1
But men younger than I am make fun of me now! Their fathers have always been so worthless that I wouldn't let them help my dogs guard sheep.
2
They were a bunch of worn-out men, too weak to do any work for me.
3
They were so poor and hungry that they would gnaw dry roots--- at night, in wild, desolate places.
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They pulled up the plants of the desert and ate them, even the tasteless roots of the broom tree!
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Everyone drove them away with shouts, as if they were shouting at thieves.
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They had to live in caves, in holes dug in the sides of cliffs.
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Out in the wilds they howled like animals and huddled together under the bushes.
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A worthless bunch of nameless nobodies! They were driven out of the land.
9
Now they come and laugh at me; I am nothing but a joke to them.
10
They treat me with disgust; they think they are too good for me, and even come and spit in my face.
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Because God has made me weak and helpless, they turn against me with all their fury.
12
This mob attacks me head-on; they send me running; they prepare their final assault.
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They cut off my escape and try to destroy me; and there is no one to stop them.
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They pour through the holes in my defenses and come crashing down on top of me;
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I am overcome with terror; my dignity is gone like a puff of wind, and my prosperity like a cloud.
16
Now I am about to die; there is no relief for my suffering.
17
At night my bones all ache; the pain that gnaws me never stops.
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God seizes me by my collar and twists my clothes out of shape.
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He throws me down in the mud; I am no better than dirt.
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I call to you, O God, but you never answer; and when I pray, you pay no attention.
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You are treating me cruelly; you persecute me with all your power.
22
You let the wind blow me away; you toss me about in a raging storm.
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I know you are taking me off to my death, to the fate in store for everyone.
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Why do you attack a ruined man, one who can do nothing but beg for pity?
25
Didn't I weep with people in trouble and feel sorry for those in need?
26
I hoped for happiness and light, but trouble and darkness came instead.
27
I am torn apart by worry and pain; I have had day after day of suffering.
28
I go about in gloom, without any sunshine; I stand up in public and plead for help.
29
My voice is as sad and lonely as the cries of a jackal or an ostrich.
30
My skin has turned dark; I am burning with fever.
31
Where once I heard joyful music, now I hear only mourning and weeping.
1
When I was in trouble, I called to the LORD, and he answered me.
2
Save me, LORD, from liars and deceivers.
3
You liars, what will God do to you? How will he punish you?
4
With a soldier's sharp arrows, with red-hot coals!
5
Living among you is as bad as living in Meshech or among the people of Kedar.
6
I have lived too long with people who hate peace!
7
When I speak of peace, they are for war.
1
You foolish Galatians! Who put a spell on you? Before your very eyes you had a clear description of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross!
2
Tell me this one thing: did you receive God's Spirit by doing what the Law requires or by hearing the gospel and believing it?
3
How can you be so foolish! You began by God's Spirit; do you now want to finish by your own power?
4
Did all your experience mean nothing at all? Surely it meant something!
5
Does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you because you do what the Law requires or because you hear the gospel and believe it?
6
Consider the experience of Abraham; as the scripture says, "He believed God, and because of his faith God accepted him as righteous."
7
You should realize, then, that the real descendants of Abraham are the people who have faith.
8
The scripture predicted that God would put the Gentiles right with himself through faith. And so the scripture announced the Good News to Abraham: "Through you God will bless all people."
9
Abraham believed and was blessed; so all who believe are blessed as he was.
10
Those who depend on obeying the Law live under a curse. For the scripture says, "Whoever does not always obey everything that is written in the book of the Law is under God's curse!"
11
Now, it is clear that no one is put right with God by means of the Law, because the scripture says, "Only the person who is put right with God through faith shall live."
12
But the Law has nothing to do with faith. Instead, as the scripture says, "Whoever does everything the Law requires will live."
13
But by becoming a curse for us Christ has redeemed us from the curse that the Law brings; for the scripture says, "Anyone who is hanged on a tree is under God's curse."
14
Christ did this in order that the blessing which God promised to Abraham might be given to the Gentiles by means of Christ Jesus, so that through faith we might receive the Spirit promised by God.
15
My friends, I am going to use an everyday example: when two people agree on a matter and sign an agreement, no one can break it or add anything to it.
16
Now, God made his promises to Abraham and to his descendant. The scripture does not use the plural "descendants," meaning many people, but the singular "descendant," meaning one person only, namely, Christ.
17
What I mean is that God made a covenant with Abraham and promised to keep it. The Law, which was given four hundred and thirty years later, cannot break that covenant and cancel God's promise.
18
For if God's gift depends on the Law, then it no longer depends on his promise. However, it was because of his promise that God gave that gift to Abraham.
19
What, then, was the purpose of the Law? It was added in order to show what wrongdoing is, and it was meant to last until the coming of Abraham's descendant, to whom the promise was made. The Law was handed down by angels, with a man acting as a go-between.
20
But a go-between is not needed when only one person is involved; and God is one.
21
Does this mean that the Law is against God's promises? No, not at all! For if human beings had received a law that could bring life, then everyone could be put right with God by obeying it.
22
But the scripture says that the whole world is under the power of sin; and so the gift which is promised on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ is given to those who believe.
23
But before the time for faith came, the Law kept us all locked up as prisoners until this coming faith should be revealed.
24
And so the Law was in charge of us until Christ came, in order that we might then be put right with God through faith.
25
Now that the time for faith is here, the Law is no longer in charge of us.
26
It is through faith that all of you are God's children in union with Christ Jesus.
27
You were baptized into union with Christ, and now you are clothed, so to speak, with the life of Christ himself.
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So there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and free people, between men and women; you are all one in union with Christ Jesus.
29
If you belong to Christ, then you are the descendants of Abraham and will receive what God has promised.
1
But now to continue---the son who will receive his father's property is treated just like a slave while he is young, even though he really owns everything.
2
While he is young, there are men who take care of him and manage his affairs until the time set by his father.
3
In the same way, we too were slaves of the ruling spirits of the universe before we reached spiritual maturity.
4
But when the right time finally came, God sent his own Son. He came as the son of a human mother and lived under the Jewish Law,
5
to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might become God's children.
6
To show that you are his children, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who cries out, "Father, my Father."
7
So then, you are no longer a slave but a child. And since you are his child, God will give you all that he has for his children.
8
In the past you did not know God, and so you were slaves of beings who are not gods.
9
But now that you know God---or, I should say, now that God knows you---how is it that you want to turn back to those weak and pitiful ruling spirits? Why do you want to become their slaves all over again?
10
You pay special attention to certain days, months, seasons, and years.
11
I am worried about you! Can it be that all my work for you has been for nothing?
12
I beg you, my friends, be like me. After all, I am like you. You have not done me any wrong.
13
You remember why I preached the gospel to you the first time; it was because I was sick.
14
But even though my physical condition was a great trial to you, you did not despise or reject me. Instead, you received me as you would an angel from heaven; you received me as you would Christ Jesus.
15
You were so happy! What has happened? I myself can say that you would have taken out your own eyes, if you could, and given them to me.
16
Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?
17
Those other people show a deep interest in you, but their intentions are not good. All they want is to separate you from me, so that you will have the same interest in them as they have in you.
18
Now, it is good to have such a deep interest if the purpose is good---this is true always, and not merely when I am with you.
19
My dear children! Once again, just like a mother in childbirth, I feel the same kind of pain for you until Christ's nature is formed in you.
20
How I wish I were with you now, so that I could take a different attitude toward you. I am so worried about you!
21
Let me ask those of you who want to be subject to the Law: do you not hear what the Law says?
22
It says that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman, the other by a free woman.
23
His son by the slave woman was born in the usual way, but his son by the free woman was born as a result of God's promise.
24
These things can be understood as a figure: the two women represent two covenants. The one whose children are born in slavery is Hagar, and she represents the covenant made at Mount Sinai.
25
Hagar, who stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia, is a figure of the present city of Jerusalem, in slavery with all its people.
26
But the heavenly Jerusalem is free, and she is our mother.
27
For the scripture says, "Be happy, you childless woman! Shout and cry with joy, you who never felt the pains of childbirth! For the woman who was deserted will have more children than the woman whose husband never left her."
28
Now, you, my friends, are God's children as a result of his promise, just as Isaac was.
29
At that time the son who was born in the usual way persecuted the one who was born because of God's Spirit; and it is the same now.
30
But what does the scripture say? It says, "Send the slave woman and her son away; for the son of the slave woman will not have a part of the father's property along with the son of the free woman."
31
So then, my friends, we are not the children of a slave woman but of a free woman.
