4:17a
Those people: The phrase Those people refers to the false teachers. In some languages, it may be necessary to make this more explicit. For example:
those false teachers (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
those people who want you to obey the ?Jewish? law
are zealous for you: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as are zealous for you means “are deeply concerned about” or “show a great interest in.” It refers to the attitude that the false teachers had toward the Galatians. They seemed to care about them, but in reality they did not care about them.
Some other ways to translate this clause are:
show a deep interest in you (Good News Translation)
-or-
show concern for you
-or-
?appear to? want to help you
-or-
behave as if they are devoted to you
but not in a good way: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as not in a good way refers to the intentions of the false teachers. Their intentions/motives were not good. They wanted the Galatians to accept the law. This would have made them slaves to the law. It would not have been good for them.
Some other ways to translate this phrase are:
but their intentions are not good (Good News Translation)
-or-
but their motives are not good
-or-
but it isn’t for your good (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
but it will not really help you
4:17b
they want to isolate you from us: This clause means that the false teachers wanted to separate the Galatians from Paul and his co-workers. In this clause Paul stated what the false teachers were really doing in contrast to what they appeared to be doing.
Some other ways to translate this clause are:
They only want to keep you away from me (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
They don’t want you to associate with me (God’s Word)
-or-
all they want is to separate you from me (Good News Translation)
4:17c
so that you may be zealous for them: This clause states the purpose for 4:17a–b.
The false teachers make much of you (4:17a) and want to shut you out (4:17b), so that you may be zealous for them (4:17c).
The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as be zealous for is the same word as in 4:17a. If possible, you should use the same expression here. This word indicates that the false teachers wanted the Galatians to accept their teaching and thus honor them and be devoted to them.
Some other ways to translate this clause are:
in order that you will show a great interest in them
-or-
so that you show concern for them
-or-
so that you help them
-or-
so that you will be devoted to them
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