Galatians 4:21–5:1

Two Covenants

²¹Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? ²²For it is written that Abraham had two sons: ^wthe one by a bondwoman, ^xthe other by a freewoman. ²³But he who was of the bondwoman ^ywas born according to the flesh, ^zand he of the freewoman through promise, ²⁴which things are symbolic. For these are ⁷the two covenants: the one from Mount ^aSinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar—²⁵for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children—²⁶but the ^bJerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. ²⁷For it is written:

^c“Rejoice, O barren,

You who do not bear!

Break forth and shout,

You who are not in labor!

For the desolate has many more children

Than she who has a husband.”

²⁸Now ^dwe, brethren, as Isaac was, are ^echildren of promise. ²⁹But, as ^fhe who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, ^geven so it is now. ³⁰Nevertheless what does ^hthe Scripture say? ⁱ“Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for ^jthe son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” ³¹So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.

Christian Liberty

5Stand ^a1fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a ^byoke of bondage.