1 Paul,  * an apostle — not from men or by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father  * who raised him from the dead  *  —  2 and all the brothers who are with me:

To the churches of Galatia.  *

3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord  * Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins  * 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 amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called  * you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel —  7 not that there is another gospel,  * but there are some  * who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel  * from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you,  * a curse be on him!  *9 As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received,  * a curse be on him!

10 For am I now trying to persuade people,  * or God?  * Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

11 For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. 12 For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation  * of Jesus Christ.  *

13 For you have heard about my former way of life  * in Judaism:  * I intensely persecuted  * God’s church and tried to destroy it. 14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.  *15 But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called  * me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son  * in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone.  *17 I did not go up to Jerusalem  * to those who had become apostles  * before me; instead I went to Arabia  * and came back to Damascus.  *

18 Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem  * to get to know Cephas,  *,* and I stayed with him fifteen days. 19 But I didn’t see any of the other apostles except James,  * the Lord’s brother. 20 I declare in the sight of God: I am not lying in what I write to you.

21 Afterward, I went to the regions of Syria  * and Cilicia.  *22 I remained personally unknown to the Judean churches that are in Christ. 23 They simply kept hearing, "He who formerly persecuted  * us now preaches the faith  * he once tried to destroy." 24 And they glorified God because of me.  *