New Living Translation

King James 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.

1Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;

2They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set.

2But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the 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.

3Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:

4But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.

4But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made 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 them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of 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 ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, 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

7Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

8Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist.

8Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no 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, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

10You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years.

10Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.

11I fear for you. Perhaps all my hard work with you was for nothing.

11I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour 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.

12Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all.

13Surely you remember that I was sick when I first brought you the Good News.

13Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first.

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 my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

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.

15Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.

16Have I now become your enemy because I am telling you the truth?

16Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell 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.

17They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect 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.

18But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present 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 little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be 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

20I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.

21Tell me, you who want to live under the law, do you know what the law actually says?

21Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?

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, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.

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.

23But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by 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.

24Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.

25And now Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia, because she and her children live in slavery to the law.

25For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.

26But the other woman, Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman, and she is our mother.

26But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

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, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.

28And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac.

28Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the 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.

29But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is 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.”

30Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.

31So, dear brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman; we are children of the free woman.

31So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com.