Think Wink.

Here is a translation that I have been working on for some time and got up a couple days ago at Trying To Translate. You should go there and see some amateur translation of the NT and even some discussion of the Greek, Hebrew, and Latin of the OT. It’s fun. Honzo and I have been working on it for some months.

Greek
1 ὦ ἀνόητοι Γαλάται τίς ὑμᾶς ἐβάσκανεν οἷς κατ’ ὀφθαλμοὺς Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς προεγράφη ἐσταυρωμένος 2 τοῦτο μόνον θέλω μαθεῖν ἀφ’ ὑμῶν ἐξ ἔργων νόμου τὸ πνεῦμα ἐλάβετε ἢ ἐξ ἀκοῆς πίστεως 3 οὕτως ἀνόητοί ἐστε ἐναρξάμενοι πνεύματι νῦν σαρκὶ ἐπιτελεῖσθε 4 τοσαῦτα ἐπάθετε εἰκῇ εἴ γε καὶ εἰκῇ 5 ὁ οὖν ἐπιχορηγῶν ὑμῖν τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ ἐνεργῶν δυνάμεις ἐν ὑμῖν ἐξ ἔργων νόμου ἢ ἐξ ἀκοῆς πίστεως 6 καθὼς Ἀβραὰμ ἐπίστευσεν τῷ θεῷ καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην 7 γινώσκετε ἄρα ὅτι οἱ ἐκ πίστεως οὗτοι υἱοί εἰσιν Ἀβραάμ 8 προϊδοῦσα δὲ ἡ γραφὴ ὅτι ἐκ πίστεως δικαιοῖ τὰ ἔθνη ὁ θεὸς προευηγγελίσατο τῷ Ἀβραὰμ ὅτι ἐνευλογηθήσονται ἐν σοὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη 9 ὥστε οἱ ἐκ πίστεως εὐλογοῦνται σὺν τῷ πιστῷ Ἀβραάμ
10 ὅσοι γὰρ ἐξ ἔργων νόμου εἰσὶν ὑπὸ κατάραν εἰσίν γέγραπται γὰρ ὅτι ἐπικατάρατος πᾶς ὃς οὐκ ἐμμένει πᾶσιν τοῖς γεγραμμένοις ἐν τῷ βιβλίῳ τοῦ νόμου τοῦ ποιῆσαι αὐτά 11 ὅτι δὲ ἐν νόμῳ οὐδεὶς δικαιοῦται παρὰ τῷ θεῷ δῆλον ὅτι ὁ δίκαιος ἐκ πίστεως ζήσεται 12 ὁ δὲ νόμος οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ πίστεως ἀλλ’ ὁ ποιήσας αὐτὰ ζήσεται ἐν αὐτοῖς 13 Χριστὸς ἡμᾶς ἐξηγόρασεν ἐκ τῆς κατάρας τοῦ νόμου γενόμενος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατάρα ὅτι γέγραπται ἐπικατάρατος πᾶς ὁ κρεμάμενος ἐπὶ ξύλου 14 ἵνα εἰς τὰ ἔθνη ἡ εὐλογία τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ γένηται ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ ἵνα τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ πνεύματος λάβωμεν διὰ τῆς πίστεως

Translation
1 Oh foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that before your eyes Jesus Christ was put forward [as having been] crucified? 2 I only want to learn this from you, [did] you receive the Spirit by keeping the law or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you [all] fools in this way: [although you] began by the Spirit now by your own effort are you [trying to] complete yourselves? 4 [Have] you suffered so much in vain — if indeed [it was] in vain? 5 [Does] the one who gives to you the Spirit and works powerful miracles among you [do so] because of keeping the law or believing what was heard? 6 Just as Abraham “trusted God and that was credited to him for righteousness.” 7 Therefore you must know that those who believe are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scriptures saw beforehand that by faith he declares the nations righteous God preached the good news to Abraham, “In you all the nations will be blessed.” 9 For this reason those of faith are receiving the blessing alongside Abraham’s faith.
10 For as many are law keepers are under a curse for it has been written, “Cursed are all who do not abide in all that has been written in the book of the law to do them.” 11 And that by the law no one is being just in the presence of God [is] evident because, “the righteous person will live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather, “the one who does them will live by them.” 13 [But] Christ set me from from the curse of the law, [he] became the curse on our behalf (because it has been written, “Everyone who hangs on a tree is cursed”) 14 in order that among the nations the blessing of Abraham might become in Christ Jesus in order that the promise of the Spirit might come through this faith.

Notes on Galatians 3:1
ὦ ἀνόητοι Γαλάται τίς ὑμᾶς ἐβάσκανεν οἷς κατ’ ὀφθαλμοὺς Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς προεγράφη ἐσταυρωμένος — Oh foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that before your eyes Jesus Christ was put forward [as having been] crucified?
The verb ἐβάσκανεν was difficult to translate for me in that I wanted to make sure that what was said was clear. I wasn’t sure on “bewitched” but I couldn’t think of anything better. If you have ideas, leave a comment below.

Notes on Galatians 3:2
τοῦτο μόνον θέλω μαθεῖν ἀφ’ ὑμῶν ἐξ ἔργων νόμου τὸ πνεῦμα ἐλάβετε ἢ ἐξ ἀκοῆς πίστεως — I only want to learn this from you, [did] you receive the Spirit by keeping the law or by believing what you heard?
This begins a series of questions from Paul to his audience. Reading the Greek really brings this out because it is very awkward and doesn’t fit a declarative statement. The same is true for through 3:5, 3:3 really felt awkward when trying to put down a declarative statement because it reads so well as a declarative.
ἐξ ἔργων νόμου or “out of works of law” can be difficult to translate. The problem comes because because the words are genitives which are notoriously difficult to translate outside of “the x of y.” Just using “of” doesn’t bring clarity to the syntactical relationship of the words. The question here is that of what kind of verbal genitive is this, if at all? I ask that because ἔργων has the verbal root ἐργάζομαι. Therefore is νόμου the subject of the verb, that which performs the action of the verb? Or is it the object of the verb, that which the action is performed upon? I cannot see νόμου as either the subject or object of ἐργάζομαι because the law is not worked nor does it work in the way Paul is speaking. I don’t think this is a verbal genitive. It seems Paul intends his audience to read this prepositional phrase in the following manner. The preposition ἐξ has the force of means and should be translated as “by.” Thus I translated ἐξ as “by” both times it appears in the text. The head noun of the genitive construction should be seen as “works done that are prescribed by the law” or “works that find their source in the law” or something like that. They are the works that the law commands. Hence I opt for rendering the prepositional phrase “by keeping the law.”
ἐξ ἀκοῆς πίστεως has the same problem of the head noun ἀκοῆς having the verbal root ἀκούω. Is πίστεως the subject or the object of ἀκοῆς? Again I’m not sure that is how Paul intends for us to read it. It works if πίστεως is an anarthorous definite noun referring to “The Faith” (cf. Acts 6:7; Romans 1:5). This finds a nice parallel to “the law” in the previous prepositional phrase work//hear and the law//the faith. I just don’t think that is the contrast that Paul is creating because of the emphasis on trusting or believing in the rest of the chapter. Rather I think Paul is speaking of believing what one hears (cf. Romans 10:13-14). The relationship would thus be defined as “hearing which produces faith/belief/trust in the faith” (”the faith” being Christ set forth as having been crucified as made known in Galatians 3:1).

Notes on Galatians 3:3
οὕτως ἀνόητοί ἐστε ἐναρξάμενοι πνεύματι νῦν σαρκὶ ἐπιτελεῖσθε — Are you [all] fools in this way: [although you] began by the Spirit now by your own effort are you [trying to] complete yourselves?
οὕτως ἀνόητοί ἐστε was very difficult to put into interrogatory form because when I first came to the text, it didn’t come out as a question. However upon reading the rest of the text and its larger literary unit of 3:1-5, it is quite clear that this needed to be rendered as an interrogatory statement.
ἐναρξάμενοι was rendered as a concessive aorist participle. Paul acknowledges that the Galatian believers began by the Spirit. Thus “although” was given to point to this concession.
ἐπιτελεῖσθε is translated as a conative present. The Galatians were trying to complete themselves by the flesh or their own efforts.

Notes on Galatians 3:4
τοσαῦτα ἐπάθετε εἰκῇ εἴ γε καὶ εἰκῇ — [Have] you suffered so much in vain — if indeed [it was] in vain?
Two bracketed clauses were added to bring out the force of the verse. “Have” in order to bring out the rhetorical question again. The verb “it was” is added to smooth out the verbless clauseεἴ γε καὶ εἰκῇ.

Notes on Galatians 3:5
ὁ οὖν ἐπιχορηγῶν ὑμῖν τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ ἐνεργῶν δυνάμεις ἐν ὑμῖν ἐξ ἔργων νόμου ἢ ἐξ ἀκοῆς πίστεως –[Does] the one who gives to you the Spirit and works powerful miracles among you [do so] because of keeping the law or believing what was heard?
I added “Does” and “do so” bring the rhetorical device and to smooth out the sentence since it lacks a main verb. ἐπιχορηγῶν and ἐνεργῶν are substantival participles under the one article ὁ at the beginning of the text.
Also, notice the same prepositional phrases that reappear from 3:2 here in 3:5, ἐξ ἔργων νόμου ἢ ἐξ ἀκοῆς πίστεως. Even the same conjunction of ἢ, translated as “or” to indicate the intended contrast, appears here. It is verbatim from 3:2. Thus I kept the same translation as 3:2.

Notes on 3:6
καθὼς Ἀβραὰμ ἐπίστευσεν τῷ θεῷ καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην — Just as Abraham “trusted God and that was credited to him for righteousness.”
In commentaries, the question arises as to which context does this verse belong. Does this conclude 3:1-5 or begin 3:7-9? Its emphasis on faith suggests 3:1-5. Its emphasis on Abraham suggests 3:7-9. I think that it is best to understand it as both, concluding 3:1-5 and transitioning into 3:7-9. καθὼς, or “just as,” allows for just such an understanding.
Paul here cites from Genesis 15:6 LXX where God cuts a covenant (if I may use a Hebraicism) with Abram to make him a father of many nations. When God finishes giving this promise we read the cited text as Abraham’s response. What is interesting about the aorist verb ἐπίστευσεν is its Hebrew counterpart. The LXX here follows the Hebrew very well. The Hebrew is וְהֶאֱמִ֖ן (wehe’emin). It is a Hebrew verb that not only speaks of the inner disposition of belief and trust but also includes a verbal expression and confession of that inner belief, faith, trust. It is what Paul speaks of in Romans 10:9-10. It is a visible expression of the inner assent to the truth and the faith, or in Abraham’s case the covenant. To וְהֶאֱמִ֖ן is to make public one’s faith. ἐπίστευσεν includes this idea of verbal expression. Think of this “faith” here in Galatians 3 like this. You hear the gospel being preached and you say, “Amen!” You’ll note that amen and aman (root of he’emin) are cognates. Abraham said a heartfelt “Amen, Lord!” to Yahweh in Genesis 15:6. So to did the Galatians when Paul uses ἀκοῆς πίστεως. However I did not want to use “saying Amen to what was heard” because there still must be inner faith and belief in the message of Christ crucified.

Notes on Galatians 3:7
γινώσκετε ἄρα ὅτι οἱ ἐκ πίστεως οὗτοι υἱοί εἰσιν Ἀβραάμ — Therefore you must know that those who believe are sons of Abraham.
The verb γινώσκετε is an imperative and so I added “must” to really highlight the imperative force.
The phrase οἱ ἐκ πίστεως literally reads “the out of faith” with “the” being plural. Paul speaking about people who believe here and so I went with “those who believe.”
οὗτοι υἱοί εἰσιν Ἀβραάμ literally reads “these sons are [of] Abraham.” The point here is that Abarham is a man of faith (3:6). In ancient cultures it was tradition and the expectation that the son would carry on the father’s occupation. This analogy is what is at play here. It was Abraham’s occupation to believe (Genesis 15:6) and so those who believe are doing what Abraham does, and are therefore to be considered his sons. Hence “those who believe are the sons of Abraham.”

Notes on Galatians 3:8
προϊδοῦσα δὲ ἡ γραφὴ ὅτι ἐκ πίστεως δικαιοῖ τὰ ἔθνη ὁ θεὸς προευηγγελίσατο τῷ Ἀβραὰμ ὅτι ἐνευλογηθήσονται ἐν σοὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη — And the Scriptures saw beforehand that by faith he declares the nations righteous God preached the good news to Abraham, “In you all the nations will be blessed.”
The main verb of the whole verse is ἐνευλογηθήσονται and so I put ὁ θεὸς with προευηγγελίσατο. Thus everything that proceeded it is subordinate to προευηγγελίσατο.
ἐνευλογηθήσονται ἐν σοὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη is a citation from Genesis 12:3.
Note here that the citation is introduced by ὅτι. While not universal, this is a common way to introduce a citation. Because it is a signifier for the Genesis 12 quotation, I left it untranslated.

Notes on Galatians 3:9
ὥστε οἱ ἐκ πίστεως εὐλογοῦνται σὺν τῷ πιστῷ Ἀβραάμ — For this reason those of faith are receiving the blessing alongside Abraham’s faith.
In this translation, I paralleled τῷ πιστῷ Ἀβραάμ with οἱ ἐκ πίστεως so that the main point of “faith” would be brought to the surface. Thus in οἱ ἐκ πίστεως, the plural article οἱ is modified or described by ἐκ πίστεως, “those from/out of faith.” τῷ πιστῷ Ἀβραάμ then becomes a possessive “Abraham’s faith” or “the faith of Abraham.”

Notes on Galatians 3:10
ὅσοι γὰρ ἐξ ἔργων νόμου εἰσὶν ὑπὸ κατάραν εἰσίν γέγραπται γὰρ ὅτι ἐπικατάρατος πᾶς ὃς οὐκ ἐμμένει πᾶσιν τοῖς γεγραμμένοις ἐν τῷ βιβλίῳ τοῦ νόμου τοῦ ποιῆσαι αὐτά — For as many are law keepers are under a curse for it has been written, “Cursed are all who do not abide in all that has been written in the book of the law to do them.”
Again we encounter the phrase ἐξ ἔργων νόμου and again I translated it as “law keepers” to maintain a consistency within the translation.
Note the phrase γέγραπται γὰρ ὅτι that introduces the quote from Deuteronomy 27:26. First I point the reader to the perfect tense verb γέγραπται. The nature of the verb tells the reader that the authority of what was written is still in effect today. Not only had God already said it, but he is still said today. The passive voice I think might be a divine passive, but that could be a stretch. The focus is on the authority of the text being cited. It has not gone away millennia after it was written. Also, the ὅτι is used to begin the quote and thus I left it untranslated.
The quote is from Deuteronomy 27:26. I have not had time to look into the Hebrew of the text but I can say that Paul did not quote the LXX here. Deuteronomy 27:26 LXX reads, ἐπικατάρατος πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ὃς οὐκ ἐμμενεῖ ἐν πᾶσιν τοῖς λόγοις τοῦ νόμου τούτου τοῦ ποιῆσαι αὐτούς καὶ ἐροῦσιν πᾶς ὁ λαός γένοιτο. Paul renders it as ἐπικατάρατος πᾶς ὃς οὐκ ἐμμένει πᾶσιν τοῖς γεγραμμένοις ἐν τῷ βιβλίῳ τοῦ νόμου τοῦ ποιῆσαι αὐτά. I see no major change in meaning here. A few changes to note are: πᾶς ἄνθρωπος (LXX) vs πᾶς (Paul); ἐν πᾶσιν (LXX) vs πᾶσιν (Paul); τοῖς λόγοις τοῦ νόμου (LXX) vs τῷ βιβλίῳ τοῦ νόμου (Paul); τούτου τοῦ ποιῆσαι αὐτούς (LXX) vs τοῦ ποιῆσαι αὐτά (Paul).

Notes on Galatians 3:11
ὅτι δὲ ἐν νόμῳ οὐδεὶς δικαιοῦται παρὰ τῷ θεῷ δῆλον ὅτι ὁ δίκαιος ἐκ πίστεως ζήσεται — And that by the law no one is being just in the presence of God [is] evident because, “the righteous person will live by faith.”
ἐν νόμῳ is taken as a dative of means in keeping with what Paul has developed here in this chapter so far.
παρὰ τῷ θεῷ is taken as a spatial reference to the presence of God.
δῆλον is taken to mean that no one is righteous before is obvious and evident. It is in plain sight. I also suppled the verb “is” to smooth out the verbless phrase.
Here I translated ὅτι as “because” because Paul is grounding Galatians 3:11 in the text that he is citing. So while the ὅτι is introducing a citation it also has a causal force to it.
The citation is from Habakkuk 2:4, but again there is a divergence with the LXX and (here) Hebrew versions. Habakkuk 2:4 LXX reads ὁ δὲ δίκαιος ἐκ πίστεώς μου ζήσεται and the Hebrew reads בֶּאֱמוּנָתֹ֥ו יִחְיֶֽה וְצַדִּ֖יק. Both texts have a personal pronoun modifying “faith/faithfulness.” The LXX has “my” in reference to Yahweh and the Hebrew has “his” in reference to the righteous person. Paul does not include the pronoun from either language. For reasons that I cannot get into in this post but point the reader here, I do not render בֶּאֱמוּנָתֹ֥ו/ἐκ πίστεώς as “by [his] faithfulness” but rather “by [his] faith” or “by faith.” Paul picks up on this and brings this meaning into his discussion.
Thee is also another trick to this citation and the phrase ἐκ πίστεώς. It can be taken to modify either ὁ δίκαιος or ζήσεται. Both are perfectly acceptable. If we go with the former we get “The righteous by faith will live.” If we go with the latter as I have, “The righteous will live by faith.” Given the context of keeping the law and living by the law (cf Galatians 3:12) I felt it best to put ἐκ πίστεώς with ζήσεται.

Notes on Galatians 3:12
ὁ δὲ νόμος οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ πίστεως ἀλλ’ ὁ ποιήσας αὐτὰ ζήσεται ἐν αὐτοῖς — But the law is not of faith, rather, “the one who does them will live by them.”
It seems that ἐκ πίστεως has becomes a key phrase to Paul in this chapter as it is repeated over and over.
The quotation of Leviticus 18:5 is not introduced by a ὅτι. Rather Paul gets right into the citation.
Again Paul does not quote from the LXX of Leviticus 18:5 which reads, ποιήσετε αὐτά ἃ ποιήσας ἄνθρωπος ζήσεται ἐν αὐτοῖς. Paul removes the future tense ποιήσετε and the noun ἄνθρωπος from his text. I see no theological change in Paul’s citation when he deletes the words. He only quoted that which made his point.

Notes on Galatians 3:13
Χριστὸς ἡμᾶς ἐξηγόρασεν ἐκ τῆς κατάρας τοῦ νόμου γενόμενος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατάρα ὅτι γέγραπται ἐπικατάρατος πᾶς ὁ κρεμάμενος ἐπὶ ξύλου — [But] Christ set me from from the curse of the law, [he] became the curse on our behalf (because it has been written, “Everyone who hangs on a tree is cursed”).
Here ὑπὲρ is used to indicate substitution. Christ set us free by becoming a curse on our behalf. ὑπὲρ is such an awesome word that one person said that this one word contains the whole essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The participle γενόμενος indicates that this work is already done when Christ hung on the cross. The aorist tense of γενόμενος points us in that direction. The substitution has already occurred and finished. The middle voice of γενόμενος emphasizes that it was Christ who became the curse on our behalf. He accomplished the work, he was the curse in our stead.
I put the Deuteronomy 21:23 citation in parenthesis because it breaks the flow of though with Galatians 3:14. It is essential to Paul’s argument but doesn’t flow with the rest of the passage.
Paul introduces his citation of Deuteronomy 21:23 with ὅτι γέγραπται. ὅτι has a causal force to it and so it was rendered “because.” γέγραπται has the it was authoritative back then and it still is today force to it. It is hard to bring that out and I feel it is up to the preacher of the text to bring that out. Otherwise the laity need to learn Greek and read this text in its original to see this. Preachers, I think your the best bet at getting this out to the masses.
Deuteronomy 21:23 is a near exact citation of the LXX. The portion quoted reads κεκατηραμένος ὑπὸ θεοῦ πᾶς κρεμάμενος ἐπὶ ξύλου. The only real differences are that Paul uses the adjective ἐπικατάρατος instead of the perfect middle participle κεκατηραμένος; also Paul removes ὑπὸ θεοῦ, “by God” which shows that the curse is strictly from God himself and not from anyone else. God curses the man. What makes this text so perfect for Paul’s argument is the word ξύλου. In the NT era, this had become synonymous with the cross. This image would have come out in the Galatian readers’/hearers’ mind.

Notes on Galatians 3:14
ἵνα εἰς τὰ ἔθνη ἡ εὐλογία τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ γένηται ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ ἵνα τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ πνεύματος λάβωμεν διὰ τῆς πίστεως — in order that among the nations the blessing of Abraham might come in Christ Jesus in order that the promise of the Spirit might come through this faith.
As one can see this verse is comprised of two ἵνα clauses. The first ἵνα clause wraps up what Paul has been saying in Galatians 3:6-13. The promise of Abraham was righteousness to those who believe (Galatians 3:6-9). It is by Christ’s death on the tree and trusting in that death that this comes. Thus the ἵνα and its subjunctive verb declares that we can now access this blessing by Christ’s substitutionary death.
The second ἵνα clause wraps up what Paul began in Galatians 3:1-5 and talking about the Spirit. But this ἵνα is still grounded in Christ’s work. Receiving the promised Spirit by faith is only possible because Christ was crucified and we trust in what was offered in that death, a right standing with God and his comforting and empowering Spirit, to be ours and to be real. However, the Spirit could not come until the death of Christ. Thus the end result or the purpose of his death doesn’t just yield righteousness, by God’s Spirit to enable us to obey God’s law the way God expects us to. Hence the second ἵνα clause.

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