Galatians 4

¹Now I say that for as long as the heir is a child, he differs in nothing from a slave, though he is lord of everything.

²but he is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.

³So also we, when we were children, were enslaved under the elemental principles of the world.

⁴But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

⁵so that he might redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

⁶And because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

⁷So you are no longer a slave but a son; and if a son, then also an heir through God.

⁸But formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.

⁹But now, having come to know God — or rather, having been known by God — how can you turn back again to the weak and destitute elemental principles, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?

¹⁰You observe days and months and seasons and years.

¹¹I am afraid for you, lest I have labored among you in vain.

¹²Become as I am, for I also became as you are. Brothers, I implore you. You did me no wrong.

¹³And you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time.

¹⁴And your trial — the one in my flesh — you neither despised nor spurned, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.

¹⁵Where then is your blessedness? For I bear witness to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me.

¹⁶Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?

¹⁷They court you eagerly, but not honorably; rather they want to shut you out, so that you would court them.

¹⁸But it is good to be eagerly sought in a good thing at all times, and not only when I am present with you,

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

²⁰I could wish to be present with you right now and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

²¹Tell me, you who wish to be under the law — do you not hear the law?

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

²³But the one of the slave woman has been born according to the flesh, while the one of the free woman has been born through the promise.

²⁴Now these things are being spoken allegorically, for these women are two covenants: one from Mount Sinai, bearing children into slavery, which is Hagar.

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

²⁶But the Jerusalem above is free, who is our mother.

²⁷For it is written: 'Rejoice, O barren woman who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor; for many are the children of the desolate woman, more than of her who has a husband.'

²⁸Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.

²⁹But just as at that time the one born according to the flesh persecuted the one born according to the Spirit, so it is also now.

³⁰But what does the Scripture say? 'Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit along with the son of the free woman.'

³¹Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman but of the free woman.