Dico autem: quanto tempore hæres parvulus est, nihil differt a servo, cum sit dominus omnium:

Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;

Consider this; one who comes into his property while he is still a child has no more liberty than one of the servants, though all the estate is his;

sed sub tutoribus et actoribus est usque ad præfinitum tempus a patre:

But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed by the father:

he is under the control of guardians and trustees, until he reaches the age prescribed by his father.

ita et nos cum essemus parvuli, sub elementis mundi eramus servientes.

So we also, when we were children, were serving under the elements of the world.

So it was with us; in those childish days of ours we toiled away at the schoolroom tasks which the world gave us,

At ubi venit plenitudo temporis, misit Deus Filium suum factum ex muliere, factum sub lege,

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent his Son, made of a woman, made under the law:

till the appointed time came. Then God sent out his Son on a mission to us. He took birth from a woman, took birth as a subject of the law,

ut eos, qui sub lege erant, redimeret, ut adoptionem filiorum reciperemus.

That he might redeem them who were under the law: that we might receive the adoption of sons.

so as to ransom those who were subject to the law, and make us sons by adoption.

Quoniam autem estis filii, misit Deus Spiritum Filii sui in corda vestra, clamantem: Abba, Pater.

And because you are sons, God hath sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying: Abba, Father.

To prove that you are sons, God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying out in us, Abba, Father.

Itaque jam non est servus, sed filius: quod si filius, et hæres per Deum.

Therefore now he is not a servant, but a son. And if a son, an heir also through God.

No longer, then, art thou a slave, thou art a son; and because thou art a son, thou hast, by divine appointment, the son’s right of inheritance.

Sed tunc quidem ignorantes Deum, iis, qui natura non sunt dii, serviebatis.

But then indeed, not knowing God, you served them, who, by nature, are not gods.

Formerly you had no knowledge of God; you lived as the slaves of deities who were in truth no deities at all.

Nunc autem cum cognoveritis Deum, immo cogniti sitis a Deo: quomodo convertimini iterum ad infirma et egena elementa, quibus denuo servire vultis?

But now, after that you have known God, or rather are known by God: how turn you again to the weak and needy elements, which you desire to serve again?

Now you have recognized the true God, or rather, the true God has recognized you. How is it that you are going back to those old schoolroom tasks of yours, so abject, so ineffectual, eager to begin your drudgery all over again?

Dies observatis, et menses, et tempora, et annos.

You observe days, and months, and times, and years.

You have begun to observe special days and months, special seasons and years.

Timeo vos, ne forte sine causa laboraverim in vobis.

I am afraid of you, lest perhaps I have laboured in vain among you.

I am anxious over you; has all the labour I have spent on you been useless?

Estote sicut ego, quia et ego sicut vos: fratres, obsecro vos. Nihil me læsistis.

Be ye as I, because I also am as you: brethren, I beseech you: you have not injured me at all.

Stand by me; I have taken my stand with you. I appeal to you, brethren. You have never treated me amiss.

Scitis autem quia per infirmitatem carnis evangelizavi vobis jampridem: et tentationem vestram in carne mea

And you know, how through infirmity of the flesh, I preached the gospel to you heretofore: and your temptation in my flesh

Why, when I preached the gospel to you in the first instance, it was, you remember, because of outward circumstances which were humiliating to me. Those outward circumstances of mine were a test for you,

non sprevistis, neque respuistis: sed sicut angelum Dei excepistis me, sicut Christum Jesum.

You despised not, nor rejected: but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

which you did not meet with contempt or dislike; you welcomed me as God’s angel, as Christ Jesus.

Ubi est ergo beatitudo vestra? testimonium enim perhibeo vobis, quia, si fieri posset, oculos vestros eruissetis, et dedissetis mihi.

Where is then your blessedness? For I bear you witness, that, if it could be done, you would have plucked out your own eyes, and would have given them to me.

What has become now of the blessing that once was yours? In those days, I assure you, you would have plucked out your eyes, if you had had the chance, and given them to me.

Ergo inimicus vobis factus sum, verum dicens vobis?

Am I then become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?

Have I made enemies of you, then, by telling you the truth?

Æmulantur vos non bene: sed excludere vos volunt, ut illos æmulemini.

They are zealous in your regard not well: but they would exclude you, that you might be zealous for them.

Oh, they are jealous over you, but for a dishonourable purpose; their aim is to shut you out from their company, so that you may be jealous of them.

Bonum autem æmulamini in bono semper: et non tantum cum præsens sum apud vos.

But be zealous for that which is good in a good thing always: and not only when I am present with you.

Your jealousy should be for the honourable gifts you see in a man of honour; always, not only when I am at your side.

Filioli mei, quos iterum parturio, donec formetur Christus in vobis:

My little children, of whom I am in labour again, until Christ be formed in you.

My little children, I am in travail over you afresh, until I can see Christ’s image formed in you!

vellem autem esse apud vos modo, et mutare vocem meam: quoniam confundor in vobis.

And I would willingly be present with you now, and change my voice: because I am ashamed for you.

I wish I were at your side now, and could speak to you in a different tone; I am bewildered at you.

Dicite mihi qui sub lege vultis esse: legem non legistis?

Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, have you not read the law?

Tell me, you who are so eager to have the law for your master, have you never read the law?

Scriptum est enim: Quoniam Abraham duos filios habuit: unum de ancilla, et unum de libera.

For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman,and the other by a free woman.

You will find it written there, that Abraham had two sons; one had a slave for his mother, and one a free woman.

Sed qui de ancilla, secundum carnem natus est: qui autem de libera, per repromissionem:

But he who was of the bondwoman, was born according to the flesh: but he of the free woman, was by promise.

The child of the slave was born in the course of nature; the free woman’s, by the power of God’s promise.

quæ sunt per allegoriam dicta. Hæc enim sunt duo testamenta. Unum quidem in monte Sina, in servitutem generans, quæ est Agar:

Which things are said by an allegory. For these are the two testaments. The one from mount Sina, engendering unto bondage; which is Agar:

All that is an allegory; the two women stand for the two dispensations. Agar stands for the old dispensation, which brings up its children to bondage, the dispensation which comes to us from mount Sinai.

Sina enim mons est in Arabia, qui conjunctus est ei quæ nunc est Jerusalem, et servit cum filiis suis.

For Sina is a mountain in Arabia, which hath affinity to that Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.

Mount Sinai, in Arabia, has the same meaning in the allegory as Jerusalem, the Jerusalem which exists here and now; an enslaved city, whose children are slaves.

Illa autem, quæ sursum est Jerusalem, libera est, quæ est mater nostra.

But that Jerusalem, which is above, is free: which is our mother.

Whereas our mother is the heavenly Jerusalem, a city of freedom.

Scriptum est enim: Lætare, sterilis, quæ non paris; erumpe et clama, quæ non parturis: quia multi filii desertæ, magis quam ejus quæ habet virum.

For it is written: Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not: break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a husband.

So it is that we read, Rejoice, thou barren woman that hast never borne child, break out into song and cry aloud, thou that hast never known travail; the deserted one has more children than she whose husband is with her.

Nos autem, fratres, secundum Isaac promissionis filii sumus.

Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.

It is we, brethren, that are children of the promise, as Isaac was.

Sed quomodo tunc is, qui secundum carnem natus fuerat, persequebatur eum qui secundum spiritum: ita et nunc.

But as then he, that was born according to the flesh, persecuted him that was after the spirit; so also it is now.

Now, as then, the son who was born in the course of nature persecutes the son whose birth is a spiritual birth.

Sed quid dicit Scriptura? Ejice ancillam, et filium ejus: non enim hæres erit filius ancillæ cum filio liberæ.

But what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman.

But what does our passage in scripture say? Rid thyself of the slave and her son; it cannot be that the son of a slave should divide the inheritance with the son of a free woman.

Itaque, fratres, non sumus ancillæ filii, sed liberæ: qua libertate Christus nos liberavit.

So then, brethren, we are not the children of the bondwoman, but of the free: by the freedom wherewith Christ has made us free.

You see, then, brethren, that we are sons of the free woman, not of the slave; such is the freedom Christ has won for us.