Galatians 4:22-31 (Epistle, St. Anna)
- 22
- For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman.
- 23
- But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise,
- 24
- which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar –
- 25
- for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children –
- 26
- but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.
- 27
- 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.”
- 28
- Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.
- 29
- 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.
- 30
- 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.”
- 31
- So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.