English Standard Version ESV
New Living Translation NLT
1 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything,
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Think of it this way. If a father dies and leaves an inheritance for his young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up, even though they actually own everything their father had.
2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father.
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They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set.
3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.
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And that’s the way it was with us before Christ came. We were like children; we were slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world.
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
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But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.
5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
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God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"
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And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”
7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
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Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.
8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.
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Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist.
9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?
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So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world?
10 You observe days and months and seasons and years!
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You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years.
11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.
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I fear for you. Perhaps all my hard work with you was for nothing.
12 Brothers,I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong.
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Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from these things, for I have become like you Gentiles—free from those laws. You did not mistreat me when I first preached to you.
13 You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first,
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Surely you remember that I was sick when I first brought you the Good News.
14 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.
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But even though my condition tempted you to reject me, you did not despise me or turn me away. No, you took me in and cared for me as though I were an angel from God or even Christ Jesus himself.
15 What then has become of the blessing you felt? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me.
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Where is that joyful and grateful spirit you felt then? I am sure you would have taken out your own eyes and given them to me if it had been possible.
16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?
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Have I now become your enemy because I am telling you the truth?
17 They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them.
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Those false teachers are so eager to win your favor, but their intentions are not good. They are trying to shut you off from me so that you will pay attention only to them.
18 It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you,
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If someone is eager to do good things for you, that’s all right; but let them do it all the time, not just when I’m with you.
19 my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!
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Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives.
20 I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.
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I wish I were with you right now so I could change my tone. But at this distance I don’t know how else to help you.
21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?
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Tell me, you who want to live under the law, do you know what the law actually says?
22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman.
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The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave wife and one from his freeborn wife.
23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.
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The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God’s own fulfillment of his promise.
24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar.
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These two women serve as an illustration of God’s two covenants. The first woman, Hagar, represents Mount Sinai where people received the law that enslaved them.
25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.
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And now Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia, because she and her children live in slavery to the law.
26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
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But the other woman, Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman, and she is our mother.
27 For it is written, "Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband."
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As Isaiah said, “Rejoice, O childless woman, you who have never given birth! Break into a joyful shout, you who have never been in labor! For the desolate woman now has more children than the woman who lives with her husband!”
28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.
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And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac.
29 But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.
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But you are now being persecuted by those who want you to keep the law, just as Ishmael, the child born by human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child born by the power of the Spirit.
30 But what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman."
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But what do the Scriptures say about that? “Get rid of the slave and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”
31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.
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So, dear brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman; we are children of the free woman.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.