What then has become of your blessing? For I can testify that, if it were possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.
Parallel translations
- WEB What was the blessing you enjoyed? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.
- KJV Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.
- NKJV What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.
- NASB Where then is that sense of blessing you had? For I testify about you that, if possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.
- NLT Where is that joyful and grateful spirit you felt then? I am sure you would have taken out your own eyes and given them to me if it had been possible.
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 asks what became of their earlier joy and devotion, recalling they would have given their own eyes for him. He laments the loss of their first affection.
Overview
The vivid image of plucking out their eyes shows the depth of the Galatians' original love and self-sacrifice toward Paul. Some see this as a hint about Paul's ailment affecting his eyes, though this is uncertain. The verse mourns how a false gospel has cooled a once-fervent relationship and warns how legalism damages Christian fellowship.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Rom 5:2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
- Col 4:13For I testify about him that he goes to great pains for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis.
- 1 Jn 3:16–18By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
- Gal 6:4Each one should test his own work. Then he will have reason to boast in himself alone, and not in someone else.
- Rom 4:6–9And David speaks likewise of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
- Gal 5:22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
- Rom 10:2For I testify about them that they are zealous for God, but not on the basis of knowledge.
- 2 Cor 8:3For I testify that they gave according to their ability and even beyond it. Of their own accord,
- Rom 15:13Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Gal 4:19My children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,
- 1 Th 2:8We cared so deeply that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our own lives as well. That is how beloved you have become to us.
- 1 Th 5:13In love, hold them in highest regard because of their work. Live in peace with one another.
- Gal 3:14He redeemed us in order that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
- Rom 9:3For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my own flesh and blood,
- Luke 8:13The seeds on rocky ground are those who hear the word and receive it with joy, but they have no root. They believe for a season, but in the time of testing, they fall away.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 4:15 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.