Galatians 4:1-31 NASB20 - Bible AI

¹Now I say, as long as the heir is a [76]child, he does not differ at all from a slave, although he is [77]owner of everything,

²but he is under guardians and [78]managers until the [79]date set by the father.

³So we too, when we were children, were held in bondage under the [80]elementary principles of the world.

⁴But when the fullness of the time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under [81]the Law,

⁵so that He might redeem those who were under [82]the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons and daughters.

⁶Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba! [83]Father!”

⁷Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir [84]through God.

⁸However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are not gods.

⁹But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless [85]elementary principles, to which you want to be enslaved all over again?

¹⁰You meticulously observe days and months and seasons and years.

¹¹I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored [86]over you in vain.

¹²I beg of you, brothers and sisters, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong;

¹³but you know that it was because of a [87]bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the [88]first time;

¹⁴and you did not despise that which was a trial to you in my [89]bodily condition, nor express contempt, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself.

¹⁵Where then is [90]that sense of blessing you had? For I testify about you that, if possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.

¹⁶So have I become your enemy by [91]telling you the truth?

¹⁷They eagerly seek you, not [92]in a commendable way, but they want to shut you out so that you will seek them.

¹⁸But it is good always to be eagerly sought [93]in a commendable way, and not only when I am present with you.

¹⁹My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you—

²⁰but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone of voice, for I am at a loss about you!

Slave and Free

²¹Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the Law?

²²For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free woman.

²³But the son by the slave woman [94]was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise.

²⁴[95]This is speaking allegorically, for these women are two covenants: one coming from Mount Sinai giving birth to children [96]who are to be slaves; [97]she is Hagar.

²⁵Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is enslaved with her children.

²⁶But the Jerusalem above is free; [98]she is our mother.

²⁷For it is written:

²⁷“REJOICE, INFERTILE ONE, YOU WHO DO NOT GIVE BIRTH; BREAK FORTH AND SHOUT, YOU WHO ARE NOT IN LABOR; FOR THE CHILDREN OF THE DESOLATE ONE are more numerous THAN those of the one who has a husband.”

²⁸And you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise.

²⁹But as at that time the son who was born according to the flesh persecuted the one who was born according to the Spirit, so it is even now.

³⁰But what does the Scripture say?

³⁰“DRIVE OUT THE SLAVE WOMAN AND HER SON, FOR THE SON OF THE SLAVE WOMAN SHALL NOT BE AN HEIR WITH THE SON OF THE FREE WOMAN.”

³¹So then, brothers and sisters, we are not children of a slave woman, but of the free woman.