Galatians 3:4-9

3:4 Have you suffered so many things for nothing? – if indeed it was for nothing. 3:5 Does God then give ¹  you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law ²  or by your believing what you heard? ³ 

3:6 Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, ⁴  3:7 so then, understand ⁵  that those who believe are the sons of Abraham. ⁶  3:8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the gospel to Abraham ahead of time, ⁷  saying, “All the nations ⁸  will be blessed in you.” ⁹  3:9 So then those who believe ¹⁰  are blessed along with Abraham the believer.

[3:5]  ¹ tn Or “provide.”

[3:5]  ² tn Grk “by [the] works of [the] law” (the same phrase as in v. 2).

[3:5]  ³ tn Grk “by [the] hearing of faith” (the same phrase as in v. 2).

[3:6]  ¹ sn A quotation from Gen 15:6.

[3:7]  ¹ tn Grk “know.”

[3:7]  ² tn The phrase “sons of Abraham” is used here in a figurative sense to describe people who are connected to a personality, Abraham, by close nonmaterial ties. It is this personality that has defined the relationship and its characteristics (BDAG 1024-25 s.v. υἱός 2.c.α).

[3:8]  ¹ tn For the Greek verb προευαγγελίζομαι (proeuangelizomai) translated as “proclaim the gospel ahead of time,” compare L&N 33.216.

[3:8]  ² tn The same plural Greek word, τὰ ἔθνη (ta eqnh), can be translated as “nations” or “Gentiles.”

[3:8]  ³ sn A quotation from Gen 12:3; 18:18.

[3:9]  ¹ tn Grk “those who are by faith,” with the Greek expression “by faith” (ἐκ πίστεως, ek pistew") the same as the expression in v. 8.