| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1Think 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. | 1What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he is the owner of everything. |
| 2They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set. | 2He is subject to guardians and trustees until the date set by his father. |
| 3And 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. | 3So also, when we were children, we were enslaved under the basic principles of the world. |
| 4But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. | 4But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, |
| 5God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. | 5to redeem those under the law, that we might receive our adoption as sons. |
| 6And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” | 6And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” |
| 7Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir. Paul’s Concern for the Galatians | 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, you are also an heir through God. |
| 8Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist. | 8Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. |
| 9So 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? | 9But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? |
| 10You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years. | 10You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! |
| 11I fear for you. Perhaps all my hard work with you was for nothing. | 11I fear for you, that my efforts for you may have been in vain. |
| 12Dear 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. | 12I beg you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you. You have done me no wrong. |
| 13Surely you remember that I was sick when I first brought you the Good News. | 13You know that it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you. |
| 14But 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. | 14And although my illness was a trial to you, you did not despise or reject me. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus Himself. |
| 15Where 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. | 15What then has become of your blessing? For I can testify that, if it were possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. |
| 16Have I now become your enemy because I am telling you the truth? | 16Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? |
| 17Those 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. | 17Those people are zealous for you, but not in a good way. Instead, they want to isolate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them. |
| 18If 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. | 18Nevertheless, it is good to be zealous if it serves a noble purpose—at any time, and not only when I am with you. |
| 19Oh, 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. | 19My children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, |
| 20I 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. Abraham’s Two Children | 20how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you. |
| 21Tell me, you who want to live under the law, do you know what the law actually says? | 21Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not understand what the law says? |
| 22The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave wife and one from his freeborn wife. | 22For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. |
| 23The 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. | 23His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born through the promise. |
| 24These 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. | 24These things serve as illustrations, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children into slavery: This is Hagar. |
| 25And now Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia, because she and her children live in slavery to the law. | 25Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. |
| 26But the other woman, Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman, and she is our mother. | 26But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. |
| 27As 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!” | 27For it is written: “Rejoice, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth and cry aloud, you who have never travailed; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband.” |
| 28And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac. | 28Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. |
| 29But 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. | 29At that time, however, the son born by the flesh persecuted the son born by the Spirit. It is the same now. |
| 30But 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.” | 30But what does the Scripture say? “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” |
| 31So, dear brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman; we are children of the free woman. | 31Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. |
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