Galatians 4:21-31

Modern English Version

The Allegory of Hagar and Sarah

²¹ Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? ²² For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a slave woman, the other by a free woman. ²³ But he who was of the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but he of the free woman through the promise.

²⁴ These things are an allegory, for these are the two covenants. The one is from Mount Sinai, which gives birth to bondage; she is Hagar. ²⁵ Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and represents the present Jerusalem, and is in bondage with her children. ²⁶ But the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother. ²⁷ For it is written:

²⁸ Now we, brothers, like Isaac, are the children of promise. ²⁹ But as it was then, he who was born after the flesh persecuted him who was born after the Spirit, so it is now also. ³⁰ Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman.”^{[b] 31} So then, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.