Galatians 4:21-31

New International Reader's Version

Hagar and Sarah

²¹You who want to be under the authority of the law, tell me something. Don’t you know what the law says? ²²It is written that Abraham had two sons. The slave woman gave birth to one of them. The free woman gave birth to the other one. ²³Abraham’s son by the slave woman was born in the usual way. But his son by the free woman was born because of God’s promise.

²⁴These things are examples. The two women stand for two covenants. One covenant comes from Mount Sinai. It gives birth to children who are going to be slaves. It is Hagar. ²⁵Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia. She stands for the present city of Jerusalem. That’s because she and her children are slaves. ²⁶But the Jerusalem that is above is free. She is our mother. ²⁷It is written,

“Be glad, woman,
    you who have never had children.
Shout for joy and cry out loud,
    you who have never had labor pains.
The woman who is all alone has more children
    than the woman who has a husband.” (Isaiah 54:1)

²⁸Brothers and sisters, you are children because of God’s promise just as Isaac was. ²⁹At that time, the son born in the usual way tried to hurt the other son. The other son was born by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the same now. ³⁰But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman. Get rid of her son. The slave woman’s son will never have a share of the family’s property. He’ll never share it with the free woman’s son.” (Genesis 21:10) ³¹Brothers and sisters, we are not the slave woman’s children. We are the free woman’s children.

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