Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all.
Parallel translations
- WEB I beg you, brothers, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong,
- BSB I beg you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you. You have done me no wrong.
- NKJV Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all.
- NASB I beg of you, brothers and sisters, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong;
- NLT Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from these things, for I have become like you Gentiles—free from those laws. You did not mistreat me when I first preached to 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
Paul pleads with the Galatians to become as he is, free from the law, just as he had become like them to reach them. He appeals to their past kindness and his genuine love.
Overview
Shifting from rebuke to tender appeal, Paul urges them to share his freedom from legal bondage. As one who, though a Jew, lived in the liberty of the gospel, he had identified with them; now he asks them not to abandon that freedom. The reminder that they had done him 'no wrong' begins a warm recollection of their former affection.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- 2 Cor 2:5But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all.
- 1 Kgs 22:4And he said unto Jehoshaphat, Wilt thou go with me to battle to Ramothgilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses.
- 1 Cor 9:20–23And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;
- Gen 34:15But in this will we consent unto you: If ye will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised;
- 2 Cor 6:13Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged.
- Acts 21:21And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.
- Gal 6:14But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
- Gal 2:14But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
- Phil 3:7–8But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
- Gal 6:18Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
Resources, by level
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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 4:12 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.