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And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”
Galatians 3:8 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all the nations will be blessed.”
  • KJV And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
  • BSB The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and foretold the gospel to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”
  • NASB The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.”
  • NLT What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.”

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, announcing the gospel beforehand to Abraham. The promise to bless all nations was gospel in advance.

Overview

Paul reads God's promise to Abraham, 'In you all the nations will be blessed,' as the gospel preached ahead of time. From the beginning God planned to justify Gentiles through faith, not law. This shows the inclusion of the nations was always God's design, fulfilled in Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 24

  • Gen 12:3I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”
  • Gen 22:18All the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring, because you have obeyed my voice.”
  • Gen 28:14Your offspring will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your offspring will all the families of the earth be blessed.
  • Gen 18:18since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him?
  • Gen 26:4I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and will give all these lands to your offspring. In your offspring will all the nations of the earth be blessed,
  • Heb 4:2For indeed we have had good news preached to us, even as they also did, but the word they heard didn’t profit them, because it wasn’t mixed with faith by those who heard.
  • Rom 3:28–30We maintain therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
  • Gal 3:22But the Scriptures imprisoned all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
  • Gal 3:16Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his offspring. He doesn’t say, “To descendants ”, as of many, but as of one, “To your offspring ”, which is Christ.
  • Gen 49:10The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs. To him will the obedience of the peoples be.
  • John 7:38He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.”
  • Acts 15:15–18This agrees with the words of the prophets. As it is written,
  • 2 Tim 3:15–17From infancy, you have known the holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.
  • Rom 9:17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
  • Rev 11:15The seventh angel sounded, and great voices in heaven followed, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ. He will reign forever and ever!”
  • Rom 9:30What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who didn’t follow after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith;
  • Isa 65:9I will bring offspring out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains. My chosen will inherit it, and my servants will dwell there.
  • John 7:42Hasn’t the Scripture said that the Christ comes of the offspring of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”
  • Acts 2:35until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’
  • Isa 6:13If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remains when they are felled; so the holy seed is its stock.”
  • Ps 72:7In his days, the righteous shall flourish, and abundance of peace, until the moon is no more.
  • Gal 4:30However what does the Scripture say? “Throw out the servant and her son, for the son of the servant will not inherit with the son of the free woman.”
  • Acts 2:25–26For David says concerning him, ‘I saw the Lord always before my face, For he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.
  • John 19:37Again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they pierced.”

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (6)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Galatians videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Galatians 3:8YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on GalatiansMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Christ became a curse for us to redeem us from the law's curse, that we might receive the Spirit and be sons — justified by faith in him, not by works.

How Galatians 3:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.