The Meaning of Galatians 4:27 Explained

Galatians 4:27

KJV: For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.

YLT: for it hath been written, 'Rejoice, O barren, who art not bearing; break forth and cry, thou who art not travailing, because many are the children of the desolate -- more than of her having the husband.'

Darby: For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break out and cry, thou that travailest not; because the children of the desolate are more numerous than those of her that has a husband.

ASV: For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; Break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: For more are the children of the desolate than of her that hath the husband.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

For  it is written,  Rejoice,  [thou] barren  that bearest  not;  break forth  and  cry,  thou that travailest  not:  for  the desolate  hath many more  children  than  she which hath  an husband. 

What does Galatians 4:27 Mean?

Verse Meaning

The quotation from Isaiah 54:1 predicted that Israel, which was comparatively barren before the Babylonian exile, would enjoy numerous children in the future. This is probably a reference to the blessings of the millennial kingdom. Paul applied this prophecy to Sarah. She would have greater blessing and more children in the future than in the past, children of the promises, namely, all true believers including Christians.

Context Summary

Galatians 4:21-31 - "children Of Promise"
In this allegory of Sarah and Hagar, it is important to notice that Paul is not dealing with the principle of evil within our hearts, but with the attempt to mingle two dispensations or methods of religious experience-the Law and the Gospel.
He says that the poor slave girl, Hagar, whom Abraham bought as a personal attendant for his wife, stands for Mount Sinai, the mountain of the Law, in the district of Arabia, from which she may have originally come. Hagar also stands for the Judaizers, whose headquarters were at Jerusalem, while their emissaries everywhere dogged the Apostle's movements, insisting that his converts must come under the old Levitical ceremonialism. Paul says that the Galatians must choose between their slavish observance of outward ritual and a simple faith in the finished work of Jesus; and exhorts them to cast out Hagar and Ishmael, which savor of the flesh, and to give themselves to the service of the Spirit, which stands for freedom, peace, and joy in God. Let us also guard against a religious scrupulosity and subservience to the outward, and cultivate a quick sensitiveness to the Holy Spirit. [source]

Chapter Summary: Galatians 4

1  We were under the law till Christ came, as the heir is under the guardian till he be of age
5  But Christ freed us from the law;
7  therefore we are servants no longer to it
14  Paul remembers the Galatians' good will to him, and his to them;
22  and shows that we are the sons of Abraham by the freewoman

Greek Commentary for Galatians 4:27

Which is our mother [ητις εστιν μητηρ ημων]
The mother of us Christians, apply the allegory of Hagar and Sarah to us. The Jerusalem above is the picture of the Kingdom of God. Paul illustrates the allegory by quoting Isaiah 54:1, a song of triumph looking for deliverance from a foreign yoke. [source]
Rejoice [ευπραντητι]
First aorist passive imperative of ευπραινω — euphrainō Break forth (ρηχον — rēxon). First aorist active imperative of ρηγνυμι — rēgnumi to rend, to burst asunder. Supply ευπροσυνην — euphrosunēn (joy) as in Isaiah 49:13. The desolate The prophet refers to Sarah‘s prolonged barrenness and Paul uses this fact as a figure for the progress and glory of Christianity (the new Jerusalem of freedom) in contrast with the old Jerusalem of bondage (the current Judaism). His thought has moved rapidly, but he does not lose his line. [source]
Break forth [ρηχον]
First aorist active imperative of ρηγνυμι — rēgnumi to rend, to burst asunder. Supply ευπροσυνην — euphrosunēn (joy) as in Isaiah 49:13. [source]
The desolate [της ερημου]
The prophet refers to Sarah‘s prolonged barrenness and Paul uses this fact as a figure for the progress and glory of Christianity (the new Jerusalem of freedom) in contrast with the old Jerusalem of bondage (the current Judaism). His thought has moved rapidly, but he does not lose his line. [source]
[]
d The last statement is proved from Scripture, lxx of Isaiah 54:1, which predicts the great growth of the people of God after the Babylonian exile. It is applied to the unfruitful Sarah, who answers to the Jerusalem above, and who is a type of God's dealings with her descendants. [source]
Break forth [ῥῆξον]
In this sense not in N.T. The ellipsis is usually supplied by φωνήν voicecause thy voice to break forth. Others prefer εὐφροσύνην joyas suggested by εὐφράνθητι rejoice Ῥήξει φωνὴν occurs Job 6:5, of the lowing of the ox; and ῥηξάτωσαν , ῥηξάτω εὐφροσύνην in Isaiah 49:13; Isaiah 52:9. As these are the only instances in lxx in which the verb is used in this sense, as the quotation is from Isaiah, and as the verb occurs twice in that prophecy with εὐφροσύνην joyit seems better to supply that noun here. Cause joy to break forth. [source]
Many more children than [πολλὰ τὰ τέκνα - μᾶλλον ἣ]
Incorrect. Not as Lightfoot and others for πλείονα ἣ morethan. Rather, “Many are the children of the solitary one in a higher degree than those of her which hath a husband.” It is a comparison between two manys. Both had many children, but the solitary had a greater many. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Galatians 4:27

Galatians 4:19 I travail in birth again [πάλιν ὠδίνω]
Better as Rev. of whom I am again in travail. Ὡδίνω only here and Revelation 12:2. Galatians 4:27is a quotation. The metaphorical use of the word is frequent in O.T. See Psalm 7:14; 31:5; 43:17; Micah href="/desk/?q=mic+4:10&sr=1">Micah 4:10; Isaiah 26:18; Isaiah 66:8. Paul means that he is for the second time laboring and distressed for the Galatian converts, with the same anguish which attended his first efforts for their conversion. The metaphor of begetting children in the gospel is found in 1 Corinthians 4:15; Philemon 1:10. It was a Jewish saying: “If one teaches the son of his neighbor the law, the Scripture reckons this the same as though he had begotten him.” [source]
Galatians 4:19 I am in travail [ωδινω]
I am in birth pangs. Old word for this powerful picture of pain. In N.T. only here, Galatians 4:27; Revelation 12:2. [source]
Revelation 12:2 Travailing in birth [ωδινουσα]
Present active participle of ωδινω — ōdinō old verb (from ωδιν — ōdin birth-pangs 1 Thessalonians 5:3), in N.T. only here and Galatians 4:27.And in pain (και βασανιζομενη — kai basanizomenē). “And tormented” (present passive participle of βασανιζω — basanizō for which see note on Revelation 9:5 and note on Revelation 11:10), only here in N.T. in sense of childbirth.To be delivered Second aorist active infinitive of τικτω — tiktō to give birth, epexegetical use. Also in Revelation 12:4. [source]

What do the individual words in Galatians 4:27 mean?

It has been written for Rejoice O barren woman the [one] not bearing break forth and call aloud not travailing because many [are] the children of the desolate woman more than of her having the husband
γέγραπται γάρ Εὐφράνθητι στεῖρα οὐ τίκτουσα ῥῆξον καὶ βόησον οὐκ ὠδίνουσα ὅτι πολλὰ τὰ τέκνα τῆς ἐρήμου μᾶλλον τῆς ἐχούσης τὸν ἄνδρα

γέγραπται  It  has  been  written 
Parse: Verb, Perfect Indicative Middle or Passive, 3rd Person Singular
Root: γράφω 
Sense: to write, with reference to the form of the letters.
Εὐφράνθητι  Rejoice 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Imperative Passive, 2nd Person Singular
Root: εὐφραίνω  
Sense: to gladden, make joyful.
στεῖρα  O  barren  woman 
Parse: Noun, Vocative Feminine Singular
Root: στεῖρα  
Sense: hard, stiff.
  the  [one] 
Parse: Article, Vocative Feminine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
τίκτουσα  bearing 
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Vocative Feminine Singular
Root: τίκτω  
Sense: to bring forth, bear, produce (fruit from the seed).
ῥῆξον  break  forth 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Imperative Active, 2nd Person Singular
Root: ῥάσσω 
Sense: to rend, burst or break asunder, break up, break through.
βόησον  call  aloud 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Imperative Active, 2nd Person Singular
Root: βοάω  
Sense: to raise a cry, of joy pain etc.
ὠδίνουσα  travailing 
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Vocative Feminine Singular
Root: ὠδίνω  
Sense: to feel the pains of child birth, to travail.
ὅτι  because 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: ὅτι  
Sense: that, because, since.
πολλὰ  many 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Neuter Plural
Root: πολύς  
Sense: many, much, large.
τὰ  [are]  the 
Parse: Article, Nominative Neuter Plural
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
τέκνα  children 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Neuter Plural
Root: τέκνον  
Sense: offspring, children.
τῆς  of  the 
Parse: Article, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ἐρήμου  desolate  woman 
Parse: Adjective, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root: ἔρημος  
Sense: solitary, lonely, desolate, uninhabited.
μᾶλλον  more 
Parse: Adverb
Root: μᾶλλον  
Sense: more, to a greater degree, rather.
  than 
Parse: Conjunction
Root:  
Sense: either, or, than.
τῆς  of  her 
Parse: Article, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ἄνδρα  husband 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Singular
Root: ἀνήρ  
Sense: with reference to sex.