Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first.
Parallel translations
- WEB but you know that because of weakness of the flesh I preached the Good News to you the first time.
- BSB You know that it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you.
- NKJV You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first.
- NASB but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time;
- NLT Surely you remember that I was sick when I first brought you the Good News.
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 first preached the gospel to them because of a bodily weakness or illness. God used even his frailty as the occasion for their hearing the Good News.
Overview
Paul recalls that some physical ailment led to his initial ministry among the Galatians. The exact nature of this weakness is unknown and debated, and Paul leaves it unspecified. The point is that despite his unimpressive condition, they welcomed both him and his message, a contrast he uses to shame their present coldness.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- 1 Cor 2:3And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
- 2 Cor 12:7–10And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
- 2 Cor 11:30If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.
- 2 Cor 10:10For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.
- 2 Cor 11:6But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things.
- 2 Cor 13:4For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.
- Gal 1:6I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
- Acts 16:6Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia,
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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 4:13 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.