Galatians 5 · Verse 15

Galatians 5:15

But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
Galatians 5:15, King James Version

Galatians 5:15 in other translations

BSBBut if you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.
WEBBut if you bite and devour one another, be careful that you don’t consume one another.
ASVBut if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
YLTand if one another ye do bite and devour, see--that ye may not by one another be consumed.
DARBYbut if ye bite and devour one another, see that ye are not consumed one of another.
BBEBut if you are given to fighting with one another, take care that you are not the cause of destruction one to another.
WebsterBut if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one by another.

What does Galatians 5:15 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
15. bite--backbite the character. devour--the substance by injuring, extortion, &c. (Ha 1:13; Mt 23:14; 2Co 11:20). consumed, &c.--Strength of soul, health of body, character, and resources, are all consumed by broils [Bengel].

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes
Verse 15. But if ye bite. The word here used δακνω means, properly, to bite, to sting; and here seems to be used in the sense of contending and striving--a metaphor not improbably taken from dogs and wild beasts.

And devour one another. As wild beasts do. The sense is, "if you contend with each other;" and the reference is, probably, to the strifes which would arise between the two parties in the churches--the Jewish and the Gentile converts.

Take heed that ye be not consumed, etc. As wild beasts contend sometimes until both are slain. Thus the idea is, in their contentions they would destroy the spirituality and happiness of each other; their characters would be ruined, and the church be overthrown. The readiest way to destroy the spirituality of a church, and to annihilate the influence of religion, is to excite a spirit of contention.

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 15 If ye bite and devour one another - These Churches seem to have been in a state of great distraction; there were continual altercations among them. They had fallen from the grace of the Gospel; and, as Christ no longer dwelt in their hearts by faith, pride, anger, ill-will, and all unkind and uncharitable tempers, took possession of their souls, and they were in consequence alternately destroying each other. Nothing is so destructive to the peace of man, and to the peace of the soul, as religious disputes; where they prevail, religion in general has little place.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Galatians 5:13-15

The gospel is a doctrine according to godliness, 1Ti 6:3, and is so far from giving the least countenance to sin, that it lays us under the strongest obligation to avoid and subdue it. The apostle urges that all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. If Christians, who should help one another, and rejoice one another, quarrel, what can be expected but that the God…

Read the full comment on Galatians 5:13-15 →

Galatians 5:15 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

εἰeiIfG1487
δὲdehoweverG1161
ἀλλήλουςallēlousone anotherG240
δάκνετεdakneteyou biteG1143
καὶkaiandG2532
κατεσθίετε,katesthietedevour,G2719
βλέπετεblepetedo take heedG991
μὴmēlestG3361
ὑπ᾽hup᾽byG5259
ἀλλήλωνallēlōnone anotherG240
ἀναλωθῆτε.¶analōthēteyou may be consumed.G355

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Galatians 5:15

  • 1 Corinthians 3:3

    For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

  • James 3:14-4:3

    But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. …

  • Galatians 5:26

    Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

  • 2 Corinthians 11:20

    For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.

  • 2 Corinthians 12:20

    For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:

  • Isaiah 9:20-21

    And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm: Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

  • 1 Corinthians 6:6-8

    But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.

  • Isaiah 11:13

    The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.

  • Philippians 3:2

    Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.

  • Isaiah 11:5-9

    And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. …

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
26; 2Sa 2:26,27; Isa 9:20,21; 11:5-9,13; 1Co 3:3; 6:6-8; 2Co 11:20
2Co 12:20; Jas 3:14-18; 4:1-3

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Galatians 5:14

    For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

  • Galatians 5:15

    But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

  • Galatians 5:16

    This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

Read all of Galatians 5

Galatians 5:15 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Y si os mordéis y os coméis los unos á los otros, mirad que también no os consumáis los unos á los otros.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Mais si vous vous mordez et vous dévorez l’un l’autre, prenez garde que vous ne soyez consumés l’un par l’autre.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Wenn ihr aber einander beißet und fresset, so sehet zu, daß ihr nicht voneinander verzehrt werdet.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Quod si invicem mordetis, et comeditis: videte ne ab invicem consumamini.