Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageWhy was the Torah given then? It was added because of transgressions, as a temporary measure until the promised Seed would arrive. And it was decreed through angels by the hand of a mediator.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GWhy the Torah then? It was added for the sake of transgressions, until the Seed should come to whom the promise was made. And it was ordained through heavenly messengers in the hand of a mediator.
KJV
King James VersionWherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleWhy then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the seed to whom the promise referred. It was administered through angels by a mediator.
Footnotes
The phrase τῶν παραβάσεων χάριν is deliberately ambiguous: it can mean (1) to expose and define transgressions as such, or (2) to restrain a people prone to transgression. The F.O.G renders "for the sake of transgressions," leaving the purpose open; the F.O.G Message renders "because of transgressions," implying the cause. The tradition that Torah was mediated through angelic beings (ἀγγέλων) at Sinai is well-attested in Second Temple Judaism (Deuteronomy 33:2 LXX; Acts 7:38, 53; Jubilees 1), and the μεσίτης (mediator) is almost certainly Moses — establishing the Torah's bilateral, contingent character in contrast to the unilateral Abrahamic promise.