Galatians 5:15

Translations

King James Version (KJV)

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

American King James Version (AKJV)

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

American Standard Version (ASV)

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

Basic English Translation (BBE)

But if you are given to fighting with one another, take care that you are not the cause of destruction one to another.

Webster's Revision

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

World English Bible

But if you bite and devour one another, be careful that you don't consume one another.

English Revised Version (ERV)

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

Definitions for Galatians 5:15

Heed - To be careful to consider.

Clarke's Galatians 5:15 Bible Commentary

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.

Barnes's Galatians 5:15 Bible Commentary

But if ye bite - The word used here (δάκνω daknō), 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 ... - 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.

Wesley's Galatians 5:15 Bible Commentary

5:15 But if - On the contrary, in consequence of the divisions which those troublers have occasioned among you, ye bite one another by evil speaking. And devour one another - By railing and clamour. Take heed ye be not consumed one of another - By bitterness, strife, and contention, our health and strength, both of body and soul, are consumed, as well as our substance and reputation.