But I say that so long as the heir is a child, he differeth nothing from a bondservant though he is lord of all;
but is under guardians and stewards until the day appointed of the father.
So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the {Or, elements 2 Peter 3:10, 12}rudiments of the world:
but when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
that he might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
So that thou art no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
Howbeit at that time, not knowing God, ye were in bondage to them that by nature are no gods:
but now that ye have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how turn ye back again to the weak and beggarly {Or, elements See verse 3.}rudiments, whereunto ye desire to be in bondage over again?
Ye observe days, and months, and seasons, and years.
I am afraid of you, lest by any means I have bestowed labor upon you in vain.
I beseech you, brethren, become as I am, for I also am become as ye are. Ye did me no wrong:
but ye know that because of an infirmity of the flesh I {See marginal note on chapter 1:8.}preached the gospel unto you the {Greek: former.}first time:
and that which was a temptation to you in my flesh ye despised not, nor {Greek: spat out.}rejected; but ye received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
Where then is that gratulation {Or, of yours}of yourselves? for I bear you witness, that, if possible, ye would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.
So then am I become your enemy, {Or, by dealing truly with you}by telling you the truth?
They zealously seek you in no good way; nay, they desire to shut you out, that ye may seek them.
But it is good to be zealously sought in a good matter at all times, and not only when I am present with you.
My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you—
but I could wish to be present with you now, and to change my tone; for I am perplexed about you.
Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
For it is written, {Genesis 16:15.}that Abraham had two sons, one by the handmaid, and one by the freewoman.
{Genesis 21:2}Howbeit the son by the handmaid is born after the flesh; but the son by the freewoman is born through promise.
Which things contain an allegory: for these women are two covenants; one from mount Sinai, bearing children unto bondage, which is Hagar.
{Many ancient authorities read For Sinai is a mountain in Arabia.}Now this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia and answereth to the Jerusalem that now is: for she is in bondage with her children.
But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is our mother.
For it is written,
{Isaiah 54:1}Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not;
Break forth and cry, thou that travailest not:
For more are the children of the desolate than of her that hath the husband.
Now {Many ancient authorities read ye.}we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.
But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, so also it is now.
Howbeit what saith the scripture? {Genesis 21:10, 12}Cast out the handmaid and her son: for the son of the handmaid shall not inherit with the son of the freewoman.
Wherefore, brethren, we are not children of a handmaid, but of the freewoman.
Querverweise zu Galater 4,8 Gal 4,8
And Pharaoh said, Who is Jehovah, that I should hearken unto his voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, and moreover I will not let Israel go.
And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt of old time beyond the River, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor: and they served other gods.
Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have devoured Jacob, yea, they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his {Or, pasture}habitation.
And if it seem evil unto you to serve Jehovah, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah.
He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world knew him not.
Their idols are silver and gold,The work of men's hands.
They have mouths, but they speak not;Eyes have they, but they see not;
They have ears, but they hear not;Noses have they, but they smell not;
They have hands, but they handle not;Feet have they, but they walk not;Neither speak they through their throat.
They that make them shall be like unto them;Yea, every one that trusteth in them.
For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. What therefore ye worship in ignorance, this I set forth unto you.
The idols of the nations are silver and gold,The work of men's hands.
They have mouths, but they speak not;Eyes have they, but they see not;
They have ears, but they hear not;Neither is there any breath in their mouths.
They that make them shall be like unto them;Yea, every one that trusteth in them.
The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked; but now he {Some ancient authorities read declareth to men.}commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent:
They that fashion a graven image are all of them {Or, confusion}vanity; and the things that they delight in shall not profit; and their own witnesses see not, nor know: that they may be put to shame.
Who hath fashioned a god, or molten an image that is profitable for nothing?
Behold, {Or, all that join themselves thereto}all his fellows shall be put to shame; and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; they shall fear, they shall be put to shame together.
The smith {Or, sharpeneth a tool}maketh an axe, and worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with his strong arm: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth; he drinketh no water, and is faint.
The carpenter stretcheth out a line; he marketh it out with {Or, red ochre}a pencil; he shapeth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compasses, and shapeth it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house.
He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the holm-tree and the oak, and strengtheneth for himself one among the trees of the forest: he planteth {Or, an ash}a fir-tree, and the rain doth nourish it.
Then shall it be for a man to burn; and he taketh thereof, and warmeth himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread: yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.
He burneth {Or, the half}part thereof in the fire; with {Or, the half}part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied; yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire.
And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image; he falleth down unto it and worshippeth, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.
They know not, neither do they consider: for he hath {Hebrew: daubed.}shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
And none calleth to mind, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?
He feedeth on ashes; a deceived heart hath turned him aside; and he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
And even as they {Greek: did not approve.}refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
For the {Hebrew: statues.}customs of the peoples are vanity; for {Or, it is but a tree which one cutteth}one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe.
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
They are like a {Or, pillar}palm-tree, of turned work, and speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.
There is none like unto thee, O Jehovah; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.
Who should not fear thee, O King of the nations? for {Or, it beseemeth thee}to thee doth it appertain; forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is none like unto thee.
But they are {Or, through one thing}together brutish and foolish: {Or, the stock is a doctrine of vanities}the instruction of idols! it is but a stock.
There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith; blue and purple for their clothing; they are all the work of skilful men.
But Jehovah is {Or, God in truth}the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the earth trembleth, and the nations are not able to abide his indignation.
{This verse is in Aramaic.}Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, {Or, they shall…under these heavens}these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.
He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding hath he stretched out the heavens.
{Or, at the sound of his giving an abundance of waters…when he causeth &c. (or, he causeth &c.)}When he uttereth his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasuries.
Every man {Or, is too brutish to know}is become brutish and is without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
They are vanity, a work of {Or, mockery}delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: Jehovah of hosts is his name.
For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the {Greek: thing preached.}preaching to save them that believe.
And they called Barnabas, {Greek: Zeus.}Jupiter; and Paul, {Greek: Hermes.}Mercury, because he was the chief speaker.
Wherefore remember, that once ye, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision, in the flesh, made by hands;
Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that {Or, that which is divine}the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man.
that ye were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
and changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.
being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart;
Concerning therefore the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no God but one.
not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who know not God;
What say I then? that a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the {Greek: good tidings: and so elsewhere. See marginal note on Matthew 4:23.}gospel of our Lord Jesus:
But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have communion with demons.
Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this cause the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
Ye know that when ye were Gentiles ye were led away unto those dumb idols, howsoever ye might be led.
For they themselves report concerning us what manner of entering in we had unto you; and how ye turned unto God from idols, to serve a living and true God,
For the time past may suffice to have wrought the desire of the Gentiles, and to have walked in lasciviousness, lusts, winebibbings, revellings, carousings, and abominable idolatries: