23 And after hearing the voice which came out of the dark while the mountain was burning with fire, all the heads of your tribes and your chiefs came to me, 24 And said, The Lord has let us see his glory and his power, and his voice has come to us out of the fire: today we have seen that a man may go on living even after hearing the voice of God. 25 Why then is death to be our fate? For if the voice of the Lord our God comes to us any more, death will overtake us, and we will be burned up in this great fire. 26 For what man is there in all the earth, who, hearing the voice of the living God as we have, out of the heart of the fire, has been kept from death? 27 Do you go near: and after hearing everything which the Lord our God has to say, give us an account of all he has said to you, and we will give ear, and do it. 28 Then the Lord, hearing your words to me, said to me, The words which this people have said to you have come to my ears: what they have said is well said. 29 If only they had such a heart in them at all times, so that they might go in fear of me and keep my orders and that it might be well for them and for their children for ever! 30 Now say to them, Go back to your tents. 31 But as for you, keep your place here by me, and I will give you all the orders and the laws and the decisions which you are to make clear to them, so that they may do them in the land which I am giving them for their heritage. 32 Take care, then, to do whatever the Lord your God has given you orders to do; let there be no turning away to the right hand or to the left. 33 Go on walking in the way ordered for you by the Lord your God, so that life may be yours and it may be well for you, and your days may be long in the land of your heritage.
• Deut 9:13-20 : 13 And then the Lord said to me, I have seen that this people is stiff-necked: 14 Let me send destruction on them till their very name is cut off; and I will make of you a nation greater and stronger than they. 15 So turning round I came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire; and the two stones of the agreement were in my hands. 16 And I saw that you had done evil against the Lord, and had made for yourselves a metal image of a young ox: you had quickly been turned from the way in which the Lord had given you orders to go. 17 And I let the stones go from my hands, and they were broken before your eyes. 18 And I went down on my face before the Lord, as at the first, for forty days and forty nights, without taking food or drinking water, because of all your sin, in doing evil in the eyes of the Lord and moving him to wrath. 19 For I was full of fear because of the wrath of the Lord which was burning against you, with your destruction in view. But again the Lord's ear was open to my prayer. 20 And the Lord, in his wrath, would have put Aaron to death: and I made prayer for Aaron at the same time.
• Deut 9:25-29 : 25 So I went down on my face in prayer before the Lord for forty days and forty nights as I did at first; because the Lord had said that he would put an end to you. 26 And I made prayer to the Lord and said, O Lord God, do not send destruction on your people and your heritage, to whom, by your great power, you have given salvation, whom you have taken out of Egypt by the strength of your hand. 27 Keep in mind your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not looking at the hard heart of this people, or their evil-doing and their sin: 28 Or it may be said in the land from which you have taken them, Because the Lord was not able to take them into the land which he said he would give them, and because of his hate for them, he has taken them out to put them to death in the waste land. 29 But still they are your people and your heritage, whom you took out by your great power and by your stretched-out arm.
• Deut 18:15-19 : 15 The Lord your God will give you a prophet from among your people, like me; you will give ear to him; 16 In answer to the request you made to the Lord your God in Horeb on the day of the great meeting, when you said, Let not the voice of the Lord my God come to my ears again, and let me not see this great fire any more, or death will overtake me. 17 Then the Lord said to me, What they have said is well said. 18 I will give them a prophet from among themselves, like you, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he will say to them whatever I give him orders to say. 19 And whoever does not give ear to my words which he will say in my name, will be responsible to me.
• Deut 33:2 : 2 He said, The Lord came from Sinai, dawning on them from Seir; shining out from Mount Paran, coming from Meribath Kadesh: from his right hand went flames of fire: his wrath made waste the peoples.
• Ps 106:23 : 23 And he was purposing to put an end to them if Moses, his special servant, had not gone up before him, between him and his people, turning back his wrath, to keep them from destruction.
• Ps 147:19-20 : 19 He makes his word clear to Jacob, teaching Israel his laws and his decisions. 20 He has not done these things for any other nation: and as for his laws, they have no knowledge of them. Let the Lord be praised.
• Luke 16:31 : 31 And he said to him, If they will not give attention to Moses and the prophets, they will not be moved even if someone comes back from the dead.
• John 1:17 : 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and the true way of life are ours through Jesus Christ.
• John 5:45-47 : 45 Put out of your minds the thought that I will say things against you to the Father: the one who says things against you is Moses, on whom you put your hopes. 46 If you had belief in Moses you would have belief in me; for his writings are about me. 47 If you have no belief in his writings, how will you have belief in my words?
• John 15:22 : 22 If I had not come and been their teacher they would have had no sin: but now they have no reason to give for their sin.
• Rom 2:13 : 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who will be judged as having righteousness before God, but only the doers:
• Rom 3:1-2 : 1 How then is the Jew better off? or what profit is there in circumcision? 2 Much in every way: first of all because the words of God were given to them.
• Rom 3:19-20 : 19 Now, we have knowledge that what the law says is for those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and all men may be judged by God: 20 Because by the works of the law no man is able to have righteousness in his eyes, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
• Exod 20:19-22 : 19 And they said to Moses, To your words we will give ear, but let not the voice of God come to our ears, for fear death may come on us. 20 And Moses said to the people, Have no fear: for God has come to put you to the test, so that fearing him you may be kept from sin. 21 And the people kept their places far off, but Moses went near to the dark cloud where God was. 22 And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, You yourselves have seen that my voice has come to you from heaven
• Exod 24:1-9 : 1 And he said to Moses, Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, and Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the chiefs of Israel; and give me worship from a distance. 2 And Moses only may come near to the Lord; but the others are not to come near, and the people may not come up with them. 3 Then Moses came and put before the people all the words of the Lord and his laws: and all the people, answering with one voice, said, Whatever the Lord has said we will do. 4 Then Moses put down in writing all the words of the Lord, and he got up early in the morning and made an altar at the foot of the mountain, with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent some of the young men of the children of Israel to make burned offerings and peace-offerings of oxen to the Lord. 6 And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins; draining out half of the blood over the altar. 7 And he took the book of the agreement, reading it in the hearing of the people: and they said, Everything which the Lord has said we will do, and we will keep his laws. 8 Then Moses took the blood and let it come on the people, and said, This blood is the sign of the agreement which the Lord has made with you in these words. 9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the chiefs of Israel went up: 10 And they saw the God of Israel; and under his feet there was, as it seemed, a jewelled floor, clear as the heavens. 11 And he put not his hand on the chiefs of the children of Israel: they saw God, and took food and drink. 12 And the Lord said to Moses, Come up to me on the mountain, and take your place there: and I will give you the stones on which I have put in writing the law and the orders, so that you may give the people knowledge of them.
• Exod 34:27-35 : 27 And the Lord said to Moses, Put all these words in writing; for on them is based the agreement which I will make with you. 28 And for forty days and forty nights Moses was there with the Lord, and in that time he had no food or drink. And he put in writing on the stones the words of the agreement, the ten rules of the law. 29 Now when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two stones in his hand, he was not conscious that his face was shining because of his talk with God. 30 But when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, and the shining of his face, they would not come near him for fear. 31 Then Moses sent for them; and Aaron, with the chiefs of the people, came to him; and Moses had talk with them. 32 And later, all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them all the orders which the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai. 33 And at the end of his talk with them, Moses put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to have talk with him, he took off the veil till he came out. And whenever he came out he said to the children of Israel what he had been ordered to say; 35 And the children of Israel saw that the face of Moses was shining: so Moses put the veil over his face again till he went to the Lord.
• Lev 15:32 : 32 This is the law for the man who has a flow from his body, or whose seed goes from him so that he is unclean;
• Deut 4:8-9 : 8 And what great nation has laws and decisions so right as all this law which I put before you today? 9 Only take care, and keep watch on your soul, for fear that the things which your eyes have seen go from your memory and from your heart all the days of your life; but let the knowledge of them be given to your children and to your children's children;