Galatians 3:19

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 --

📖 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 who received the law by arrangement of messengers, and did not keep `it'.'
• Gal 3:16 : 16 and to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed; He doth not say, `And to seeds,' as of many, but as of one, `And to thy seed,' which is Christ;
• Rom 7:7-9 : 7 What, then, shall we say? the law `is' sin? let it not be! but the sin I did not know except through law, for also the covetousness I had not known if the law had not said: 8 `Thou shalt not covet;' and the sin having received an opportunity, through the command, did work in me all covetousness -- for apart from law sin is dead. 9 And I was alive apart from law once, and the command having come, the sin revived, and I died; 10 and the command that `is' for life, this was found by me for death; 11 for the sin, having received an opportunity, through the command, did deceive me, and through it did slay `me'; 12 so that the law, indeed, `is' holy, and the command holy, and righteous, and good. 13 That which is good then, to me hath it become death? let it not be! but the sin, that it might appear sin, through the good, working death to me, that the sin might become exceeding sinful through the command,
• Heb 2:2 : 2 for if the word being spoken through messengers did become stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience did receive a just recompense,
• Deut 5:5 : 5 I am standing between Jehovah and you, at that time, to declare to you the word of Jehovah, for ye have been afraid from the presence of the fire, and ye have not gone up into the mount; saying:
• Acts 7:38 : 38 `This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the messenger who is speaking to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers who did receive the living oracles to give to us;
• Rom 4:15 : 15 for the law doth work wrath; for where law is not, neither `is' transgression.
• Rom 5:20-21 : 20 And law came in, that the offence might abound, and where the sin did abound, the grace did overabound, 21 that even as the sin did reign in the death, so also the grace may reign, through righteousness, to life age-during, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
• Gal 3:21-25 : 21 the law, then, `is' against the promises of God? -- let it not be! for if a law was given that was able to make alive, truly by law there would have been the righteousness, 22 but the Writing did shut up the whole under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ may be given to those believing. 23 And before the coming of the faith, under law we were being kept, shut up to the faith about to be revealed, 24 so that the law became our child-conductor -- to Christ, that by faith we may be declared righteous, 25 and the faith having come, no more under a child-conductor are we,
• Gal 4:1-4 : 1 And I say, so long time as the heir is a babe, he differeth nothing from a servant -- being lord of all, 2 but is under tutors and stewards till the time appointed of the father, 3 so also we, when we were babes, under the elements of the world were in servitude, 4 and when the fulness of time did come, God sent forth His Son, come of a woman, come under law,
• 1 Tim 1:8-9 : 8 and we have known that the law `is' good, if any one may use it lawfully; 9 having known this, that for a righteous man law is not set, but for lawless and insubordinate persons, ungodly and sinners, impious and profane, parricides and matricides, men-slayers,
• Heb 2:5 : 5 For not to messengers did He subject the coming world, concerning which we speak,
• Deut 5:22-33 : 22 `These words hath Jehovah spoken unto all your assembly, in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness -- a great voice; and He hath not added, and He writeth them on two tables of stone, and giveth them unto me. 23 `And it cometh to pass as ye hear the voice out of the midst of the darkness, and of the mountain burning with fire, that ye come near unto me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders, 24 and say, Lo, Jehovah our God hath shewed us His honour, and His greatness; and His voice we have heard out of the midst of the fire; this day we have seen that God doth speak with man -- and he hath lived. 25 `And, now, why do we die? for consume us doth this great fire -- if we add to hear the voice of Jehovah our God any more -- then we have died. 26 For who of all flesh `is' he who hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire like us -- and doth live? 27 Draw near thou, and hear all that which Jehovah our God saith, and thou, thou dost speak unto us all that which Jehovah our God speaketh unto thee, and we have hearkened, and done it. 28 `And Jehovah heareth the voice of your words, in your speaking unto me, and Jehovah saith unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken unto thee; they have done well `in' all that they have spoken. 29 O that their heart had been thus to them, to fear Me, and to keep My commands all the days, that it may be well with them, and with their sons -- to the age! 30 `Go, say to them, Turn back for yourselves, to your tents; 31 and thou here stand thou with Me, and let Me speak unto thee all the command, and the statutes, and the judgments which thou dost teach them, and they have done in the land which I am giving to them to possess it. 32 `And ye have observed to do as Jehovah your God hath commanded you, ye turn not aside -- right or left; 33 in all the way which Jehovah your God hath commanded you ye walk, so that ye live, and `it is' well with you, and ye have prolonged days in the land which ye possess.
• Deut 9:13-20 : 13 `And Jehovah speaketh unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and lo, a people stiff of neck it `is'; 14 desist from Me, and I destroy them, and blot out their name from under the heavens, and I make thee become a nation more mighty and numerous than it. 15 `And I turn, and come down from the mount, and the mount is burning with fire, and the two tables of the covenant on my two hands, 16 and I see, and lo, ye have sinned against Jehovah your God; ye have made to yourselves a molten calf; ye have turned aside hastily out of the way which Jehovah hath commanded you. 17 `And I lay hold on the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and break them before your eyes, 18 and I throw myself before Jehovah, as at first, forty days and forty nights; bread I have not eaten, and water I have not drunk, because of all your sins which ye have sinned, by doing the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, to make Him angry. 19 `For I have been afraid because of the anger and the fury with which Jehovah hath been wroth against you, to destroy you; and Jehovah doth hearken unto me also at this time. 20 `And with Aaron hath Jehovah shewed himself very angry, to destroy him, and I pray also for Aaron at that time;
• Deut 9:25-29 : 25 `And I throw myself before Jehovah, the forty days and the forty nights, as I had thrown myself, for Jehovah hath said -- to destroy you; 26 and I pray unto Jehovah, and say, Lord Jehovah, destroy not Thy people, and Thine inheritance, whom Thou hast ransomed in Thy greatness; whom Thou hast brought out of Egypt with a strong hand; 27 be mindful of Thy servants, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, turn not unto the stiffness of this people, and unto its wickedness, and unto its sin; 28 lest the land say from which Thou hast brought us out, Because of Jehovah's want of ability to bring them in unto the land of which He hath spoken to them, and because of His hating them, He brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness; 29 and they `are' Thy people, and Thine inheritance, whom Thou hast brought out by Thy great power, and by Thy stretched-out arm!
• Deut 18:15-19 : 15 `A prophet out of thy midst, out of thy brethren, like to me, doth Jehovah thy God raise up to thee -- unto him ye hearken; 16 according to all that thou didst ask from Jehovah thy God, in Horeb, in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not add to hear the voice of Jehovah my God, and this great fire let me not see any more, and I die not; 17 and Jehovah saith unto me, They have done well that they have spoken; 18 a prophet I raise up to them, out of the midst of their brethren, like to thee; and I have given my words in his mouth, and he hath spoken unto them all that which I command him; 19 and it hath been -- the man who doth not hearken unto My words which he doth speak in My name, I require `it' of him.
• Deut 33:2 : 2 and he saith: -- `Jehovah from Sinai hath come, And hath risen from Seir for them; He hath shone from mount Paran, And hath come `with' myriads of holy ones; At His right hand `are' springs for them.
• Ps 106:23 : 23 And He saith to destroy them, Unless Moses, His chosen one, Had stood in the breach before Him, To turn back His wrath from destroying.
• Ps 147:19-20 : 19 Declaring His words to Jacob, His statutes and His judgments to Israel. 20 He hath not done so to any nation, As to judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye Jah!
• Luke 16:31 : 31 And he said to him, If Moses and the prophets they do not hear, neither if one may rise out of the dead will they be persuaded.'
• John 1:17 : 17 for the law through Moses was given, the grace and the truth through Jesus Christ did come;
• John 5:45-47 : 45 `Do not think that I will accuse you unto the Father; there is who is accusing you, Moses -- in whom ye have hoped; 46 for if ye were believing Moses, ye would have been believing me, for he wrote concerning me; 47 but if his writings ye believe not, how shall ye believe my sayings?'
• John 15:22 : 22 if I had not come and spoken to them, they were not having sin; but now pretext they have not for their sin.
• Rom 2:13 : 13 for not the hearers of the law `are' righteous before God, but the doers of the law shall be declared righteous: --
• Rom 3:1-2 : 1 What, then, `is' the superiority of the Jew? or what the profit of the circumcision? 2 much in every way; for first, indeed, that they were intrusted with the oracles of God;
• Rom 3:19-20 : 19 And we have known that as many things as the law saith, to those in the law it doth speak, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may come under judgment to God; 20 wherefore by works of law shall no flesh be declared righteous before Him, for through law is a knowledge of sin.
• Exod 20:19-22 : 19 and say unto Moses, `Speak thou with us, and we hear, and let not God speak with us, lest we die.' 20 And Moses saith unto the people, `Fear not, for to try you hath God come, and in order that His fear may be before your faces -- that ye sin not.' 21 And the people stand afar off, and Moses hath drawn nigh unto the thick darkness where God `is'. 22 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Thus dost thou say unto the sons of Israel: Ye -- ye have seen that from the heavens I have spoken with you;
• Exod 24:1-9 : 1 And unto Moses He said, `Come up unto Jehovah, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and ye have bowed yourselves afar off;' 2 and Moses hath drawn nigh by himself unto Jehovah; and they draw not nigh, and the people go not up with him. 3 And Moses cometh in, and recounteth to the people all the words of Jehovah, and all the judgments, and all the people answer -- one voice, and say, `All the words which Jehovah hath spoken we do.' 4 And Moses writeth all the words of Jehovah, and riseth early in the morning, and buildeth an altar under the hill, and twelve standing pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel; 5 and he sendeth the youths of the sons of Israel, and they cause burnt-offerings to ascend, and sacrifice sacrifices of peace-offerings to Jehovah -- calves. 6 And Moses taketh half of the blood, and putteth in basins, and half of the blood hath he sprinkled on the altar; 7 and he taketh the Book of the Covenant, and proclaimeth in the ears of the people, and they say, `All that which Jehovah hath spoken we do, and obey.' 8 And Moses taketh the blood, and sprinkleth on the people, and saith, `Lo, the blood of the covenant which Jehovah hath made with you, concerning all these things.' 9 And Moses goeth up, Aaron also, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, 10 and they see the God of Israel, and under His feet `is' as the white work of the sapphire, and as the substance of the heavens for purity; 11 and unto those of the sons of Israel who are near He hath not put forth His hand, and they see God, and eat and drink. 12 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Come up unto Me to the mount, and be there, and I give to thee the tables of stone, and the law, and the command, which I have written to direct them.'
• Exod 34:27-35 : 27 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Write for thyself these words, for, according to the tenor of these words I have made with thee a covenant, and with Israel.' 28 And he is there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights; bread he hath not eaten, and water he hath not drunk; and he writeth on the tables the matters of the covenant -- the ten matters. 29 And it cometh to pass, when Moses is coming down from mount Sinai (and the two tables of the testimony `are' in the hand of Moses in his coming down from the mount), that Moses hath not known that the skin of his face hath shone in His speaking with him, 30 and Aaron seeth -- all the sons of Israel also -- Moses, and lo, the skin of his face hath shone, and they are afraid of coming nigh unto him. 31 And Moses calleth unto them, and Aaron and all the princes in the company return unto him, and Moses speaketh unto them; 32 and afterwards have all the sons of Israel come nigh, and he chargeth them with all that Jehovah hath spoken with him in mount Sinai. 33 And Moses finisheth speaking with them, and putteth on his face a vail; 34 and in the going in of Moses before Jehovah to speak with Him, he turneth aside the vail until his coming out; and he hath come out and hath spoken unto the sons of Israel that which he is commanded; 35 and the sons of Israel have seen the face of Moses that the skin of the face of Moses hath shone, and Moses hath put back the vail on his face until his going in to speak with Him.
• Lev 15:32 : 32 `This `is' the law of him who hath an issue, and of him whose seed of copulation goeth out from him, for uncleanness thereby,
• Deut 4:8-9 : 8 and which `is' the great nation which hath righteous statutes and judgments according to all this law which I am setting before you to-day? 9 `Only, take heed to thyself, and watch thy soul exceedingly, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they turn aside from thy heart, all days of thy life; and thou hast made them known to thy sons, and to thy sons' sons.