GAL 4:17 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.)

OET (OET-RV) Those others have worked hard to try to win you over, but not for good reasons—they want to cut you off so that you’ll be enthusiastic about them.

Key: khaki:verbs, orange:accusative/object, red:negative.
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 They are zealous for you, not rightly, but they desire to separate you so that you would be zealous for them.

UST Those who are insisting on obeying the Jewish laws are eagerly showing interest in you, but they are not doing this because they have good motives. They are doing this because they want you not to associate with me and others who teach what is true about the Messiah. They desire that instead of you associating with us, you will eagerly show interest in them, not in us.

BLB They zealously seek you, not rightly. But they desire to isolate you from us, so that you might be zealous after them.

AICNT They are zealous for you, but not in a good way; they want to exclude you, so that you may be zealous for them.

OEB Certain people are seeking your favour, but with no honourable object. No, indeed, they want to isolate you, so that you will have to seek their favour.

WEBBE They zealously seek you in no good way. No, they desire to alienate you, that you may seek them.

WMBB (Same as above)

NET They court you eagerly, but for no good purpose; they want to exclude you, so that you would seek them eagerly.

LSV They are zealous for you—[yet] not well, but they wish to shut us out, that you may be zealous for them;

FBV These people are keen to gain your support, but not for any good reasons. On the contrary, they want to keep you away from us so that you will enthusiastically support them.

TCNT Those false teachers are not zealous for you in a good way, but rather they wish to shut you out so that you will be zealous for them.

T4T Those who are insisting on obeying Jewish rules are eagerly showing interest in you, but what they are doing is not good. They even want you not to associate with me and other true believers, because they want you to eagerly show interest in them, not in us.

LEB They zealously seek you, not commendably, but they want to exclude you, in order that you may seek them zealously.

BBE Their interest in you is not good; but their desire is that you may be shut out, so that you may go after them.

Moff These men make much of you — yes, but for dishonest ends; they want to debar you from us, so that you may make much of them.

Wymth These men pay court to you, but not with honourable motives. They want to exclude you, so that you may pay court to them.

ASV They zealously seek you in no good way; nay, they desire to shut you out, that ye may seek them.

DRA They are zealous in your regard not well: but they would exclude you, that you might be zealous for them.

YLT they are zealous for you — [yet] not well, but they wish to shut us out, that for them ye may be zealous;

Drby They are not rightly zealous after you, but desire to shut you out [from us], that ye may be zealous after them.

RV They zealously seek you in no good way; nay, they desire to shut you out, that ye may seek them.
(They zealously seek you in no good way; nay, they desire to shut you out, that ye/you_all may seek them. )

SLT They are zealous for you, not well; but they wish to exclude you, that ye might be zealous for them.

Wbstr They zealously affect you, but not well; for, they would exclude you, that ye may affect them.

KJB-1769 They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.
(They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye/you_all might affect them. )

KJB-1611 They zelously affect you, but not well: yea, they would exclude [fn]you, that you might affect them.

4:17 Or, vs.

Bshps They are gelouse ouer you amisse: Yea, they intende to exclude you, that ye shoulde be feruent to them warde.
(They are jealouse over you amiss: Yea, they intende to exclude you, that ye/you_all should be fervent to them warde.)

Gnva They are ielous ouer you amisse: yea, they woulde exclude you, that ye shoulde altogether loue them.
(They are jealous over you amiss: yea, they would exclude you, that ye/you_all should altogether love them. )

Cvdl They are gelous ouer you amysse. Yee they wolde make you to fall backe, that ye might be feruet to the warde.
(They are jealous over you amiss. Ye/You_all they would make you to fall back, that ye/you_all might be feruet to the warde.)

TNT They are gelous over you amysse. Ye they intede to exclude you that ye shuld be feruet to them warde.
(They are jealous over you amiss. Ye/You_all they intede to exclude you that ye/you_all should be feruet to them warde. )

Wycl Thei louen not you wel, but thei wolen exclude you, that ye suen hem.
(They love not you well, but they woollen exclude you, that ye/you_all follow hem.)

Luth Sie eifern um euch nicht fein, sondern sie wollen euch von mir abfällig machen, daß ihr um sie sollt eifern.
(They/She strive around/by/for you not fine, rather they/she/them want you from to_me abfällig make, that you(pl)/their/her around/by/for they/she/them should eifern.)

ClVg Æmulantur vos non bene: sed excludere vos volunt, ut illos æmulemini.[fn]
(Æmulantur you(pl) not/no well: but excludere you(pl) they_want, as those æmulemini. )

4.17 Æmulantur. Ego non sum inimicus, sed illi æmulantur, etc. Æmulantur autem non bene ii qui non tam cupiunt eos esse meliores, quam ipsos volunt facere pejores et retrorsum trahere æmulatione perversa.

4.17 Æmulantur. I not/no I_am the_enemy, but them æmulantur, etc. Æmulantur however not/no well ii who/which not/no tam cupiunt them to_be betteres, how themselves they_want to_do peyores and backwards trahere competition/rivalryne perverted.

UGNT ζηλοῦσιν ὑμᾶς οὐ καλῶς, ἀλλὰ ἐκκλεῖσαι ὑμᾶς θέλουσιν, ἵνα αὐτοὺς ζηλοῦτε.
(zaʸlousin humas ou kalōs, alla ekkleisai humas thelousin, hina autous zaʸloute.)

SBL-GNT ζηλοῦσιν ὑμᾶς οὐ καλῶς, ἀλλὰ ἐκκλεῖσαι ὑμᾶς θέλουσιν, ἵνα αὐτοὺς ζηλοῦτε.
(zaʸlousin humas ou kalōs, alla ekkleisai humas thelousin, hina autous zaʸloute.)

RP-GNT Ζηλοῦσιν ὑμᾶς οὐ καλῶς, ἀλλὰ ἐκκλεῖσαι ὑμᾶς θέλουσιν, ἵνα αὐτοὺς ζηλοῦτε.
(Zaʸlousin humas ou kalōs, alla ekkleisai humas thelousin, hina autous zaʸloute.)

TC-GNT Ζηλοῦσιν ὑμᾶς οὐ καλῶς, [fn]ἀλλὰ ἐκκλεῖσαι ὑμᾶς θέλουσιν, ἵνα αὐτοὺς ζηλοῦτε.
(Zaʸlousin humas ou kalōs, alla ekkleisai humas thelousin, hina autous zaʸloute. )

4:17 αλλα ¦ αλλ NA²⁸

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

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 4:8–20: Paul begged the Galatians not to turn away from the true gospel

In this section, Paul again rebuked the Galatians for turning to the law and turning away from the true gospel. He begged them to change their thinking and their actions. He said that turning to the law put them back into the slavery that they were in before they knew Christ. He equated obeying the law with paganism. This is a startling and shocking comparison.

Paul appealed to the Galatians on the basis of the emotional bond between him and them. He reminded them of how that bond had developed and that it had resulted in their full acceptance of the true gospel. But now their turning away from the true gospel had perplexed him. He said that they were now like enemies because they followed the false teachers and had turned away from the true gospel.

But the false teachers were the real enemies. For selfish reasons, they taught the Galatians to add something to their faith. They taught them to obey the law. They were not working for the good of the Galatians.

Some possible headings for this section are:

The folly of turning to the law

Paul’s concern for the Galatians

4:17a

Those people are zealous for you, but not in a good way.

Those people show concern for you^(plur), but their intentions/motives are not good.
Those false teachers show/have interest in you, but what they are doing is not good.

Those people: The phrase Those people refers to the false teachers. In some languages, it may be necessary to make this more explicit. For example:

those false teachers (NLT)

those people who want you to obey the Jewish law

are zealous for you: The Greek word that the BSB translates as are zealous for you means “are deeply concerned about” or “show a great interest in.” It refers to the attitude that the false teachers had toward the Galatians. They seemed to care about them, but in reality they did not care about them.

Some other ways to translate this clause are:

show a deep interest in you (GNT)

show concern for you

appear to want to help you

behave as if they are devoted to you

but not in a good way: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as not in a good way refers to the intentions of the false teachers. Their intentions/motives were not good. They wanted the Galatians to accept the law. This would have made them slaves to the law. It would not have been good for them.

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

but their intentions are not good (GNT)

but their motives are not good

but it isn’t for your good (CEV)

but it will not really help you

4:17b

Instead, they want to isolate you from us,

They want to separate you^(plur) from me
They don’t want you to associate with me (GW)

they want to isolate you from us: This clause means that the false teachers wanted to separate the Galatians from Paul and his co-workers. In this clause Paul stated what the false teachers were really doing in contrast to what they appeared to be doing.

Some other ways to translate this clause are:

They only want to keep you away from me (CEV)

They don’t want you to associate with me (GW)

all they want is to separate you from me (GNT)

4:17c

so that you may be zealous for them.

so that you^(plur) will show concern for them.
so that you will show/have interest in them.

so that you may be zealous for them: This clause states the purpose for 4:17a–b.

The false teachers make much of you (4:17a) and want to shut you out (4:17b), so that you may be zealous for them (4:17c).

The Greek word that the BSB translates as be zealous for is the same word as in 4:17a. If possible, you should use the same expression here. This word indicates that the false teachers wanted the Galatians to accept their teaching and thus honor them and be devoted to them.

Some other ways to translate this clause are:

in order that you will show a great interest in them

so that you show concern for them

so that you help them

so that you will be devoted to them

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

ζηλοῦσιν & θέλουσιν

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ζηλοῦσιν ὑμᾶς οὒ καλῶς ἀλλά ἐκκλεῖσαι ὑμᾶς θέλουσιν ἵνα αὐτούς ζηλοῦτε)

In this verse, the pronouns They and they both refer to the false teachers who were Judaizers and were teaching the Galatians false things. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could indicate that explicitly. Alternate translation: [The false teachers are zealous … these false teachers desire]

οὐ καλῶς

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ζηλοῦσιν ὑμᾶς οὒ καλῶς ἀλλά ἐκκλεῖσαι ὑμᾶς θέλουσιν ἵνα αὐτούς ζηλοῦτε)

Alternate translation: [not in a good way] or [not in a way that is right]

Note 2 topic: grammar-connect-logic-contrast

ἀλλὰ

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ζηλοῦσιν ὑμᾶς οὒ καλῶς ἀλλά ἐκκλεῖσαι ὑμᾶς θέλουσιν ἵνα αὐτούς ζηλοῦτε)

Here, the word but is introducing a contrast. Use a natural form in your language for introducing a contrast. Alternate translation: [but instead,]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

ἐκκλεῖσαι ὑμᾶς

˓to˒_exclude you_all

Here, the the phrase to separate you refers to separating the Galatian believers from Paul and probably also from his ministry partners, because they all taught a gospel message that was different from what the false teachers were teaching the Galatian believers. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could indicate explicitly from whom Paul is saying that the false teachers are trying to separate the Galatian believers. Alternate translation: [to separate you from us] or [to make you stop being loyal to us]

Note 4 topic: grammar-connect-logic-goal

ἵνα

in_order_that

The phrase so that introduces a purpose clause. Paul is introducing the purpose for which the false teachers desired to separate the Galatian believers from Paul and his ministry partners. Use a natural way in your language for introducing a purpose clause. Alternate translation: [in order that]

αὐτοὺς ζηλοῦτε

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ζηλοῦσιν ὑμᾶς οὒ καλῶς ἀλλά ἐκκλεῖσαι ὑμᾶς θέλουσιν ἵνα αὐτούς ζηλοῦτε)

Alternate translation: [you would be devoted to them] or [you would be attached to them]

Parallel GAL 4:17

Section 4:8–20: Paul begged the Galatians not to turn away from the true gospel

4:17a

4:17b

4:17c