What Does Galatians 4:9 Mean in the King James?

But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

Galatians 4:9 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The verse turns the relationship around: your knowing God rests on being known by God.

THE MEANING

Your life with God does not rest on how well you know God; you are known by God. Yet weak, impoverished elements still draw you toward wanting to be bound again. The verse holds that pull alongside the deeper reality of being known by God.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie it dissolves is that your standing depends on how well you know God; the verse turns the weight around by naming you as already known by God.

THE ROOT

γνωσθέντες

gnōsthentes

GROWS FROM

⁨γινώσκω⁩ (ginōskō), base ⁨γινωσκ-⁩

To know, recognize, or perceive; here, to have been known by someone.

English first highlights your knowing God, then the sentence turns: you have been known by God. The verb carries knowing as encounter and recognition, grounding the relationship in God’s knowing of you.

ALSO GROWS

gnōsis: Knowledge

γνῶσις

This noun shares the knowing word family, making the verse’s emphasis on being known more than the accumulation of information.

epiginōskō: Recognize, acknowledge

ἐπιγινώσκω

This related verb makes the recognition within knowing visible: the verse describes you as recognized by God.

ἐπιστρέφετε

epistrephēte

GROWS FROM

στρέφω

strephō

To turn or change direction.

“turn ye again” in this verse is epistrephēte. The verb describes a change of direction, and the separate word ⁨πάλιν⁩ (palin), meaning “again,” makes this a return. The movement is back toward the very bondage the verse names, not merely repetition without direction.

ALSO GROWS

epistrophē: Turning, return

ἐπιστροφή

This noun from the same word family makes the directional movement explicit: a return is a turn toward something.

apostrephō: Turn away

ἀποστρέφω

This related verb shows the same root describing movement in the opposite direction, away from what one faces.

THE PATTERN

God’s knowing is the ground of belonging, and belonging draws a person out of bondage into life with God.

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.

Psalm 139:1 · KJVThe verse locates the deepest knowledge of the reader in God’s knowing of them.

And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

Exodus 6:7 · KJVGod’s claim brings people out from under constricting burdens, and their knowing of God grows within that belonging.

But if any man love God, the same is known of him.

1 Corinthians 8:3 · KJVThe relationship rests in being known by God, rather than in knowledge held as a possession.

THE THREAD

I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

John 10:14 · KJV

John 10:14 uses the same ⁨γινώσκω⁩ (ginōskō) word family for knowing and being known, joining recognition in both directions. Galatians 4:9 makes the grounding explicit: your knowing God rests on being known by God.

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