GAL 1:23 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=none Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

Key: khaki:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject, orange:accusative/object.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULT But they were only hearing, “The one formerly persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith which he formerly was destroying,”

UST They only heard others say about me repeatedly, “Paul, the one who in the past was doing harmful things to us, is now telling the same message which we believe and which formerly he was trying to cause people to stop believing!”

BLB But they were only hearing that "the one formerly persecuting us now is preaching the faith which once he was destroying."

AICNT But they were only hearing that “The one who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”

OEB all that they had heard was – “The man who once persecuted us is now telling the good news of the faith of which he once tried to destroy.”

WEBBE but they only heard, “He who once persecuted us now preaches the faith that he once tried to destroy.”

WMBB (Same as above)

NET They were only hearing, “The one who once persecuted us is now proclaiming the good news of the faith he once tried to destroy.”

LSV and they were only hearing that “he who is persecuting us then, now proclaims good news—the faith that he was then destroying”;

FBV They had only heard people say, “The man who used to persecute us is now spreading the faith he once tried to destroy!”

TCNT They were only hearing people say, “The man who once persecuted us is now preaching the good news of the faith he once tried to destroy.”

T4T They only heard others say about me repeatedly, “Paul, the one who was formerly doing harmful things to us, is now telling the same message which we believe and which formerly he was trying ◄to destroy/to cause people to stop believing►!”

LEB and they were only hearing, “The one formerly persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith that formerly he was attempting to destroy,”

BBE Only it came to their ears that he who at one time was cruel to us is now preaching the faith which before had been attacked by him;

Moff they merely heard that "our former persecutor is now preaching the faith he once harried,"

Wymth They only heard it said, "He who was once our persecutor is now telling the Good News of the faith of which he formerly made havoc."

ASV but they only heard say, He that once persecuted us now preacheth the faith of which he once made havoc;

DRA But they had heard only: He, who persecuted us in times past, doth now preach the faith which once he impugned:

YLT and only they were hearing, that 'he who is persecuting us then, doth now proclaim good news — the faith that then he was wasting;'

Drby only they were hearing that he who persecuted us formerly now announces the glad tidings of the faith which formerly he ravaged:

RV but they only heard say, He that once persecuted us now preacheth the faith of which he once made havock;

SLT And only they had heard, That he then driving us out, now announces the good news, the faith which he then felt the absence of.

Wbstr But they had heard only, That he who persecuted us in times past, now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.

KJB-1769 But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.

KJB-1611 But they had heard onely, that he which persecuted vs in times past, now preacheth the faith, which once hee destroyed.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from capitalisation and punctuation)

Bshps But they had hearde only, that he which persecuted vs in tyme past, nowe preacheth the fayth, which before he destroyed.
(But they had heard only, that he which persecuted us in time past, now preacheth the faith, which before he destroyed.)

Gnva And they glorified God for me.

Cvdl Neuertheles they had herde onely, that: He that persecuted vs in tyme passed, preacheth now ye faith which some tyme he destroyed:
(Nevertheless they had herd/heard only, that: He that persecuted us in time passed, preacheth now ye/you_all faith which some time he destroyed:)

TNT But they hearde only that he which persecuted vs in tyme past now preacheth the fayth which before he destroyed.
(But they heard only that he which persecuted us in time past now preacheth the faith which before he destroyed. )

Wycl that he that pursuede vs sum tyme, prechide now the feith, ayens which he fauyte sum tyme;
(that he that pursued us some time, preached now the faith, against which he fought some time;)

Luth Sie hatten aber allein gehöret, daß, der uns weiland verfolgte, der prediget jetzt den Glauben, welchen er weiland verstörete;
(They/She had but alone belongs/pertains, that, the/of_the us/to_us/ourselves once/formerly pursued, the/of_the preaches now/currently the faith, which_(ones) he once/formerly disturbed;)

ClVg tantum autem auditum habebant quoniam qui persequebatur nos aliquando, nunc evangelizat fidem, quam aliquando expugnabat:
(only however hearing they_had since/because who/which perfollowed us sometimes, now evangelizat faith, how sometimes expugnabat: )

UGNT μόνον δὲ ἀκούοντες ἦσαν, ὅτι ὁ διώκων ἡμᾶς ποτε, νῦν εὐαγγελίζεται τὴν πίστιν, ἥν ποτε ἐπόρθει.
(monon de akouontes aʸsan, hoti ho diōkōn haʸmas pote, nun euangelizetai taʸn pistin, haʸn pote eporthei.)

SBL-GNT μόνον δὲ ἀκούοντες ἦσαν ὅτι Ὁ διώκων ἡμᾶς ποτε νῦν εὐαγγελίζεται τὴν πίστιν ἥν ποτε ἐπόρθει,
(monon de akouontes aʸsan hoti Ho diōkōn haʸmas pote nun euangelizetai taʸn pistin haʸn pote eporthei,)

RP-GNT μόνον δὲ ἀκούοντες ἦσαν ὅτι Ὁ διώκων ἡμᾶς ποτέ, νῦν εὐαγγελίζεται τὴν πίστιν ἥν ποτε ἐπόρθει.
(monon de akouontes aʸsan hoti Ho diōkōn haʸmas pote, nun euangelizetai taʸn pistin haʸn pote eporthei.)

TC-GNT μόνον δὲ ἀκούοντες ἦσαν ὅτι Ὁ διώκων ἡμᾶς ποτε, νῦν εὐαγγελίζεται τὴν πίστιν ἥν ποτε ἐπόρθει.
(monon de akouontes aʸsan hoti Ho diōkōn haʸmas pote, nun euangelizetai taʸn pistin haʸn pote eporthei. )

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs, orange:accents differ (from our SR-GNT base).

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 1:11–24: Paul received his message from Jesus himself

In this section, Paul stressed that the gospel that he preached came from Jesus Christ himself. No human being taught it to him. Therefore, his message had God’s authority. Paul’s purpose in writing this section was to convince the Galatians that the true gospel is the one that he preached.

Some other possible headings for this section are:

Paul’s Message Comes from Christ (NLT)

Jesus Alone Gave Paul the Good News He Spreads (GW)

Paul’s Authority is from God (NCV)

God is the source of Paul’s authority and message

1:23a

They only heard the account:

They had only heard,
Nevertheless, they had been told that
However, someone had told them that

They only heard the account: This clause indicates how the believers in the district of Judea knew about Paul. Even though they had not met him (1:22), they had heard about his ministry in regions far away from them.

Some other ways to translate this clause are:

They only were hearing it said (ESV)

They had only been told

only: The word only distinguishes between knowing Paul personally and knowing about his ministry. The believers in Judea did not know Paul personally. They only knew about his work.

Some other ways to translate this are:

However, they heard the report that

Nevertheless they heard about me

The word only does not refer to the content of the report (1:23b–c). It does not mean, “Here is the only thing they heard about Paul.”

1:23b

“The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith

“The man who used to cause us^(incl) to suffer is now preaching about faith in Christ
“This man formerly attacked us believers. But he is now telling people to trust/believe in Christ.
I previously harmed the church. Now I tell people to believe the good news

In 1:23b, Paul wrote what the Judean Christians were hearing about him. Introduce what they were hearing in a natural way in your language. One way is to use indirect speech. For example:

^23aThey had only heard that ^23bthe man who formerly persecuted them was now preaching the faith…

The man who formerly persecuted us: This clause means that Paul formerly caused the Christians to suffer. The word persecuted also occurs in 1:13b. Translate it here as you did there. For example:

This man who was attacking us (NCV)

the man who caused us to suffer during previous times

that I, the one who once harmed the church

is now preaching the faith: This clause means that Paul had begun to tell people to have faith or believe in Christ to be saved. He was preaching the good news about Christ.

Some other ways to translate this clause is:

was now preaching the message (CEV)

is now telling people how to have faith in Christ

is now teaching the gospel in which we have faith

See faith, Meaning 2 in the Glossary.

1:23c

he once tried to destroy.”

that he had previously tried to destroy/spoil.”
He had previously tried/wanted to destroy people who believe such things.”
that, before, I wanted to make people stop believing.

he once tried to destroy: This clause refers to “the faith,” that is, the gospel. The good news about Christ that Paul was preaching was the same good news that he had previously wanted to destroy.

Some other ways to translate this clause are:

he previously tried to destroy/spoil

that at one time he had wanted to finish/end

In some languages, it is not natural use the verb destroy with something like “faith” or “gospel.” These languages may have to translate this as:

He had previously tried to destroy the people who believed such things.

Before, he wanted to make people stop believing these things.

The same word for destroy also occurs in 1:13c.

once: The Greek word that the BSB translates as once means “formerly” or “before.” It does not mean “one time.” Paul had tried many times to destroy the gospel. It is the same word that Paul used in 1:23b.

General Comment on 1:23b–c

In Greek, this is one sentence with three clauses. In some languages, it may be more natural to divide these clauses into separate sentences. For example:

^bPaul, who formerly persecuted us, is now preaching the faith. ^cHe had once tried to destroy that faith.

^bPaul formerly persecuted us. Now he is preaching about faith in Christ. ^cHe had once tried to destroy that faith.

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-contrast

δὲ

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: μόνον δέ ἀκούοντες ἦσαν ὅτι Ὁ διώκων ἡμάς ποτέ νῦν εὐαγγελίζεται τήν πίστιν ἥν ποτέ ἐπόρθει)

Here, the word But is introducing a contrast between what the Judean believers did know about Paul (they were hearing that he was now proclaiming the faith) and what they did not know about Paul (how he looked, [1:22](../01/22.md)). Use a natural way in your language for introducing a contrast. Alternate translation: [Rather,]

μόνον & ἀκούοντες ἦσαν

only & hearing ˱they˲_were

Alternate translation: [all that the believers in the region of Judea knew about me was that people were saying] or [all that the people belonging to the churches in the region of Judea knew about me was that people were saying]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

ὁ

Here, the phrase The one refers to Paul. If it would help your readers, you could express that explicitly.

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

τὴν πίστιν

If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea of faith, you could express the same idea in some other way that is natural in your language. Alternate translation: [the message about Jesus]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy

τὴν πίστιν

Here, the faith refers to the good news about Jesus, which includes the need to have faith in Jesus to be saved. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [the good news about Jesus]

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

ἐπόρθει

˱he˲_˓was˒_persecuting

Here, the word destroying refers to trying to stop the spread of the Christian message. If it would help your readers, you could express that explicitly.

Parallel GAL 1:23

Section 1:11–24: Paul received his message from Jesus himself

1:23a

1:23b

1:23c

General Comment on 1:23b–c