004:020 Would that I were with you and could change my tone, for I am
perplexed about you.
004:021 Tell me--you who want to continue to be subject to Law--
will you not listen to the Law?
004:022 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave-girl
and one by the free woman.
004:023 But we see that the child of the slave-girl was born in the common
course of nature; but the child of the free woman in fulfilment
of the promise.
004:024 All this is allegorical; for the women represent two Covenants.
One has its origin on Mount Sinai, and bears children
destined for slavery.
004:025 This is Hagar; for the name Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia,
and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, which is in bondage
together with her children.
004:026 But the Jerusalem which is above is free, and *she* is *our* mother.
004:027 For it is written, "Rejoice, thou barren woman that bearest not,
break forth into a joyful cry, thou that dost not travail
with child. For the desolate woman has many children--
more indeed than she who has the husband."
004:028 But you, brethren, like Isaac, are children born in fulfilment
of a promise.
004:029 Yet just as, at that time, the child born in the common course
of nature persecuted the one whose birth was due to the power
of the Spirit, so it is now.
004:030 But what says the Scripture? "Send away the slave-girl and her son,
for never shall the slave-girl's son share the inheritance
with the son of the free woman."
004:031 Therefore, brethren, since we are not the children of a slave-girl,
but of the free woman--