Galatians 3:10

Under a curse (upo kataran). Picture of the curse hanging over them like a Damocles' blade. Cf. Romans 3:9 "under sin" (up amartian). The word for "curse" (katara) is an old one (kata, down, ara, imprecation), often in LXX, in N.T. only here and Romans 13 ; James 3:10 ; 2 Peter 2:14 . Paul quotes Deuteronomy 27:26 , the close of the curses on Mt. Ebal. He makes a slight explanatory modification of the LXX changing logoi to gegrammenoi en twi bibliwi. The idea is made clearer by the participle (gegrammenoi) and bibliwi (book). The curse becomes effective only when the law is violated. Cursed (epikatarato). Verbal adjective from epikataraomai, to imprecate curses, late word, common in LXX. In N.T. only here and verse Deuteronomy 13 , but in inscriptions also (Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East, p. 96). The emphasis is on "continueth" (emmenei) and "all" (pasin).