What Does Galatians 1:20 Mean in the King James?
Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Greek says both “Look!” and “in the sight of God,” placing the denial of lying under a double gaze.
THE MEANING
This verse sets the words on the page in God’s sight and states plainly that they are not false. Its paired cues to look and to stand in sight make the claim accountable to a witness beyond the speaker. Truth here is speech held open to what God sees.
THE ROOT
ἰδού
idou
GROWS FROM
εἶδον (eidon), the aorist stem of ὁράω (horaō)
To see or perceive.
“behold” in this verse is idou. ἰδού is an imperative form meaning “look!”, a call to see, not just a filler before the claim. It meets ἐνώπιον (“in the sight of”) later in the same line, framing the statement twice as visible to God.
ALSO GROWS
oida: Know, perceive; originally, have seen.
οἶδα
This word’s history links seeing with knowing: what is perceived becomes known.
eidos: Form, appearance.
εἶδος
It names what can be seen, keeping the root’s connection to visibility.
ἐνώπιον
enōpion
GROWS FROM
ὀπ- / ὤψ (op- / ōps)
Eye, sight; the ὀπ- family carries the sense of seeing and being seen.
“Before God” here means “in God’s sight.” Together with “behold,” the Greek gives the sentence a visual structure that English hides: the words are spoken as if fully in view.
ALSO GROWS
opsis: Sight, appearance.
ὄψις
It makes explicit the seeing contained in “before God.”
optanomai: Appear, be seen.
ὀπτάνομαι
It echoes the verse’s idea that the claim stands where it can be seen.
THE PATTERN
Speech does not escape God’s sight; what is said stands in the presence of the One who knows it.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.THE THREAD
I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,Romans 9:1 repeats the Greek denial οὐ ψεύδομαι (“I am not lying”). It places that claim beside a conscience bearing witness, opening Galatians’ words as speech set alongside a witness.
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