| 4:1 | Now I say [that] the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, |
| 4:2 | but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. |
| 4:3 | Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. |
| 4:4 | But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, |
| 4:5 | to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. |
| 4:6 | And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" |
| 4:7 | Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. |
| 4:8 | But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. |
| 4:9 | But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how [is it that] you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? |
| 4:10 | You observe days and months and seasons and years. |
| 4:11 | I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain. |
| 4:12 | Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I [became] like you. You have not injured me at all. |
| 4:13 | You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first. |
| 4:14 | And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, [even] as Christ Jesus. |
| 4:15 | What then was the blessing you [enjoyed]? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. |
| 4:16 | Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? |
| 4:17 | They zealously court you, [but] for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them. |
| 4:18 | But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you. |
| 4:19 | My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you, |
| 4:20 | I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you. |
| 4:21 | Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? |
| 4:22 | For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. |
| 4:23 | But he [who was] of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, |
| 4:24 | which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar |
| 4:25 | for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children |
| 4:26 | but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. |
| 4:27 | For it is written: "Rejoice, O barren, [You] who do not bear! Break forth and shout, You who are not in labor! For the desolate has many more children Than she who has a husband." |
| 4:28 | Now we, brethren, as Isaac [was], are children of promise. |
| 4:29 | But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him [who was born] according to the Spirit, even so [it is] now. |
| 4:30 | Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman." |
| 4:31 | So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free. |
Galatians 4 - New King James Version
