Galatians 4:18

THE MESSAGE

It is a good thing to be ardent in doing good, but not just when I am in your presence. Can't you continue the same concern for both my person and my message when I am away from you that you had when I was with you? Do you know how I feel right now, and will feel until Christ's life becomes visible in your lives? Like a mother in the pain of childbirth. Oh, I keep wishing that I was with you. Then I wouldn't be reduced to this blunt, letter-writing language out of sheer frustration.

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
It is good for you to work hard, of course, if it is for something good. That's something you should do whether I am there or not.

Revised Standard Version
For a good purpose it is always good to be made much of, and not only when I am present with you.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
It is good alwayes to be fervent so it be in a good thinge and not only whe I am present with you.

Hebrew Names Version
But it is always good to be zealous in a good cause, and not only when I am present with you.

New American Standard Bible
But it is good always to be eagerly sought in a commendable way, and not only when I am present with you.

New Century Version
It is good for people to show interest in you, but only if their purpose is good. This is always true, not just when I am with you.

Update Bible Version
But it is good to be zealously sought in a good matter at all times, and not only when I am present with you.

Webster's Bible Translation
But [it is] good to be zealously affected always in [a] good [thing], and not only when I am present with you.

English Standard Version
It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you,

World English Bible
But it is always good to be zealous in a good cause, and not only when I am present with you.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Now it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only while I am present with you.

Weymouth's New Testament
It is always an honourable thing to be courted in an honourable cause; always, and not only when I am with you, my children--

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
But sue ye the good euermore in good, and not oneli whanne Y am present with you.

English Revised Version
But it is good to be zealously sought in a good matter at all times, and not only when I am present with you.

Berean Standard Bible
Nevertheless, it is good to be zealous if it serves a noble purpose-at any time, and not only when I am with you.

Contemporary English Version
It is always good to give your attention to something worthwhile, even when I am not with you.

Amplified Bible
Now it is always pleasant to be eagerly sought after [provided that it is] for a good purpose, and not just when I am with you [seeking you myself—but beware of the others doing it].

American Standard Version
But it is good to be zealously sought in a good matter at all times, and not only when I am present with you.

Bible in Basic English
But it is good to have an interest in a good cause at all times, and not only when I am present with you.

Complete Jewish Bible
To be zealous is good, provided always that the cause is good. Indeed, whether I am present with you or not,

Darby Translation
But [it is] right to be zealous at all times in what is right, and not only when I am present with you—

International Standard Version
(Now it is always good to be devoted to a good cause, even when I am not with you.)

Etheridge Translation
But it is well to be emulous in good things at all time, and not only when I am with you.

Murdock Translation
And it is a good thing to be zealous at all times in good things; and not merely when I am present with you.

King James Version (1611)
But it is good to bee zealously affected alwayes in a good thing, and not onely when I am present with you.

New Living Translation
If someone is eager to do good things for you, that's all right; but let them do it all the time, not just when I'm with you.

New Life Bible
It is good when people help you if they do not hope to get something from it. They should help you all the time, not only when I am with you.

New Revised Standard
It is good to be made much of for a good purpose at all times, and not only when I am present with you.

Geneva Bible (1587)
But it is a good thing to loue earnestly alwayes in a good thing, and not onely when I am present with you,

George Lamsa Translation
But it is good that you should always envy after good things, and not only when I am present with you.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Howbeit it is, honourable, to show zeal in what is honourable at all times, and not only when I am present with you; -

Douay-Rheims Bible
But be zealous for that which is good in a good thing always: and not only when I am present with you.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
It is good alwayes to be zelous in a good thyng, and not only when I am present with you

Good News Translation
Now, it is good to have such a deep interest if the purpose is good—this is true always, and not merely when I am with you.

Christian Standard Bible®
But it is always good to be pursued in a good manner—and not just when I am with you.

King James Version
But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.

Lexham English Bible
But it is good to be sought zealously in good at all times, and not only when I am present with you.

Literal Translation
But it is good to be zealous always in a good thing and not only in my being present with you.

Young's Literal Translation
and [it is] good to be zealously regarded, in what is good, at all times, and not only in my being present with you;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
It is good to be feruent, so yt it be allwaye in a good thinge, and not onely whan I am present wt you.

Mace New Testament (1729)
but it is just you should cultivate my affection for you upon all proper occasions, and not only when I am present with you.

New English Translation
However, it is good to be sought eagerly for a good purpose at all times, and not only when I am present with you.

New King James Version
But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you.

Simplified Cowboy Version
Now y'all know working hard is good for you. Y'all should be working hard regardless of whether I am there or not.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
But it is good always to be eagerly sought in a commendable manner, and not only when I am present with you.

Legacy Standard Bible
But it is good always to be zealously sought in a commendable manner, and not only when I am present with you.

Contextual Overview

¹⁷ Those heretical teachers go to great lengths to flatter you, but their motives are rotten. They want to shut you out of the free world of God's grace so that you will always depend on them for approval and direction, making them feel important. ¹⁸It is a good thing to be ardent in doing good, but not just when I am in your presence. Can't you continue the same concern for both my person and my message when I am away from you that you had when I was with you? Do you know how I feel right now, and will feel until Christ's life becomes visible in your lives? Like a mother in the pain of childbirth. Oh, I keep wishing that I was with you. Then I wouldn't be reduced to this blunt, letter-writing language out of sheer frustration.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

it is: Numbers 25:11-13, Psalms 69:9, Psalms 119:139, Isaiah 59:17, John 2:17, 1 Corinthians 15:58, Titus 2:14, Revelation 3:19

I am: Galatians 4:20, Philippians 1:27, Philippians 2:12

Reciprocal: Joshua 22:12 - the whole Lamentations 3:26 - good Acts 22:3 - was Romans 10:2 - that they

Cross-References

Genesis 5:21
When Enoch was sixty-five years old, he had Methuselah. Enoch walked steadily with God. After he had Methuselah, he lived another 300 years, having more sons and daughters. Enoch lived a total of 365 years.

Genesis 36:2
Esau married women of Canaan: Adah, daughter of Elon the Hittite; Oholibamah, daughter of Anah and the granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite; and Basemath, daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But it is good to be zealously affected,.... A zealous affection when right is very commendable, as the instances of Phinehas, Elijah, John the Baptist, and our Lord Jesus Christ show, and a contrary spirit is very disagreeable. But then it must be expressed

in a good thing; in a good cause, for God, and the things of Christ; for the Gospel, and the ordinances of it, and for the discipline of God's house, and against immorality and profaneness, errors and heresies: and it should be "always"; not at certain times, and upon some particular accounts, but it should be constant, and always continue; it should be ever the same towards God, Christ, and his ministers:

and not only when I am present with you; by which the apostle suggests, that while he was with them they were zealously attached to him and truth; but no sooner was he gone from them, but their zealous affection abated, and was fixed on others, which discovered their weakness, fickleness, and inconstancy; whereas he was always the same to them, and bore the same love to them, as the following words show.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But it is good to be, zealously affected - The meaning of this is, “Understand me: I do not speak against zeal. I have not a word to say in its disparagement. In itself, it is good; and their zeal would be good if it were in a good cause.” Probably, they relied much on their zeal; perhaps they maintained, as errorists and deceivers are very apt to do, that zeal was sufficient evidence of the goodness of their cause, and that persons who are so very zealous could not possibly be bad men. How often is this plea set up by the friends of errorists and deceivers!

And not only when I am present with you - It seems to me that there is great adroitness and great delicacy of irony in this remark; and that the apostle intends to remind them as gently as possible, that it would have been as well for them to have shown their zeal in a good cause when he was absent, as well as when he was with them. The sense may be, “You were exceedingly zealous in a good cause when I was with you. You loved the truth; you loved me. Since I left you, and as soon almost as I was out of your sight, your zeal died away, and your ardent love for me was transferred to others. Allow me to remind you, that it would be well to be zealous of good when I am away, as well as when I am with you. There is not much true affection in that which dies away as soon as a man’s back is turned.” The doctrine is, that true zeal or love will live alike when the object is near and when it is removed; when our friends are present with us, and when they leave us; when their eye is upon us, and when it is turned away.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 18. It is good to be zealously affected — It is well to have a determined mind and an ardent heart in reference to things which are laudable and good.

Not only when I am present — You were thus attached to me when I was among you, but now ye have lost both your reverence and affection for me. Your false teachers pretended great concern for you, that you might put all your confidence in them; they have gained their end; they have estranged you from me, and got you to renounce the Gospel, and have brought you again into your former bondage.