Galatians 3:19

KJV1611 – Modern English

Why then serves the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom the promise was made, and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.

📖 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

Other Translations

• Linguistic Bible Translation from Source Texts

  Why, then, was the law given? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise was made would come. It was administered through angels by a mediator.

• King James Version 1769 (Standard Version)

  Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.

• American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

  What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, till {G3739} the seed should come to whom the promise hath been made; [and it was] ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator.

• King James Version with Strong's Numbers

  Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.

• Tyndale Bible (1526/1534)

  Wherfore then serveth ye lawe? The lawe was added because of transgression (tyll the seed cam to which ye promes was made) and it was ordeyned by angels in ye honde of a mediator.

• Coverdale Bible (1535)

  Wherfore the serueth the lawe? It was added because of trangression, tyll the sede came, to the which the promes was made. And it was geuen of angels, by the hande of the mediatoure.

• Geneva Bible (1560)

  Wherefore then serueth the Law? It was added because of the transgressions, til the seed came, vnto the which the promise was made: and it was ordeined by Angels in the hande of a Mediatour.

• Bishops' Bible (1568)

  Wherfore then serueth the lawe? It was added because of transgressions, tyl the seede came to whom the promise was made: and it was ordayned by Angels in the hande of a mediatour.

• Authorized King James Version (1611)

  ¶ Wherefore then [serveth] the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; [and it was] ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.

• Webster's Bible (1833)

  What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom the promise has been made. It was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator.

• Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

  Why, then, the law? on account of the transgressions it was added, till the seed might come to which the promise hath been made, having been set in order through messengers in the hand of a mediator --

• American Standard Version (1901)

  What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise hath been made; `and it was' ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator.

• American Standard Version (1901)

  What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise hath been made; [and it was] ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator.

• 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.

• World English Bible (2000)

  What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom the promise has been made. It was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator.

• NET Bible® (New English Translation)

  Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the descendant to whom the promise had been made. It was administered through angels by an intermediary.

Referenced Verses

• Acts 7:53 : 53 Who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.
• Gal 3:16 : 16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He does not say, 'And to seeds,' as of many, but as of one, 'And to your seed,' which is Christ.
• Rom 7:7-9 : 7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not. Indeed, I would not have known sin except through the law: for I would not have known lust unless the law had said, 'You shall not covet.' 8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, worked in me all kinds of covetousness. For without the law, sin was dead. 9 For I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was intended for life, I found to be leading to death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. 12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. 13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? Certainly not. But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good; that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.
• Heb 2:2 : 2 For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward;
• Deut 5:5 : 5 (I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to show you the word of the LORD: for you were afraid because of the fire, and did not go up into the mountain;) saying,
• Acts 7:38 : 38 This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; who received the living oracles to give to us:
• Rom 4:15 : 15 Because the law produces wrath; for where there is no law, there is no transgression.
• Rom 5:20-21 : 20 Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more: 21 So that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
• Gal 3:21-25 : 21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, then truly righteousness would have been by the law. 22 But the Scripture has concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, confined unto the faith which would afterwards be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
• Gal 4:1-4 : 1 Now I say, that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a servant, though he is lord of all; 2 But is under guardians and managers until the time appointed by the father. 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the basic principles of the world: 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
• 1 Tim 1:8-9 : 8 But we know that the law is good if a man uses it lawfully; 9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
• Heb 2:5 : 5 For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to the angels.
• Deut 5:22-33 : 22 These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly on the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a great voice: and He added no more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone, and delivered them to me. 23 And it happened, when you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain burned with fire,) that you came near to me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; 24 And you said, Behold, the LORD our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God does talk with man, and he lives. 25 Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die. 26 For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? 27 Go near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say: and speak to us all that the LORD our God shall speak to you; and we will hear it, and do it. 28 And the LORD heard the voice of your words, when you spoke to me; and the LORD said to me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken to you: they have spoken well all that they have spoken. 29 Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever! 30 Go say to them, Return to your tents again. 31 But as for you, stand here by me, and I will speak to you all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess. 32 You shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God has commanded you: you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 33 You shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.
• Deut 9:13-20 : 13 Furthermore the LORD spoke to me, saying, I have seen this people, and, look, it is a stiff-necked people: 14 Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they. 15 So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire: and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 And I looked, and, behold, you had sinned against the LORD your God, and had made for yourselves a molten calf: you had quickly turned aside out of the way which the LORD had commanded you. 17 And I took the two tablets, and threw them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes. 18 And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread nor drink water, because of all your sins which you sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. 19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, with which the LORD was angry against you to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me at that time also. 20 And the LORD was very angry with Aaron to destroy him: and I prayed for Aaron also at that time.
• Deut 9:25-29 : 25 So I fell down before the LORD forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first; because the LORD had said he would destroy you. 26 I prayed therefore to the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, do not destroy your people and your inheritance, which you have redeemed through your greatness, which you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look at the stubbornness of this people, nor at their wickedness, nor at their sin: 28 Lest the land from which you brought us out say, Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness. 29 Yet they are your people and your inheritance, which you brought out by your mighty power and by your stretched out arm.
• Deut 18:15-19 : 15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet from the midst of you, from your brethren, like unto me; to Him you shall listen; 16 According to all that you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die. 17 And the LORD said to me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. 18 I will raise up for them a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto you, and will put My words in His mouth; and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. 19 And it shall come to pass, that whoever will not listen to My words which He shall speak in My name, I will require it of him.
• Deut 33:2 : 2 And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir to them; he shined forth from Mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.
• Ps 106:23 : 23 Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.
• Ps 147:19-20 : 19 He shows his word to Jacob, his statutes and his judgments to Israel. 20 He has not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise the LORD.
• Luke 16:31 : 31 And he said to him, If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.
• John 1:17 : 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
• John 15:22 : 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.
• Rom 2:13 : 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
• Rom 3:1-2 : 1 What advantage then has the Jew? Or what profit is there in circumcision? 2 Much in every way: chiefly, because to them were entrusted the oracles of God.
• Rom 3:19-20 : 19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
• Exod 20:19-22 : 19 Then they said to Moses, 'You speak with us and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.’ 20 And Moses said to the people, 'Do not fear, for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.' 21 So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was. 22 And the LORD said to Moses, 'Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.
• Exod 24:1-9 : 1 And he said to Moses, Come up to the LORD, you, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship afar off. 2 And Moses alone shall come near the LORD: but they shall not come near; neither shall the people go up with him. 3 And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD has said, we will do. 4 And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose early in the morning, and built an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD. 6 And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the hearing of the people: and they said, All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient. 8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you concerning all these words. 9 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: 10 And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. 11 And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he did not lay his hand: also they saw God, and ate and drank. 12 And the LORD said to Moses, Come up to me into the mountain, and be there: and I will give you tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that you may teach them.
• Exod 34:27-35 : 27 And the LORD said to Moses, "Write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." 28 And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. 29 And it came to pass, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mountain, that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. 30 And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 And Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them. 32 Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33 Until Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. 34 But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the veil off until he came out; and he came out and spoke to the children of Israel whatever he was commanded. 35 And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone, and Moses put the veil upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
• Lev 15:32 : 32 This is the law of him that has an issue, and of him whose seed goes from him, and is defiled by it;
• Deut 4:8-9 : 8 And what nation is there so great, that has statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? 9 Only take heed to yourself, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life: but teach them to your sons, and your sons' sons;