• Galatians 3:17
    The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures

    • 17 τοῦτο This (thing) δὲ but λέγω· I am saying; διαθήκην covenant προκεκυρωμένην having been made valid before ὑπὸ by τοῦ the θεοῦ God ὁ the μετὰ after τετρακόσια four hundred καὶ and τριάκοντα thirty ἔτη years γεγονὼς having come to be νόμος Law οὐκ not ἀκυροῖ, is making invalid, εἰς into τὸ the καταργῆσαι to make ineffective τὴν the ἐπαγγελίαν. promise.

  • Galatians 3:17
    The Bible in Living English

    • 17 And this is what I am saying: when an engagement had been previously validated by God, the law that came into existence four hundred and thirty years later could not invalidate it so as to supersede the promise.

  • Galatians 3:17
    The Emphasized Bible

    • 17 And this I say—A covenant previously confirmed by God the law which after four hundred and thirty years hath been brought into being doth not annul so as to do away with the promise.

  • Galatians 3:17
    King James Version

    • 17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.

  • Galatians Study Notes—Chapter 3
    New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition)

    • 3:17

      430 years: Paul here refers to the time that elapsed between the making of the Abrahamic covenant and the Mosaic Law covenant. It seems that the covenant between Jehovah and Abraham took effect in 1943 B.C.E. when Abraham and his family crossed the Euphrates River on their way to Canaan, the land that God had promised to their descendants. (Ge 12:4, 5, 7) This apparently took place on the 14th day of the month later known as Nisan. That conclusion is based on Ex 12:41, which states that Jehovah freed his people from Egyptian bondage “430 years” later, in 1513 B.C.E., “on this very day.”

      the covenant: Or “the agreement.” (See study note on Ga 3:15 and Glossary, “Covenant.”) The first-century Christians would have seen the Greek term for “covenant” in the Septuagint as the rendering of the Hebrew term berithʹ. That term occurs more than 250 times in the Hebrew Scriptures in the sense of a “covenant” or an “agreement.”​—Ex 24:7, 8; Ps 25:10; 83:5, ftn.; see study note on 2Co 3:14.

      the covenant previously made by God: This refers to the covenant that God made with Abraham. That covenant apparently went into effect in 1943 B.C.E. when Abraham crossed the Euphrates River. (Ge 12:1-7) The Law covenant that was made 430 years later, in 1513 B.C.E., did not invalidate, or negate, the Abrahamic covenant but was added to it. It directed the people toward the offspring of Abraham, Jesus Christ.​—Ga 3:15, 16; see study note on Ga 3:24.