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Read the Bible

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Galatians 5:9

A little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Circumcision;   Company;   Influence;   Leaven (Yeast);   Scofield Reference Index - Leaven;   Thompson Chain Reference - Evil;   Influence;   Leaven;   The Topic Concordance - Legalism;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Leaven;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Leaven;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Discipline;   Feasts and Festivals of Israel;   Leaven;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Liberty;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Fly;   Galatians, the Epistle to the;   Leaven;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Galatians, Letter to the;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Leaven;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Galatians Epistle to the;   Leaven ;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Leaven;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Didascalia;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for November 8;  

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
Be careful! "Just a little yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise."
Revised Standard Version
A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
A lytell leven doth leven the whole lompe of dowe.
Hebrew Names Version
A little yeast grows through the whole lump.
New American Standard Bible
A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.
New Century Version
Be careful! "Just a little yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise."
Update Bible Version
A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
Webster's Bible Translation
A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
English Standard Version
A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
World English Bible
A little yeast grows through the whole lump.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
Weymouth's New Testament
A little yeast corrupts the whole of the dough.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
A litil souredowy apeirith al the gobet.
English Revised Version
A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
Contemporary English Version
A little yeast can change a whole batch of dough,
Amplified Bible
A little leaven [a slight inclination to error, or a few false teachers] leavens the whole batch [it perverts the concept of faith and misleads the church].
American Standard Version
A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
Bible in Basic English
A little leaven makes a change in all the mass.
Complete Jewish Bible
"It takes only a little hametz to leaven the whole batch of dough."
Darby Translation
A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
International Standard Version
A little yeast spreads through the whole batch of dough.1 Corinthians 5:6; 15:33;">[xr]
Etheridge Translation
A little leaven the whole mass leaveneth.
Murdock Translation
A little leaven leaveneth the whole mass.
King James Version (1611)
A little leauen leaueneth the whole lumpe.
New Living Translation
This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough!
New Life Bible
It only takes a little yeast to make the whole loaf of bread rise.
New Revised Standard
A little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough.
Geneva Bible (1587)
A litle leauen doeth leauen the whole lumpe.
George Lamsa Translation
A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
A little leaven, leaveneth, the whole lump.
Douay-Rheims Bible
A little leaven corrupteth the whole lump.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
A litle leauen, doth leauen the whole lumpe of dowe.
Good News Translation
"It takes only a little yeast to make the whole batch of dough rise," as they say.
Christian Standard Bible®
A little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough.
King James Version
A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
Lexham English Bible
A little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough.
Literal Translation
A little leaven leavens all the lump.
Young's Literal Translation
a little leaven the whole lump doth leaven;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
A litle leuen sowreth the whole lompe of dowe.
Mace New Testament (1729)
a little leaven affects the whole mass.
New English Translation
A little yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise!
New King James Version
A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
Simplified Cowboy Version
The lies these people are spreadin' is like foot-and-mouth disease in cattle. It infects one and then fatally spreads to others.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.
Legacy Standard Bible
A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

Contextual Overview

1It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery. 2Take notice: I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3Again I testify to every man who gets himself circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4You who are trying to be justified by the law have been severed from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the hope of righteousness. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. All that matters is faith, expressed through love. 7You were running so well. Who has obstructed you from obeying the truth? 8Such persuasion does not come from the One who calls you. 9A little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough.10I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is troubling you will bear the judgment, whoever he may be.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Matthew 23:33, Matthew 16:6-12, Mark 8:15, Luke 12:1, Luke 13:21, 1 Corinthians 5:6, 1 Corinthians 5:7, 1 Corinthians 15:33, 2 Timothy 2:17

Reciprocal: Exodus 12:8 - unleavened Leviticus 2:11 - no leaven Matthew 13:33 - like

Cross-References

1 Chronicles 1:2
Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared,
Luke 3:37
the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. A proverbial expression pretty much in use with the Jews; see 1 Corinthians 5:6, respecting either persons or things; and is in answer to, or prevents an objection that might be made, or something that might be said, in favour of these churches; that their case was not so bad, or the danger they were in so great, as was represented by the apostle; since they were only a few persons that propagated this notion, and but few that received it, at least thoroughly gave into it; and that, if it was an error, it was but a small one, and only regarded a single ritual, or a few rituals of the law; to which the apostle replies, by supposing, but not granting this to be the case, since they were pretty generally declined, and the error was not a slight one, that as a little sour leaven influences and ferments a large mass, or lump of dough, and makes it of the same nature with it, so a small error in doctrine, as it may be thought to be, increases to more ungodliness, and eats as doth a canker; and though a few hands may be first concerned in propagating it, and but few be infected with it, yet these may soon spread the contagion through the whole society: wherefore errors and false teachers should be nipped in the bud, and stopped in their beginnings, how inconsiderable soever they and their tenets may be judged to be.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A little leaven ... - This is evidently a proverbial expression; see it explained in the notes at 1 Corinthians 5:6. Its meaning here is, that the embracing of the errors which they had adopted was to be traced to some influence existing among themselves, and acting like leaven. It may either mean that there was existing among them from the first a slight tendency to conform to rites and customs, and that this had now like leaven pervaded the mass; or it may mean that the false teachers there might be compared to leaven, whose doctrines, though they were few in number, had pervaded the mass of Christians; or it may mean, as many have supposed, that any conformity to the Jewish law was like leaven. If they practiced circumcision, it would not stop there. The tendency to conform to Jewish rites would spread from that until it would infect all the doctrines of religion, and they would fall into the observance of all the rites of the Jewish law. It seems to me that the second interpretation referred to above is the correct one; and that the apostle means to say, that the influence which had brought this change about was at first small and unimportant; that there might have been but a few teachers of that kind, and it might have not been deemed worthy of particular attention or alarm; but that the doctrines thus infused into the churches, had spread like leaven, until the whole mass had become affected.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 9. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. — A proverbial expression, see 1 Corinthians 5:6, very aptly applied to those who receive the smallest tincture of false doctrine, relative to the things essential to salvation, which soon influences the whole conduct, so that the man becomes totally perverted. They might have argued, "It is a small thing, and should not be made a subject of serious controversy, whether we be circumcised or not." Granted, that in itself it is a small matter; but, as every man who is circumcised is a debtor to do the whole law, Galatians 5:3, then your circumcision leads necessarily to your total perversion; as the little portion of leaven, mixed with the batch, soon leavens the whole lump.


 
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