Galatians 4:26

Galatians 4:26 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
• New International Version (NIV)But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.
• English Standard Version (ESV)But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
• New King James Version (NKJV)but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.

Context of Galatians 4:26

24These two women are like pictures of two agreements that God made with his people. Hagar is like the agreement that God made on Sinai mountain. That agreement causes people to become slaves. 25Hagar is like a picture of Sinai mountain in Arabia. Also, she is like the city of Jerusalem here on earth now, because that city and its people are slaves under the authority of God's Law. But Abraham's wife, Sarah, is a picture of the new Jerusalem that is above. Sarah was a free person, not a slave, and she is like our mother. 27It says in the Bible: ‘Be happy, you woman who could not have any children! You have never known the pain of a child's birth. But now shout loudly because you are so happy! Yes, be happy, because the lonely woman now has more children than the woman who has a husband.’ 28You, my Christian friends, are like Sarah's son, Isaac. Like him, you became God's children as a result of God's promise.

Galatians 4:26 word by word

ἡ δὲ ἄνω Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἐλευθέρα ἐστὶν ἥτις ἐστὶν μήτηρ ἡμῶν·Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Butδέde · thenG1161
• JerusalemἹερουσαλήμHierousalēm · JerusalemG2419
• which isὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• aboveἄνωanō · aboveG507
• isεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
• freeἐλεύθεροςeleutheros · free/freedomG1658
• whichὅστιςhostis hētis ho6ti · who/whichG3748
• the motherμήτηρmētēr · motherG3384
• of usἐγώegō · I/weG1473
• allπᾶςpas · allG3956

Cross-references for Galatians 4:26

• Psalms 87:3People say great things about you! You are God's own city! Selah.
• Isaiah 2:2This is what will happen in the last days. The mountain where the Lord's temple is will continue to be there. It will be the most important mountain of all. It will be higher than all the hills around it. People from every nation will go there all the time.
• Isaiah 52:9Jerusalem, your buildings have become heaps of stones, but now you can all shout together with joy! Sing aloud, because the Lord has comforted his people. He has made Jerusalem safe again.
• Isaiah 62:1Because I love Zion, I will not be quiet. I cannot stay quiet, because Jerusalem is in trouble. I will continue to speak until she is safe again. I want her righteousness to shine like the sun at dawn. I want her salvation to be a bright light in the dark.
• Isaiah 65:18But be happy about what I will create! Be happy for ever! I will create Jerusalem as a happy place. The people who live there will be full of joy.
• Isaiah 66:10All you people who love Jerusalem, join together with its people and be happy. You have been sad to see what has happened to the city, but now you should shout with joy!
• Joel 3:17‘Then you will know that I am the Lord your God. You will know that I live in Zion, my holy hill. Jerusalem will be holy. Strangers will never take it again.
• Micah 4:1In the last days, the mountain where the Lord's house is will be the highest mountain. It will be the most important of all the mountains. It will be higher than the hills, and people from many countries will go to it.
• Philippians 3:20But as for us, the home where we belong is in heaven. We are waiting for the Lord Jesus Christ to come from there. He is the one who will come from heaven and save us.
• Hebrews 12:22But as believers in Christ, you have not come to God in that way. You have come to Mount Zion. You have come to the city of the true God who lives. You have come to the city of Jerusalem that is in heaven. There are many thousands of happy angels all together in that place.
• Revelation 3:12Everyone who wins against Satan will be safe in God's house. I will make them like a strong pillar in the temple of my God. They will never leave that place again. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of his city. The name of that city is the new Jerusalem. It will come down from heaven. My God will send it down to the earth. I will also write my new name on those people.
• Revelation 21:2I saw God's own holy city, called the new Jerusalem. It was coming down out of heaven from God. It was very beautiful, like a bride who is wearing beautiful clothes, ready to meet her husband.
• Galatians 4:22The Bible says that Abraham had two sons. The mother of one of them was a slave. The mother of the other son was a free woman.
• Galatians 5:1Christ has made us free so that we can be really free! So be strong and do not turn back. Do not let yourselves become slaves to the Jewish rules again.
• John 8:36So, if the Son makes you free, you will really be free.
• Romans 6:14Sin will no longer have authority over you. You do not have a new life because you obey the Law which God gave to Moses. You have a new life because God is very kind to you.

Commentaries on Galatians 4:26

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 26But Jerusalem which is above - The apostle still follows the Jewish allegory, showing not only how the story of Hagar and Sarah, Ishmael and Isaac, was allegorized, but pointing out also that even Jerusalem was the subject of allegory; for it was a maxim among the rabbins, that "whatsoever was in the earth, the same was also found in heaven for there is no matter, howsoever small, in this world, that has not something similar to it in the spiritual…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 26But Jerusalem which is above - The spiritual Jerusalem; the true church of God. Jerusalem was the place where God was worshipped, and hence, it became synonymous with the word church, or is used to represent the people of God. The word rendered “above,” ( ̓́ anō) means properly “up above,” that which is above; and hence, heavenly, celestial; Colossians 3:1-2; John 8:23. Here it means the heavenly or celestial Jerusalem; Revelation 21:2, “And I John saw…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 21-27Verses 21-27 The difference between believers who rested in Christ only, and those who trusted in the law, is explained by the histories of Isaac and Ishmael. These things are an allegory, wherein, beside the literal and historical sense of the words, the Spirit of God points out something further. Hagar and Sarah were apt emblems of the two different dispensations of the covenant. The heavenly Jerusalem, the true church from above, represented by Sarah…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 26Hagar represents slavery to human effort based on Mount Sinai (4:24–25). In contrast, Sarah represents freedom in the heavenly Jerusalem, God's ideal city. Abraham’s true children by faith now live under God's rule in Jesus Christ (3:29). she is our mother: Sarah’s son, Isaac, was freely given all of God's promises apart from the law of Moses. Similarly, Jews and Gentiles who live by faith in Jesus are Sarah’s true children. They receive God's promises to…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2626. This verse stands instead of the sentence which we should expect, to correspond to Ga 4:24, "One from Mount Sinai," namely, the other covenant from the heavenly mount above, which is (answers in the allegory to) Sarah. Jerusalem ... above--(He 12:22), "the heavenly Jerusalem." "New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God" (Re 3:12; 21:2). Here "the Messianic theocracy, which before Christ's second appearing is the Church, and after it…Read the comment

Topics related to Galatians 4:26

• Abraham
• Church
• Justification
• Parables
• Women

In the dictionaries

• Jerusalem
• Doubt
• Flesh
• Heaven
• Observe
• Sarah
• Zealously
• Abraham
• Allegory
• Citizenship

Commentaries on Galatians 4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings