International Standard Version
Galatians
Galatians 1
1 From: a Paul—an apostle not sent b from men or by a man, but by Jesus the Messiah, c and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—
2 and all the brothers who are with me. To: The churches in Galatia.
3 May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, d be yours!
4 He gave himself for our sins in order to rescue us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father.
5 To him be the glory forever and ever! Amen.
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of the Messiah e and, instead, are following f a different gospel,
7 not that another one really exists. To be sure, there are certain people who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel about the Messiah. g
8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you h a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that person be condemned!
9 What we have told you in the past I am now telling you again: If anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that person be condemned!
10 Am I now trying to win the approval of people or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be the Messiah’s i servant. j
11 For k I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin.
12 For I did not receive it from a man, nor was I taught it, but it was revealed to me by Jesus the Messiah. l
13 For you have heard about my earlier life in Judaism—how I kept violently persecuting God’s church and was trying to destroy it.
14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries, because I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.
15 But when God, who set me apart before I was born and who called me by his grace, was pleased
16 to reveal his Son to me so that I might proclaim him among the gentiles, I did not confer with another human being m at any time,
17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see n those who were apostles before me. Instead, I went away to Arabia and then came back to Damascus.
18 Then three years later, I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, o and I stayed with him for fifteen days.
19 But I did not see any other apostle except James, the Lord’s brother.
20 (Before God, what I’m writing to you is the truth.) p
21 Then I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
22 But the churches of the Messiah q that are in Judea did not yet know me personally.
23 The only thing they kept hearing was this: “The man who used to persecute us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy!”
24 So they kept glorifying God for what had happened to r me.