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Read the Bible

Good News Translation

Galatians 1:20

What I write is true. God knows that I am not lying!

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Minister, Christian;   Oath;   Paul;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Oaths;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Oath;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Paul;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Paul the Apostle;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Oath;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Corinth;   Galatians, the Epistle to the;   Oath;   Paul;   Timothy, the First Epistle to;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Apostles;   Church;   Flesh;   Galatians, Letter to the;   Oaths;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Paul the Apostle;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Acts of the Apostles;   Barnabas ;   Galatians Epistle to the;   Lying ;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Oath;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Acts of the Apostles;   Galatians, Epistle to the;   Law in the New Testament;   Oath;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I declare in the sight of God: I am not lying in what I write to you.
King James Version (1611)
Now the things which I write vnto you, behold, before God I lye not.
King James Version
Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not.
English Standard Version
(In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!)
New American Standard Bible
(Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying.)
New Century Version
God knows that these things I write are not lies.
Amplified Bible
(Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you as if I were standing before God that I am not lying.)
New American Standard Bible (1995)
(Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying.)
Legacy Standard Bible
(Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying!)
Berean Standard Bible
I assure you before God that what I am writing to you is no lie.
Contemporary English Version
And in the presence of God I swear I am telling the truth.
Complete Jewish Bible
(Concerning these matters I am writing you about, I declare before God that I am not lying!)
Darby Translation
Now what I write to you, behold, before God, I do not lie.
Easy-to-Read Version
God knows there is nothing untrue in any of this.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Nowe the things which I write vnto you, beholde, I witnes before God, that I lie not.
George Lamsa Translation
Now the things which I write to you, behold, I confess before God, I do not lie.
Lexham English Bible
(Now the things which I am writing to you, behold, I assure you before God that I am not lying.)
Literal Translation
And what I write to you, behold, before God I do not lie.
American Standard Version
Now touching the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not.
Bible in Basic English
Now God is witness that the things which I am writing to you are true.
Hebrew Names Version
Now about the things which I write to you, behold, before God, I'm not lying.
International Standard Version
(I declareI declare
">[fn] before God that what I am writing to you is not a lie.)Romans 9:1;">[xr]
Etheridge Translation
But these which I write to you, behold, before Aloha, [fn] that I lie not.
Murdock Translation
In the things which I am writing to you, behold, before God ! I lie not.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
The thynges therfore which I write vnto you, beholde, before God I lie not.
English Revised Version
Now touching the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not.
World English Bible
Now about the things which I write to you, behold, before God, I'm not lying.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Now the things which I write to you, behold before God, I lie not.
Weymouth's New Testament
In making these assertions I am speaking the truth, as in the sight of God.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And these thingis which Y write to you, lo! tofor God Y lie not.
Update Bible Version
Now concerning the things which I write to you, look, before God, I don't lie.
Webster's Bible Translation
Now the things which I write to you, behold, before God, I lie not.
New English Translation
I assure you that, before God, I am not lying about what I am writing to you!
New King James Version
(Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.)
New Living Translation
I declare before God that what I am writing to you is not a lie.
New Life Bible
I am writing the truth. God knows I am not lying.
New Revised Standard
In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Now, as touching the things which I am writing to you, lo! before God, I am not guilty of falsehood: -
Douay-Rheims Bible
Now the things which I write to you, behold, before God, I lie not.
Revised Standard Version
(In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!)
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
The thinges which I write beholde God knoweth I lye not.
Young's Literal Translation
And the things that I write to you, lo, before God -- I lie not;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The thinges that I wryte vnto you, beholde, God knoweth, I lye not.
Mace New Testament (1729)
what I write to you, I call God to witness is all true:
THE MESSAGE
I, Paul, and my companions in faith here, send greetings to the Galatian churches. My authority for writing to you does not come from any popular vote of the people, nor does it come through the appointment of some human higher-up. It comes directly from Jesus the Messiah and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. I'm God-commissioned. So I greet you with the great words, grace and peace! We know the meaning of those words because Jesus Christ rescued us from this evil world we're in by offering himself as a sacrifice for our sins. God's plan is that we all experience that rescue. Glory to God forever! Oh, yes! I can't believe your fickleness—how easily you have turned traitor to him who called you by the grace of Christ by embracing a variant message! It is not a minor variation, you know; it is completely other, an alien message, a no-message, a lie about God. Those who are provoking this agitation among you are turning the Message of Christ on its head. Let me be blunt: If one of us—even if an angel from heaven!—were to preach something other than what we preached originally, let him be cursed. I said it once; I'll say it again: If anyone, regardless of reputation or credentials, preaches something other than what you received originally, let him be cursed. Do you think I speak this strongly in order to manipulate crowds? Or curry favor with God? Or get popular applause? If my goal was popularity, I wouldn't bother being Christ's slave. Know this—I am most emphatic here, friends—this great Message I delivered to you is not mere human optimism. I didn't receive it through the traditions, and I wasn't taught it in some school. I got it straight from God, received the Message directly from Jesus Christ. I'm sure that you've heard the story of my earlier life when I lived in the Jewish way. In those days I went all out in persecuting God's church. I was systematically destroying it. I was so enthusiastic about the traditions of my ancestors that I advanced head and shoulders above my peers in my career. Even then God had designs on me. Why, when I was still in my mother's womb he chose and called me out of sheer generosity! Now he has intervened and revealed his Son to me so that I might joyfully tell non-Jews about him. Immediately after my calling—without consulting anyone around me and without going up to Jerusalem to confer with those who were apostles long before I was—I got away to Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus, but it was three years before I went up to Jerusalem to compare stories with Peter. I was there only fifteen days—but what days they were! Except for our Master's brother James, I saw no other apostles. (I'm telling you the absolute truth in this.)
Simplified Cowboy Version
This here is the truth and you can set it stone.

Contextual Overview

10 Does this sound as if I am trying to win human approval? No indeed! What I want is God's approval! Am I trying to be popular with people? If I were still trying to do so, I would not be a servant of Christ. 11 Let me tell you, my friends, that the gospel I preach is not of human origin. 12 I did not receive it from any human being, nor did anyone teach it to me. It was Jesus Christ himself who revealed it to me. 13 You have been told how I used to live when I was devoted to the Jewish religion, how I persecuted without mercy the church of God and did my best to destroy it. 14 I was ahead of most other Jews of my age in my practice of the Jewish religion, and was much more devoted to the traditions of our ancestors. 15 But God in his grace chose me even before I was born, and called me to serve him. And when he decided 16 to reveal his Son to me, so that I might preach the Good News about him to the Gentiles, I did not go to anyone for advice, 17 nor did I go to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before me. Instead, I went at once to Arabia, and then I returned to Damascus. 18 It was three years later that I went to Jerusalem to obtain information from Peter, and I stayed with him for two weeks. 19 I did not see any other apostle except James, the Lord's brother.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

behold: Romans 9:1, 2 Corinthians 11:10, 2 Corinthians 11:11, 2 Corinthians 11:31

Reciprocal: Romans 1:9 - God 2 Corinthians 1:23 - I call Philippians 1:8 - God 1 Thessalonians 2:5 - God 1 Timothy 2:7 - I speak

Cross-References

Genesis 1:14
Then God commanded, "Let lights appear in the sky to separate day from night and to show the time when days, years, and religious festivals begin;
Genesis 1:22
He blessed them all and told the creatures that live in the water to reproduce and to fill the sea, and he told the birds to increase in number.
Genesis 1:24
Then God commanded, "Let the earth produce all kinds of animal life: domestic and wild, large and small"—and it was done.
Genesis 1:25
So God made them all, and he was pleased with what he saw.
Genesis 1:30
but for all the wild animals and for all the birds I have provided grass and leafy plants for food"—and it was done.
Genesis 2:19
So he took some soil from the ground and formed all the animals and all the birds. Then he brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and that is how they all got their names.
Genesis 8:17
Take all the birds and animals out with you, so that they may reproduce and spread over all the earth."
1 Kings 4:33
He spoke of trees and plants, from the Lebanon cedars to the hyssop that grows on walls; he talked about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.
Psalms 148:10
all animals, tame and wild, reptiles and birds.
Ecclesiastes 2:21
You work for something with all your wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and then you have to leave it all to someone who hasn't had to work for it. It is useless, and it isn't right!

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Now the things which I write unto you,.... Concerning his education, his religion, his principles and practices before conversion; concerning his call by the grace of God, the revelation of Christ in him, and his preaching of him among the Heathen; concerning his travels to several places for this purpose, and especially concerning his not receiving the Gospel from men, not from any of the apostles; and how that upon his conversion he did not go up to Jerusalem to any of them, to be taught and sent forth by them; and that it was not till three years after that he wept thither to see Peter, with whom he stayed but fifteen days, and saw no other apostle, but James the Lord's brother. Now this being a matter of moment, and what he had been charged with by the false teachers, that the Gospel he preached he had received from men, in order to disqualify him and bring him into contempt as an apostle, and which they had insinuated to the Galatians; he therefore not only wrote these things, but for the confirmation of them solemnly appeals to God the searcher of hearts for the truth of them;

behold, before God I lie not; which is not only a strong asseveration, but a formal oath; it is swearing by the God of truth, calling him to be witness of the things that he had written; whence it is manifest that an oath upon proper occasions, where there is a necessity for it, and a good end to be answered by it, may be lawfully made.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Behold, before God I lie not - This is an oath, or a solemn appeal to God; see the note at Romans 9:1. The design of this oath here is to prevent all suspicion of falsehood, It may seem to be remarkable that Paul should make this solemn appeal to God in this argument, and in the narrative of a plain fact, when his statement could hardly be called in question by anyone. But we may remark:

(1) That the oath here refers not only to the fact that he was with Peter and James only fifteen days, but to the entire group of facts to which he had referred in this chapter. “The things which I wrote unto you.” It included, therefore, the narrative about his conversion, and the direct revelation which he had from the Lord Jesus.

(2) There were no radios which he could appeal to in this case, and he could, therefore, only appeal to God. It was probably not practicable for him to appeal to Peter or James, since neither of them were in Galatia, and a considerable part of the transactions here referred to occurred where there were no witnesses. It pertained to the direct revelation of truth from the Lord Jesus. The only way, therefore, was for Paul to appeal directly to God for the truth of what he said.

(3) The importance of the truth here affirmed was such as to justify this solemn appeal to God. It was an extraordinary and miraculous revelation of the truth by Jesus Christ himself. He received information of the truth of Christianity from no human being. He had consulted no one in regard to its nature. That fact was so extraordinary, and it was so remarkable that the system thus communicated to him should harmonize so entirely with that taught by the other apostles with whom he had had no contact, that it was not improper to appeal to God in this solemn manner. It was, therefore, no trifling matter in which Paul appealed to God; and a solemn appeal of the same nature and in the same circumstances can never be improper.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 20. Before God I lie not. — This he speaks in reference to having seen only Peter and James at Jerusalem; and consequently to prove that he had not learned the Gospel from the assembly of the apostles at Jerusalem, nor consequently received his commission from them.


 
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