Galatians:4

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* Now I say that the heir , as long as he is a child , does not differ at all from a slave , though he is master of all , * but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father . * Even so we , when we were children , were in bondage under the elements of the world . * But when the fullness of the time had come , God sent forth His Son , born of a woman , born under the law , * to redeem those who were under the law , that we might receive the adoption as sons . * And because you are sons , God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts , crying out , "Abba , Father !" * Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son , and if a son , then an heir of God through Christ . * But then , indeed , when you did not know God , you served those which by nature are not gods . * But now after you have known God , or rather are known by God , how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements , to which you desire again to be in bondage ? * You observe days and months and seasons and years . * I am afraid for you , lest I have labored for you in vain . * Brethren , I urge you to become like me , for I became like you . You have not injured me at all . * You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first . * And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject , but you received me as an angel of God , even as Christ Jesus . * What then was the blessing you enjoyed ? For I bear you witness that , if possible , you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me . * Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth ? * They zealously court you , but for no good ; yes , they want to exclude you , that you may be zealous for them . * But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always , and not only when I am present with you . * My little children , for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you , * I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone ; for I have doubts about you . * Tell me , you who desire to be under the law , do you not hear the law ? * For it is written that Abraham had two sons : the one by a bondwoman , the other by a freewoman . * But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh , and he of the freewoman through promise , * which things are symbolic . For these are the two covenants : the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage , which is Hagar -- * for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia , and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is , and is in bondage with her children -- * but the Jerusalem above is free , which is the mother of us all . * For it is written : "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 ." * Now we , brethren , as Isaac was , are children of promise . * But , as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit , even so it is now . * Nevertheless what does the Scripture say ? "Cast out the bondwoman and her son , for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman ." * So then , brethren , we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free .

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