Galatians 5:12

 Galatians 5:12

I would they were even cut off which trouble you.

a. NLT: I just wish that those troublemakers who want to mutilate you by circumcision would mutilate themselves. [Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.]

b. ASV: I would that they that unsettle you would even go beyond circumcision. [Thomas Nelson & Sons first published the American Standard Version in 1901. This translation of the Bible is in the public domain.]

c. YLT: O that even they would cut themselves off who are unsettling you! [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.] 

d. Classic Amplified: I wish those who unsettle and confuse you would [go all the way and] cut themselves off! Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

e. Peshitta Eastern Text:   [HOLY BIBLE FROM THE ANCIENT EASTERN TEXT.Copyright  Ⓒ 1933 by A.J. Holmon Co.; copyright  Ⓒ renewed 1961 by A.J. Holmon Co.; Copyright  Ⓒ 1939 by A.J. Holmon Co.; copyright  Ⓒ renewed 1967  by A.J. Holmon Co.;  Copyright  Ⓒ 1940 by A.J. Holmon Co.; copyright  Ⓒ renewed 1968 by A.J. Holmon Co.; Copyright  Ⓒ 1957 by A.J. Holmon Co. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. HarperCollins Publishers, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007.]

f. NIV: As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves! [THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.]

1. “I would they were even cut off which trouble you.”

a. [I] would [Strong: 3785. ophelon of'-el-on first person singular of a past tense of 3784; I ought (wish), i.e. (interjection) oh that!:--would (to God).]

b. [they were] even [Strong: 2532. kai kahee apparently, a primary particle, having a copulative and sometimes also a cumulative force; and, also, even, so then, too, etc.; often used in connection (or composition) with other particles or small words:--and, also, both, but, even, for, if, or, so, that, then, therefore, when, yet.]

c. cut off [Strong: 609. apokopto ap-ok-op'-to from 575 and 2875; to amputate; reflexively (by irony) to mutilate (the privy parts):--cut off.]

1). Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers: The words may mean “cut themselves off,” i.e., from your communion, but it seems far best to take the words, with all the ancient Greek interpreters and a large majority of modern commentators, including Dr. Lightfoot and Bishop Wordsworth, as referring to an extension of the rite of circumcision, such as the Galatians might see frequently practised by the priests of Cybele, whose worship had one of its most imporant centres in their country—I would they would even make themselves eunuchs. Let them carry their self-mutilation still further, and not stop at circumcision.

2). Jewish New Testament Commentary, David Stearn: “Would go the whole way and castrate themselves,” literally, “would indeed cut themselves off.” The Torah declares a castrated cohen unfit to perform priestly duties (Leviticus 21:20); and, “He who has been wounded in the stones or has had his sexual organ cut off shall not enter the assembly of Adonai” (Deuteronomy 23:2). But there is also a punning reference to being cut off from one’s people, a common sanction in the torah: Sha’ul wishes these pests would be deprived of contact with the Messianic Community.

3). Barnes' Notes on the Bible: I would they were even cut off - That is, as I understand it, from the communion of the church. So far am I, says Paul, from agreeing with them, and preaching the necessity of circumcision as they do, that I sincerely wish they were excluded from the church as unworthy a place among the children of God.

4). Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible: I would they were even cut off which trouble you. These words are a solemn wish of the apostle's with respect to the false teachers, or an imprecation of the judgment of God upon them; that they might be cut off out of the land of the living by the immediate hand of God, that they might do no more mischief to the churches of Christ: this he said not out of hatred to their persons, but from a concern for the glory of God, and the good of his people. The word here used answers to the Hebrew word and which is often made use of by the Jews in solemn imprecations; we read (o) of a righteous man, , "that cut off his children":

d. [Strong: 3588. [hoi] ὁ ho ho, including the feminine he hay, and the neuter to to in all their inflections; the definite article; the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom):--the, this, that, one, he, she, it, etc.] [Thayer: [hoi] ὁ, ἡ, τό, originally τος, τῇ, τό (as is evident from the forms τοι, ται for οἱ, αἱ in Homer and the Ionic writings), corresponds to our definite article the (German der, die, das), which is properly a demonstrative pronoun, which we see in its full force in Homer, and of which we find certain indubitable traces also in all kinds of Greek prose, and hence also in the N. T.] [Additional variants: tē, hoi, oi, tēn,ta, tēs,tois, tō, tōn, hé  hē, hai, hoi.]

e. [which] trouble [Strong: 387. anastatoo an-as-tat-o'-o from a derivative of 450 (in the sense of removal); properly, to drive out of home, i.e. (by implication) to disturb (literally or figuratively):--trouble, turn upside down, make an uproar.]

f. you [Strong: 5209. humas hoo-mas' accusative case of 5210; you (as the objective of a verb or preposition):--ye, you (+ -ward), your (+ own).]