en_t4t/49-GAL.usfm

\id GAL - Translation 4 Translators 1
\ide 65001 - Unicode (UTF-8)
\h GALATIANS
\toc1 Galatians
\toc2 Galatians
\toc3 Gal
\mt2 The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to the Christians in Galatia province. We call this letter
\mt1 Galatians
\c 1
\s1 Galatians 1:1-5
\s1 I, Paul, as God's chosen apostle, am sending this letter to the churches in Galatia and asking God's blessings on you.
\p
\v 1 \add I\add*, Paul, \add write this letter to you. I remind you that I am\add* an apostle. That is not because a group of people \add appointed me\add*, nor because a human being \add sent me to be an apostle\add*. Instead, Jesus Christ and God \add our heavenly\add* Father, who caused Jesus to become alive again after he died, have \add appointed and\add* sent \add me to be an apostle\add*.
\v 2 All the fellow believers \add who are here\add* with me \add approve of this message that I am writing. I am sending this letter\add* to the congregations that \add are\add* in Galatia \add province\add*.
\v 3 \add I pray that\add* God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ will kindly \add help\add* you and enable \add you to have inner\add* peace.
\v 4 Christ offered himself \add as a sacrifice\add* in order that \add he might remove the guilt for\add* our sins. He did that in order that he might enable us to not \add do the evil things that people who do not know him\add* do. \add He did this\add* because God, who is our Father, wanted it.
\v 5 \add I pray that people will\add* praise God forever. ◄May it be so!/Amen!►
\s1 I am disappointed that you are believing a message that is not the good news about Christ, and I ask God to eternally punish those who are teaching such a message.
\sr Galatians 1:6-10
\p
\v 6 I am very disappointed [IRO] that so soon \add after you trusted in Christ\add* you have turned away from \add God\add*. He chose you in order that \add you might have what\add* Christ freely/kindly gives. I am also disappointed that so soon you are believing a different \add message which some say is\add* “good news.”
\v 7 Their message is not a true message. \add What is happening is that\add* certain persons are confusing your \add minds\add*. They are desiring to change the good message ◄that Christ \add revealed/about\add* Christ► \add and are creating another message\add*.
\v 8 But even if we \add (exc) apostles\add* or an angel from heaven would tell you a message that is different from the good message that we told you \add before\add*, I \add appeal to God\add* that \add he\add* punish such a person \add forever\add*.
\v 9 As I told you previously, so now I tell you this once more: Someone is telling you \add what he says is\add* a good message, but it is a message that is different from \add the good message\add* that I gave you. So I \add appeal to God\add* that \add he\add* severely punish that person.
\v 10 \add I said that\add* because [RHQ] I do not desire that people approve me, \add contrary to what some have said about me\add*. It is God whom I desire to approve me. \add Specifically, I do not say and do\add* [RHQ] things just to please people. If it were still people whom I was trying to please, then I would not be one who \add willingly and completely\add* serves Christ.
\s1 It was Jesus Christ, not any human, who revealed the message that I proclaim.
\sr Galatians 1:11-12
\p
\v 11 My fellow believers, I want you to know that the message about Christ that I proclaim to people is not one that some person \add created/thought up\add*.
\v 12 I did not receive this message from a human \add messenger\add*, and no \add human being\add* taught it to me. Instead, Jesus Christ revealed it to me.
\s1 For seventeen years after God showed his Son to me, I had no contact with the apostles.
\sr Galatians 1:13-24
\p
\v 13 People have told you how I used to behave when \add I practiced\add* the Jewish religion. They told you that I continually did very harmful things to the groups of believers that God \add established\add*, and they told you that I tried to get rid of those people.
\v 14 I practiced the Jewish religion more thoroughly than many \add other Jews\add* who were my age practiced it. I much more enthusiastically tried to get others to obey the traditions that my ancestors \add kept\add*.
\v 15 Nevertheless, before I was born \add God\add* ◄set me apart/selected me►. He chose me \add to live eternally\add*, something that I did not deserve.
\v 16 He wanted me to know that Jesus is his Son, so that I would tell others the message about his Son in regions where non-Jews live. But I did not immediately go to any human beings [SYN] in order to gain \add an understanding of that message. I received it directly from Christ!\add*
\v 17 I did not \add immediately\add* leave Damascus and go to Jerusalem \add for that purpose\add* to those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away to Arabia \add region, a desert area\add*. Later I returned once more to Damascus \add city\add*.
\v 18 Then three years after \add God revealed this good message to me\add*, I went up to Jerusalem in order that I might meet Peter. But I stayed with him for \add only\add* fifteen days, \add which was not long enough for him to teach me thoroughly about Christ\add*.
\v 19 I also saw James, the brother of our Lord \add Jesus and the leader of the believers there, but\add* I did not see any other apostle.
\v 20 God knows that what I am writing to you is completely true [LIT]!
\v 21 After \add I left Jerusalem\add*, I went to \add the regions of\add* Syria and Cilicia.
\v 22 \add At that time people in\add* the Christian congregations that are in Judea \add province\add* still had not met me [SYN] personally.
\v 23 They only heard \add others say about me\add* repeatedly, “\add Paul\add*, the one who was formerly doing harmful things to us, is now telling the \add same message\add* which we believe and which formerly he was trying ◄to destroy/to cause people to stop believing►!”
\v 24 And they praised God because of \add what had happened to\add* me.
\c 2
\s1 Finally, when I returned to Jerusalem and told Peter, James, and John what I always proclaim, they agreed that Barnabas and I were preaching the same message and serving the Lord just like they were.
\sr Galatians 2:1-10
\p
\v 1 After fourteen years passed, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas. I took Titus also.
\v 2 But \add I tell you that\add* I went up there because of what God revealed to me. \add It was not because someone asked me to come\add*. I told people what was the good message that I was preaching in regions where non-Jews live. But I talked privately to those whom your new teachers highly respect. I did that in order that what I was doing and what I had done [MET] might not become useless [MET] \add as a result of people rejecting my message because they thought that I was teaching something that was not true\add*.
\v 3 But \add even though the leaders of the believers usually insisted that when non-Jews trusted in Christ someone must circumcise them\add*, they did not even insist that Titus be circumcised, even though he was a Greek man who was with me.
\v 4 \add I talked to them privately\add* because some people \add successfully\add* pretended that they were fellow believers and associated with the true believers. They did that in order that they might observe closely what we do because we are free \add from having to obey all the Jewish laws and rituals\add* because of our close relationship with Christ Jesus [MET]. Those people wanted to make us \add like\add* slaves [MET] \add of those rituals by convincing us that we cannot trust Christ solely but that we must also obey all the Jewish rituals\add*.
\v 5 But not even briefly did we \add (exc)\add* do what they wanted \add about circumcision. We(exc) resisted them\add* in order that the truth of the message about Christ might continue to \add benefit\add* you.
\v 6 The \add leaders in Jerusalem\add*, whom your new teachers respect, did not add anything to what I preach. \add And I would add that\add* what status those leaders had did not influence me, because God does not favor certain/important persons [IDM] more than others.
\v 7 Instead of those leaders adding to the message that I tell people, they understood that I had been given the good message {God had given the good message to me} so that I might proclaim it to the non-Jews [MTY], just like \add God\add* had given the good message to Peter so that he might tell it to those who are Jews [MTY].
\v 8 That is, just like \add God\add* had empowered/authorized Peter in order that he might be an apostle \add to bring God's message\add* to the Jews [MTY], he also had empowered/authorized me in order that I might be an apostle to \add bring his message to\add* the non-Jews.
\v 9 And \add those leaders\add* knew that God had kindly given to me this special work. So James, Peter, and John, the ones whom your new teachers \add respect because they are\add* leaders [MET] \add of the believers\add*, shook hands with us [IDM] \add to show that they agreed that Barnabas and I are serving the Lord just like they are, and that we are preaching the same message that they are preaching\add*. They also agreed that we \add (exc)\add* are the ones whom God was sending to \add tell his message to\add* non-Jews, but that God is sending them to \add tell his message to\add* Jews [MTY].
\v 10 They merely urged that we \add (exc)\add* still remember to help the poor \add fellow believers who live in Jerusalem\add*. That is exactly what I have been eager to do.
\s1 Later I rebuked Peter for not behaving according to the gospel, in that he was encouraging non-Jews to adopt Jewish laws and rituals.
\sr Galatians 2:11-21
\p
\v 11 But \add later while I was at\add* Antioch \add city\add*, after Peter came there, I told him directly [SYN] that what he was doing was wrong.
\v 12 \add This is what happened\add*. \add Peter went to Antioch and started eating regularly with non-Jewish believers there\add*. Later there were certain \add Jewish believers who\add* came \add to Antioch who claimed that\add* James, \add the leader of the congregations in Jerusalem\add*, had sent them. But when \add those certain\add* men came, Peter gradually quit \add eating\add* with the non-Jewish believers and would not associate with them. He was afraid that the Jewish \add believers from Jerusalem would criticize him for associating with non-Jews\add*.
\v 13 Also, the other Jewish \add believers who were in Antioch\add* [SYN] acted ◄insincerely/in a way that they knew was not right► along with \add Peter\add*. The result was that they convinced even Barnabas to \add stop associating with the non-Jewish believers!\add*
\v 14 But when I realized that they were not acting according to the truth of the message about Christ, \add when\add* all \add the fellow believers there\add* were present, I told Peter \add the following\add*: “Although you \add (sg)\add* are a Jew, \add you often conduct yourself\add* like non-Jews \add do by disregarding Jewish laws about food. When you are among non-Jews\add*, you \add (sg)\add* do not customarily conduct yourself at all like Jews \add do\add*. So, ◄now it is wrong that you \add (sg)\add* are causing non-Jews \add to think that they must obey all\add* the Jewish rituals and customs!/why are you \add (sg)\add* causing non-Jews \add to think that they must obey all\add* the Jewish rituals and customs?► [RHQ]”
\v 15 Some of us \add believers\add* were born as Jews. We \add (exc)\add* were \bd not born as non-Jews.\bd* \add We Jews have always considered non-Jews to be\add* \bd ❛sinners❜\bd* \add because they do not obey the Jewish rituals and laws\add*.
\v 16 But we \add (exc)\add* now know that it is not because some person obeys the laws \add that God gave to Moses\add* that \add God\add* erases the record of that person's sins. \add God erases the record of a person's sins only if that person trusts in what Jesus Christ has done\add*. Even we \add (exc)\add* Jews trusted \bd Christ Jesus.\bd* We \add (exc)\add* did that in order that \add God\add* would erase the record of our sins because of our trusting Christ, and not because of our obeying the laws \add that God gave to Moses. God has said that\add* he will \add never\add* erase the record of people's sins just \bd because of their obeying those laws.\bd*
\v 17 Furthermore, because we \add (exc) Jews\add* desired that \add God\add* would erase the record of our sins because of our relationship with Christ, \add it means that\add* we realized that we ourselves were sinners \add like non-Jews, whom we called\add* sinners, \add because we(exc) also were not obeying the Jewish rituals and laws\add*. \add But\add* ◄\add we(inc) certainly cannot conclude\add* that it is Christ who causes us to sin./\add should we conclude\add* that it is Christ who causes us to sin?► [RHQ] \add No, Christ\add* certainly does not \add cause anyone to sin\add*.
\p
\v 18 So if I should again believe \add that God would erase the record of my sins because of my obeying the laws that he gave to Moses\add* [MET], \add I would be like a man who\add* rebuilds an old building that he tore down. It would \add soon\add* be clear that I am one who disobeys those same laws \add that God gave to Moses\add*.
\v 19 When \add I realized that I could not earn God's favor\add* by \add obeying\add* the laws \add that he gave to Moses, I decided not\add* to \add respond to what those laws demanded\add* [MET], \add just like\add* a dead person \add does not respond to anything\add*. Now I live to \add honor/serve\add* God.
\v 20 \add It is as though\add* I was with Christ when he was crucified {died on the cross} [MET] (OR, \add It is as though\add* my \add old way of life ended when\add* Christ died on the cross.) No longer am I \add directing the way I behave as I did before I believed in Christ\add*. Now Christ \add is directing how\add* I \add behave. And whatever I do\add* now while I live, I do it trusting in God's Son. He is the one who loved me and offered himself \add as a sacrifice\add* for me.
\v 21 I am not rejecting \add as useless\add* what God \add did for me\add* ◄\add kindly/that I did not deserve\add*►, \add as my opponents are doing. I fully accept that God saved me by acting kindly towards me\add*. If it is because people \add obey the\add* laws \add that God gave to Moses\add* that God erases the record of their sins, then Christ died ◄for nothing/needlessly►.
\c 3
\s1 Because you trusted in Christ, not because you obeyed the laws God gave Moses, you received the Holy Spirit and now experience his working among you.
\sr Galatians 3:1-5
\p
\v 1 You \add fellow believers who live in\add* Galatia are very foolish! ◄Someone must have put an evil spell on you!/Did someone put an evil spell on you?► [RHQ] I clearly explained to you [SYN] \add what\add* Jesus Christ \add accomplished when\add* he was crucified {he died on the cross}.
\v 2 \add So\add*, I want you to tell me one thing: \add Do you think that\add* it was because you obeyed the laws God gave Moses that you received the \add Holy\add* Spirit? \add Do you not know that\add* [RHQ] it was because \add when you\add* heard \add the good message concerning Christ, you\add* trusted in him?
\v 3 ◄You are acting so foolishly/Why are you being so foolish?► [RHQ]! You first \add became Christians\add* as a result of God's Spirit \add enabling you\add*. So, ◄you should not now think that it is by what you yourselves do that you will continue \add to grow spiritually\add*/do you now think it is by your own human efforts that you will continue \add to grow spiritually?\add*!► [RHQ]
\v 4 Keep in mind that \add if what God has done for you was because of your obeying the laws that God gave to Moses and\add* not because of trusting in Christ, when others caused you to suffer, ◄you suffered many things needlessly!/did you not suffer many things needlessly?► [RHQ] \add I certainly hope that you did not suffer like that\add* needlessly.
\v 5 \add When God now\add* generously gives to you his Spirit and performs miracles among you, \add do you think that it is\add* [RHQ] because you obey the laws \add that God gave to Moses? Surely you know that\add* it is because when you heard \add the good message about Christ\add*, you trusted in him [RHQ]!
\s1 It is those Jews and non-Jews who trust Christ who are Abraham's spiritual descendants, because those who seek to be justified by obeying the laws that God gave Moses are condemned by God.
\sr Galatians 3:6-12
\p
\v 6 \add What you have experienced is\add* as \add Moses wrote in the Scriptures about\add* Abraham. \add He wrote that Abraham\add* trusted God, and as a result, he was considered as being righteous {\add God\add* erased the record of his sins}.
\v 7 You must realize, therefore, that it is those who trust \add in what Christ has done who\add* are \add like\add* Abraham's descendants [MET] \add because they trust in God as Abraham did\add*.
\v 8 Furthermore, God planned beforehand that it was \add when\add* non-Jews trusted \add him\add* that he would erase the record of their sins. \add Moses wrote in\add* the Scriptures [PRS] this good message that God told Abraham: “Because of \add what\add* you \add did\add*, I will bless \add people in\add* [MTY] all nations.”
\v 9 So, \add we can conclude that\add* it is those who trust \add in what Christ has done\add* whom \add God\add* blesses. That includes \add all non-Jews and Jews who trust him\add*, along with Abraham, the one who trusted him \add long ago\add*.
\v 10 That is, God will eternally punish all those who \add mistakenly\add* think \add that God will erase the record of their sins\add* as a result of their \add obeying\add* the laws \add that God gave to Moses\add*. What is written in the Scriptures is that \add God\add* will eternally punish everyone who does not continuously and completely obey all the laws \add that Moses wrote\add*.
\v 11 But God has declared that if he erases the record of anyone's sins, it will not be as a result of their obeying the laws God gave Moses. \add This is evident because the Scriptures say\add*, “Every person whose record of sins God erases because that person trusts God will live \add spiritually\add*.”
\v 12 But \add when God gave\add* his laws \add to the Jews, he did\add* not \add say that a person must\add* trust \add him\add*. Instead \add God said that\add* it is those who obey \add all God's laws, continuously and completely\add*, who will live.
\s1 Christ was condemned instead of us, so that God might bless the non-Jews just as he blessed Abraham, and so that we might receive the Spirit.
\sr Galatians 3:13-14
\p
\v 13 Even though we humans have not continuously and completely obeyed God's laws, Christ rescued us from \add God\add* punishing us eternally. Christ rescued us by his being \add the one God condemned\add* instead of God condemning us. What is written {\add someone/Moses\add* wrote} \add in the Scriptures\add* shows that this is true. It is written {\add He\add* wrote}, “\add God\add* has cursed anyone \add whom people have executed for his crimes and whose body they\add* have hung on a tree.”
\v 14 Jesus Christ rescued us in order that as a result of what he \add has done, God might bless the non-Jews, in a way similar to the way\add* God blessed Abraham. He also desired that as a result of our trusting \add Christ\add*, we \add all\add* might receive the Spirit \add whom God\add* promised to \add give to\add* us.
\s1 By giving his laws to the Jews, God has not canceled what he promised to Abraham much earlier concerning his descendant, Christ. Just like God gave his blessings to Abraham just because he promised to do so, he freely gives his blessings to us.
\sr Galatians 3:15-18
\p
\v 15 My fellow believers, I will now \add illustrate\add* by referring to human \add relationships. After an agreement is confirmed by two people\add* {\add two people have signed\add* an agreement}, no one can reject it or add to it.
\v 16 \add God\add* declared to Abraham and his descendant that he was promising \add to give blessings to Abraham\add*. \add The words that God spoke were not “and your\add* descendants.” \add He was not\add* referring to many persons. Instead, he was referring to one person, who is Christ, \add because the words that God spoke were\add*, “and your descendant.”
\v 17 This is what I am saying: \add Since God\add* gave the laws \add to the Jews\add* 430 years after \add he declared to Abraham what he was promising to do for Abraham\add*, those laws do not cancel that agreement \add with\add* Abraham that God himself had previously agreed about [PRS].
\v 18 Remember that if it is because \add we obey God's\add* laws \add that he gives to us\add* what \add he has\add* promised \add to give to us\add*, then it is not \add just\add* because he \add has\add* promised \add that he would give those things to us\add*. God freely gave to Abraham \add what he had promised to give to him, just\add* because \add God had\add* promised \add that he would give it to him. Similarly, it is not because we obey God's laws that God gives to us what he has promised to give to us\add*.
\s1 God gave his laws to supervise us sinful Jews until Christ, Abraham's promised descendant, would come.
\sr Galatians 3:19-25
\p
\v 19 So, \add if someone should ask\add*, “Why \add did God later give\add* his laws \add to Moses?” I would reply that\add* it was in order that \add people might realize\add* how sinful they were. \add Those laws were valid\add* until \add Jesus came. He was\add* the descendant that God \add was referring to when he made\add* the promises to Abraham. \add The laws\add* were given {\add God\add* gave \add his laws\add*} \add to Moses\add* by God's causing angels to \add speak to him. Moses was the\add* mediator, \add the one who told the laws to the people\add*.
\v 20 Now, \add when\add* a mediator \add functions\add*, one \add person\add* is not \add speaking with another\add* directly; but God himself \add made his promises directly to Abraham\add*.
\p
\v 21 \add If someone should ask, “When God gave his\add* laws \add to Moses\add* long \add after he told Abraham\add* what he was promising \add to give to him, was he\add* changing his mind?” \add I would reply that God\add* certainly did not \add change his mind when he did that!\add* If God had given a law that could enable people to live \add eternally\add*, then it actually would be because of people \add obeying that\add* law that God would erase the record of their sins.
\v 22 But instead, \add what we read in\add* the Scriptures [PRS] is that God \add caused all people to be unable to escape being punished for\add* their \add sins\add* [MET], just like \add people\add* in prison \add are unable to escape\add* [PRS, MET]. \add God did that in order that he might give what he promised to those who trust Jesus Christ, just\add* because they trust him.
\v 23 Before \add God revealed the good message about\add* trusting \add in Christ\add*, the laws [PRS] that God gave to Moses were \add confining/imprisoning us Jews\add* [MET], \add as\add* a prisoner \add in jail is\add* confined. \add We\add* were unable to escape \add obeying those\add* [MET] \add laws\add*. This happened in order that \add we might believe\add* the good message \add concerning Christ, the message that God would\add* reveal \add later\add*.
\v 24 \add Like a father supervises his immature son by appointing a\add* servant to take care of him [MET], \add God\add* was supervising us \add by\add* his laws [MET, PRS] until Christ came. \add He did this\add* in order that he might erase the record of our sins \add only\add* because we trust \add Christ\add*.
\v 25 But \add now that God\add* has revealed the message \add about trusting in Christ\add*, the laws \add that God gave to Moses\add* are no longer supervising us \add Jews\add* [PRS, MET].
\s1 Because of our relationship with Christ we are Abraham's spiritual descendants, and God's heirs, no longer like slaves.
\sr Galatians 3:26-29
\p
\v 26 Now all of you \add Jews and\add* non-Jews are \add as though you are\add* God's children because you trusted Christ Jesus.
\v 27 That is, you who \add began a relationship\add* with Christ when you were baptized identified yourselves [MET] with Christ.
\v 28 \add If you are believers, it does\add* not \add matter to God if you are\add* Jews or non-Jews; slaves or ones \add who are\add* not slaves; males or females, because all of you are \add as\add* one \add sort of person because of your relationship\add* with Christ Jesus.
\v 29 Furthermore, since you belong to Christ, you are \add like\add* Abraham's descendants \add because you trust God as Abraham did\add*, and you will possess/receive all that God has promised [MET].
\c 4
\s1 Each of you is no longer like a slave, but a child of God and an heir of what he has promised.
\sr Galatians 4:1-7
\p
\v 1 Now, I \add will further\add* discuss \add children and heirs\add*: \add An heir is a person who will later\add* control all that his father has. But as long as that heir is a child, others \add control\add* him, with the result that he is just like a slave [MET].
\v 2 Until the \add day that\add* his father \add previously\add* determined, \add other\add* persons supervise him and manage his property.
\v 3 Likewise, when we \add (inc)\add* (OR, we \add (exc) Jews\add*) were \add like\add* young children [MET], we were controlled by the spiritual powers of this world. They controlled us like \add masters control their slaves\add* [MET].
\v 4 But exactly at the time [MTY] \add that God had previously determined\add*, he sent \add Jesus\add*, who is ◄his Son/the man who is also God►, into the world. Jesus was born to a \add human\add* mother. He had to obey the laws \add that God gave to Moses\add*.
\v 5 God sent Jesus in order that he might redeem us who had to obey \add God's\add* laws. God wanted us all to receive from \add God\add* the status of being his children [MET].
\v 6 Furthermore, we know that we are God's children because God sent the Spirit, who is intimately related to his Son, to live in our ◄inner beings/hearts►. \add The Spirit enables us to\add* pray fervently, “Daddy, Father!” \add This shows that we are God's children\add*.
\v 7 So, \add because of what God has done\add*, no longer is \add each of\add* you \add like\add* a slave. Instead, \add each of you is\add* a child \add of God\add*. Furthermore, since \add each of you is God's\add* child, God has also made you his heir, \add one who will receive all that he has promised.\add*
\s1 I plead with you to do as I did when I was with you, and not obey all the Jewish rules and rituals.
\sr Galatians 4:8-20
\p
\v 8 When you did not have a relationship with God [MET], you served gods that really did not exist [MET]. You were their slaves.
\v 9 But now you have come to know God. Perhaps \add it would be better to say that\add* now God knows you. \add So now you are acting foolishly\add* ◄You are again believing \add that by obeying\add* rules and rites \add you will benefit spiritually\add*!/Why are you again believing \add that by obeying\add* rules and rituals \add you will benefit spiritually\add*?► [RHQ] \add Those rules are\add* ineffective and inadequate! ◄You are wanting to \add obey them\add* again [MET] like slaves obey their masters./Are you wanting to \add obey them\add* again [MET] like slaves obey their masters?► [RHQ]
\v 10 You \add non-Jews\add* are carefully practicing \add Jewish rules and rituals about what you should do\add* ◄on \add Sabbaths/on Jewish days of rest\add*► and \add on the first day of each\add* month and on \add special\add* seasons and years.
\p
\v 11 I ◄worry/am concerned► about your \add mistaken ideas. I do not want\add* to have \add so\add* strenuously served you in vain.
\v 12 My fellow believers, I strongly urge you that you do as I do. \add Stop thinking that you have to obey ◄Jewish rules and rituals/ceremonial laws\add*►. \add When I was with you\add*, I \add did not obey all the Jewish rules and rituals\add*, just like you \add did not obey them\add*.
\p \add At that time\add* you treated me entirely as you should have [LIT].
\v 13 You know that the first time I told the good message to you, \add I went to your area to regain my health, because I was physically weak\add*.
\v 14 \add Although\add* you might have \add despised me because\add* I was physically weak, you did not despise me or act contemptuously/disrespectfully toward me. Instead, you welcomed me like \add you would welcome\add* an angel from God. \add You welcomed me\add* like \add you would welcome\add* Christ Jesus!
\v 15 ◄I am disappointed that you have forgotten \add that then\add* you \add declared that you were\add* pleased with \add me\add*./Have you forgotten \add that then\add* you \add declared that you were\add* pleased with \add me\add*?► [RHQ] I can testify that you \add would have done anything to help me\add*. You would have gouged out your eyes \add and\add* given them to me, \add if that would have helped me!\add*
\v 16 So I am very disappointed that you \add now\add* act as though [RHQ] I have become hostile to you \add because I have kept\add* speaking the true \add message about Christ\add* to you.
\v 17 Those \add who are insisting on obeying Jewish rules\add* are eagerly \add showing interest in\add* you, but \add what they are doing is\add* not good. They even want you not to associate with \add me and other true\add* believers, because they want you to eagerly show \add interest in\add* them, \add not in us\add*.
\v 18 But \add just like\add* it always feels good to have others show that they appreciate you, \add I would like you\add* always \add to appreciate me\add*, and not only when I am with you.
\v 19 You \add who are like\add* my children, \add once\add* again I am very worried/concerned about you [MET], \add and I will continue to\add* be worried/concerned until Christ's \add nature becomes developed\add* in you \add completely and wholeheartedly\add* [MET] \add as a child\add* becomes developed \add in his mother's womb\add*.
\v 20 But I do wish that I could be with you now and that I might talk \add more gently with you\add*, because I do not know \add what to do about\add* you \add while we are apart\add*.
\s1 Because of our relationship with Christ we are not subject to Mosaic law; being Abraham's spiritual descendants we are free from such bondage.
\sr Galatians 4:21-31
\p
\v 21 Some of you desire \add to obey all the laws\add* that God gave Moses. \add I say that\add* you \add should\add* consider [RHQ] \add the implications of what Moses wrote in\add* the Scriptures.
\v 22 \add He\add* wrote that Abraham became the father of two sons. His female slave, \add Hagar\add*, bore one son, and his \add wife Sarah\add*, who was not a slave, bore the other.
\v 23 Also, \add the sons differed. Ishmael\add*, the \add son born by\add* the female slave, was conceived naturally. But \add Isaac\add*, the \add son born by\add* his wife who was not a slave, was conceived \add miraculously\add* as a result of what \add God\add* had promised \add Abraham\add*.
\v 24 \add I am telling you this\add* as an illustration. These \add two women\add* symbolize two agreements. \add God made\add* the first \add agreement, which involved obeying the laws that God gave to Moses\add* at \add Sinai\add* Mountain. \add Because that agreement forces those who accept it to keep obeying all its rules\add* [MET], \add it is like a slave mother who\add* gives birth to slaves. \add So\add* Hagar, \add the female slave, symbolizes\add* this \add agreement\add*.
\v 25 Also, the \add word\add* ❛Hagar❜ is \add associated with\add* Sinai Mountain, \add which is\add* in Arabia \add land. Hagar, the female slave, also\add* represents Jerusalem \add city\add* as it is today. Jerusalem \add city\add* is \add like\add* [MET] a slave \add mother, and those who live there\add* [PRS] \add are like\add* her slave children [MET] \add because they all must obey the laws that God gave to Moses\add*.
\v 26 But there will be a \add new\add* Jerusalem in heaven [MTY], and we \add who will go there\add* are free \add from having to obey Jewish laws\add*. We \add who belong to that city consider it to be\add* our mother [MET] \add city because we are God's true children\add*.

\v 27 \add Our new city will have more people than those who live in Jerusalem now. It will be just like\add* Isaiah foretold about \add the people whom he expected would come back to Jerusalem from exile. He expected that they would be more numerous than those who\add* were taken into exile. He wrote: 
\pi1 \add You who live in Jerusalem, you will\add* rejoice! Now you have no children, like a barren \add woman\add* who does not give birth to \add children! But some day you will\add* shout \add joyfully\add*, ◄without restraint/as loudly as you can►, \add even though now you are few in number, like a woman who\add* cannot give birth \add to children, and you\add* feel deserted. \add You will be very happy\add* because \add you will have many children who will come to you. Those children will be\add* more than \add the children\add* any woman with a husband \add could have borne\add*. 
\p \v 28 Now, \add my\add* fellow believers, you have become children \add of God as a result of believing God's\add* promise to us, as Isaac \add was born as a result of Abraham believing what God promised to him\add* [MET].
\p
\v 29 \add Also, long ago Abraham's son\add* Ishmael, the one who was conceived naturally, caused trouble for \add Abraham's son\add* Isaac, who \add was conceived\add* supernaturally [MET]. Similarly, now \add those who think that we must obey the laws that God gave Moses in order that God will save us are causing trouble for those who are trusting Abraham's descendant, Christ\add*.
\v 30 But these are [RHQ] the words in the Scriptures [PRS]: “The son of the \add woman\add* who was not a slave will inherit \add what his father has\add*. The female slave's son will certainly not inherit those things. So send away from \add this place\add* the female slave and her son [MET]!” \add That means that you should certainly expel from your groups those who insist that we obey all the laws God gave Moses\add* [MET].
\v 31 \add My\add* fellow believers, \add Hagar symbolizes the laws that God gave to Moses. But we are not those who must obey all the laws that God gave to Moses\add* [MET]. \add So\add* we are not \add the\add* female slave \add Hagar's spiritual\add* descendants [MET]. But \add Sarah's descendants are those who were born as a result of believing what God promised to Abraham. So we are\add* the \add spiritual\add* descendants of \add Sarah, the woman\add* who was not a slave [MET].
\c 5
\s1 Reject the false teaching that you must be circumcised, and do not become enslaved to rules and rituals again, otherwise Christ will not benefit you at all.
\sr Galatians 5:1-6
\p
\v 1 It is in order that we might live without ◄being obliged \add to/having to\add*► \add obey all the Jewish rituals\add* that Christ freed us \add from God condemning us because of our disobeying those rituals\add*. So, firmly \add reject the false teaching that someone must circumcise you, and\add* do not \add live like\add* slaves again [MET] \add by letting others force you to obey those rules and rituals again\add*.
\v 2 Consider very carefully what I, Paul, \add an apostle\add*, now tell you: If you are \add to fulfill Jewish ritual laws,\add* you are permitting yourself to be circumcised {someone to circumcise you}, what Christ \add has done for you\add* will not benefit you at all.
\v 3 Instead, I solemnly declare again to every man who is circumcised {has someone circumcise him} \add in order for God to accept him\add*, that you must \add perfectly\add* obey all of the laws \add that God gave Moses, in order for God to save you\add*.
\v 4 Those of you who are sure that God will erase the record of your sins because you obey the laws \add that God gave to Moses\add*, you have separated yourselves from Christ. You have abandoned/rejected \add God's true method of saving you, which was\add* by kindly erasing the record of your sins, in a way that you did not deserve.
\v 5 But we who have a relationship with Christ and who trust in Christ are eagerly waiting to receive what God's Spirit assures us that we can expect. We can expect to receive it because God has erased the record of our sins.
\v 6 As for us who have a relationship with Christ Jesus, God is not concerned whether we are circumcised or not circumcised. Instead, God is concerned about whether we trust \add in\add* Christ, with the result that we love \add other people\add*.
\s1 Although someone has confused you, I am sure that you will not accept his false teaching, and that God will punish him.
\sr Galatians 5:7-12
\p
\v 7 You were progressing well \add spiritually\add* [MET]. You should not have let someone influence you so that \add now you\add* are not believing the true \add message about Christ\add* [RHQ]!
\v 8 \add God\add*, the one who chose you, is not the one who is persuading you to think like this!
\v 9 \add Remember that this false doctrine that someone is teaching you will affect all of you, just like\add* [MET] a little yeast causes all of the dough to swell up.
\v 10 \add Nevertheless\add*, because of my relationship with the Lord, I am certain that you will think only as I do \add about forcing people to obey rules and rituals\add*. Furthermore, \add God\add* will punish anyone who is confusing you \add by teaching this false message\add*, even if he is an important person.
\v 11 But, my fellow believers, \add although someone claims that I am proclaiming that men must be circumcised, I certainly am not still proclaiming that. Remember that the Jews are still\add* ◄\add persecuting me/causing me to suffer\add*►. If I were still proclaiming that men must be circumcised \add in order for God to accept them\add*, ◄the Jews would not be persecuting me./why would the Jews be persecuting me?► [RHQ] \add They would\add* [RHQ] not be \add persecuting me\add*/causing me to suffer \add because\add* then \add the Jews\add* would no longer be offended. \add They\add* ◄\add are offended/do not want to accept what I teach\add*► \add because I proclaim that Christ, the Messiah, died on\add* the cross [MTY].
\v 12 I \add would even\add* wish that those who are disturbing you \add by insisting that men be circumcised\add* would also emasculate [EUP] themselves, \add with the result that they would be expelled from your congregations.\add*
\s1 Although you are free from having to obey Jewish rules, instead of doing what your self-directed nature desires, love and serve each other.
\sr Galatians 5:13-15
\p
\v 13 My fellow believers, \add God\add* chose you in order that \add you might live\add* without having to \add obey rules and rituals\add*. But \add do not assume that because\add* you are free \add from having to obey rules and rituals\add*, \add God\add* permits you to \add do whatever your\add* self-directed nature \add desires\add*. Instead, constantly, as you love \add each other\add*, serve each other.
\v 14 Keep in mind that we can sum up all of the laws \add that God has\add* given us in one law, which is: “You must love each person you come in contact with, just like \add you love\add* yourself.”
\v 15 Since you are attacking and injuring [MET] each other \add by the things that you say\add* [MET], I warn you that \add if you continue doing that\add*, you will totally ruin each other \add spiritually\add*.
\s1 Let God's Spirit direct you, and then you will not do what your self-directed nature desires.
\sr Galatians 5:16-18
\p
\v 16 \add So\add* I tell you this: Constantly let \add God's\add* Spirit direct you. \add If you do that\add*, you will certainly not do the things that your self-directed nature wants \add you to do\add*.
\v 17 Your self-directed nature ◄opposes \add God's\add* Spirit/does not \add want you to do what\add* God's Spirit \add wants you to do\add*►, but also his Spirit opposes your self-directed nature. These two are always ◄fighting with/opposing► each other. The result is that you do not \add constantly\add* do the \add good\add* deeds that you truly desire \add to do\add*.
\v 18 But when you are led by God's Spirit {when God's Spirit directs you}, you \add can do what pleases God\add*, now that you are no longer obligated \add to obey all\add* the laws \add that God gave Moses\add*.
\s1 Those who think evil thoughts and do evil things will not receive the blessings of God's rule, but God's Spirit produces many good qualities in our lives.
\sr Galatians 5:19-24
\p
\v 19 \add You already know\add* how \add people think and\add* act [PRS] because of their self-directed nature. These are \add some of the things that they do: People\add* are sexually immoral. \add People\add* commit unnatural sexual acts. \add People\add* act indecently.
\v 20 \add People\add* worship false gods \add and\add* things \add that\add* represent those gods. \add People\add* perform ◄rituals in order that evil spirits might act for them/sorcery►. \add People\add* are hostile \add to others. People\add* quarrel \add with each other. People\add* are ◄jealous/resent other people's status►. \add People\add* behave angrily. \add People\add* try ◄to get others to think highly of them/to exalt themselves► and ◄do not consider what others want/act selfishly►. People do not associate \add with others. People\add* associate only with those who agree \add with them\add*.
\v 21 \add People\add* want what others have. \add People\add* get drunk. \add People\add* ◄revel/participate in wild parties►. And \add people do other\add* things like these. I warn you \add now\add*, just like I warned \add you previously\add*, that the ones \add who constantly\add* act \add and think\add* like this will not receive \add what\add* God \add has for his own people when he begins\add* to rule over us.
\v 22 But \add God's\add* Spirit causes \add us to do these things\add*: We love \add others\add*. We are joyful. We are peaceful. We are patient. We are kind. We are good. We are \add ones whom\add* others can trust.
\v 23 We are gentle. We control our behavior. There is no law that says people should not \add think and act in such ways\add*.
\v 24 Furthermore, we who belong to Christ Jesus have \add stopped obeying\add* our self-directed nature and \add stopped doing\add* all the evil things that we desire to do [MET]. \add It is as though\add* [MET] we nailed them to the cross!
\p
\v 25 Since \add God's\add* Spirit has caused us to \add be spiritually\add* alive, we should \add conduct our lives the way the\add* Spirit \add directs us\add*.
\v 26 We should not be saying how great we are. We should not be making ourselves more important than others. We should not envy each other.
\c 6
\s1 Gently correct anyone among you who is sinning, and help each other without thinking you are better than others.
\sr Galatians 6:1-6
\p
\v 1 My fellow believers, if \add you\add* discover that a person \add among your congregation\add* is sinning, \add those of\add* you whom \add God's\add* Spirit \add is directing and empowering\add* should gently correct that person. \add Furthermore, each of\add* you \add who corrects another person should\add* be very cautious in order that you might not \add sin like that when\add* you are tempted {\add when something\add* tempts you}.
\v 2 \add When there are ones who have\add* problems, you should help each other. By doing that, you will complete what Christ requires.
\v 3 Keep in mind that those who \add refuse to help others because they think that they are more important than other people, although they are\add* not really more important, are deceiving themselves.
\v 4 Instead, each \add of you\add* should \add constantly\add* test/judge \add and decide if you can approve what you yourself are doing and thinking\add*. Then you can boast because of what you yourself \add are doing and thinking\add*, and not because what you are doing is superior to what other persons \add are doing\add*.
\v 5 Keep in mind that you must each perform your own \add individual\add* tasks.
\v 6 \add You\add* who are being taught {whom others are teaching} \add God's truth\add* should share your various \add material\add* things [EUP] with your teachers.
\s1 We should not tire of doing good, but instead, we should do good to everyone, especially to believers.
\sr Galatians 6:7-10
\p
\v 7 You should not deceive yourselves. \add Remember that\add* God is never outwitted {no one ever fools God}. \add Just like\add* a farmer will reap exactly the kind \add of crop that\add* he plants [MET], \add God will reward people according to what they have done\add* [MET].
\v 8 \add God\add* will punish eternally those who do what their self-directed natures urge them to do. But those who please \add God's\add* Spirit will live forever \add with God\add* because of what \add God's\add* Spirit does for them.
\v 9 But we should not ◄tire of/become discouraged while► doing what pleases God, because \add eventually\add*, at the time \add that God\add* has determined, we will receive a reward [MET], if we do not stop \add doing the good things that we have been doing\add*.
\v 10 So, whenever we have opportunities, we should do \add what is\add* good to all people. But especially we should do what is good to all our fellow believers.
\s1 Some people want you to be circumcised only so that they will not be persecuted for proclaiming what Christ accomplished for us on the cross, but that is the only thing that I will boast about.
\sr Galatians 6:11-16
\p
\v 11 I am now writing this last part of this letter to you in my own handwriting. Notice the large letters with which I am now writing. I am doing this in order that I might emphasize this:
\v 12 Some Jewish believers are trying to force you to perform certain rituals so that other Jews will think highly of them. They are insisting that you be circumcised {that someone must circumcise you}. They are doing that only in order that other Jews would no longer ◄persecute them/cause them to suffer► for proclaiming that God will save us because of our trusting in what Christ accomplished when he died on the cross [MTY, MET].
\v 13 The reason that I say that is that the ones who are insisting that you be circumcised {that someone circumcise you} do not themselves fully obey the laws that God gave to Moses. Instead, they desire that you let someone circumcise you in order that they might boast to those Jews who would ◄persecute them/cause them to suffer► that you did that because they insisted [MTY] that you do it.
\v 14 I myself, however, strongly desire that I never boast about anything like that. The only thing I will boast about is what our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished by dying on the cross [MTY]. Because of what Christ did on the cross, I no longer am interested in the things that those who do not trust Christ [MTY] think are important, and those people are no longer interested in the things that I [MET] think are important.
\v 15 I will boast about Christ dying on the cross because God is concerned neither that people are circumcised nor that people are not circumcised. Instead, he is concerned only that people conduct their lives in a completely new way.
\v 16 I pray that God will give inner peace and act kindly towards all who will act according to this new way of life. It is all those who live according to this new way of life who are now truly God's people [MET], as the Israelite people were God's people previously.
\s1 I have suffered enough for declaring the truth about Jesus, so do not trouble me again.
\sr Galatians 6:17
\p
\v 17 Finally, I say that people have persecuted me/caused me to suffer for declaring the truth about Jesus, and as a result I have scars on my body. Your new teachers do not have scars like mine! So do not trouble/bother me about these matters again!
\s1 I pray that God may act kindly within you.
\sr Galatians 6:18
\p
\v 18 My fellow believers, I pray that our Lord Jesus Christ will kindly accomplish what he desires within you. ◄Amen!/May it be so!►