< Galati 4 >

1 Rhopangkung te cahmang la a om khui boeih atah sal khaw, boei khaw, aka om boeih te a tanglue tloe moenih ka ti coeng.
Now, I [will further] discuss [children and heirs]: [An heir is a person who will later] control all that his father has. But as long as that heir is a child, others [control] him, with the result that he is just like a slave [MET].
2 Tedae pa kah a tuetang duela imtawt neh hnokhoem kut hmuiah a om sak.
Until the [day that] his father [previously] determined, [other] persons supervise him and manage his father’s property.
3 Te dongah mamih khaw cahmang la n'om uh vaengah Diklai kah a niing hmuiah sal aka bi la n'om?
Likewise, when we [(inc)] (OR, we [(exc) Jews]) were [like] young children [MET], we were controlled by the spiritual powers of this world. They controlled us like [masters control their slaves] [MET].
4 Tedae a tue a soepnah loh ha pawk vaengah Pathen loh a capa te han tueih. Huta lamloh om tih olkhueng hmuiah phoe.
But exactly at the time [MTY] [that God had previously determined], he sent [Jesus], who is (his Son/the man who is also God), into the world. Jesus was born to a [human] mother. He had to obey the laws [that God gave to Moses].
5 Te daengah ni olkhueng hmuikah rhoek te a tlan eh. Te daengah ni a. cacah la m'phaeng eh.
God sent Jesus in order that he might redeem us who had to obey [God’s] laws. God wanted us all to receive from [God] the status of being his children [MET].
6 Te dongah ca rhoek la na om uh coeng. Abba apa tila aka pang a capa kah Mueihla te Pathen loh mamih thinko ah han tueih.
Furthermore, we know that we are God’s children because God sent the Spirit, who is intimately related to Jesus, to live in our (inner beings/hearts). [The Spirit enables us to] pray fervently, “Daddy, Father!” [This shows that we are God’s children].
7 Te dongah sal voel pawt tih ca la na om uh coeng. Ca tah Pathen rhangneh rhopangkung la om van.
So, [because of what God has done], no longer is [each of] you [like] a slave. Instead, [each of you is] a child [of God]. Furthermore, since [each of you is God’s] child, God has also made you his heir, [one who will receive all that he has promised].
8 Tedae Pathen ana ming pawt vaengah a coengnah loh pathen la aka om pawt rhoek kah sal na bi uh.
When you did not have a relationship with God [MET], you served gods that really did not exist [MET]. You were their slaves.
9 Tedae Pathen te mingpha coeng ta. Te dongah Pathen loh lat m'ming ta. Metlae tattloel neh a niing aka khodaeng taengla koep na mael uh. Te rhoek taengah salbi ham koekhoek koep na ngaih uh.
But now you have come to know God. Perhaps [it would be better to say that] now God knows you. [So now you are acting foolishly]! (You are again believing [that by obeying] rules and rites [you will benefit spiritually]! [RHQ] [Those rules are] ineffective and inadequate! You are wanting to [obey them] again [MET] like slaves obey their masters. [RHQ]
10 Khohnin khaw, hla khaw, khoning khaw, kum khaw na yaeh uh coeng.
You [non-Jews] are carefully practicing [Jewish rules and rituals about what you should do] (on [Sabbaths/on Jewish days of rest]) and [on the first day of each] month and on [special] seasons and years.
11 Nangmih ham ka thakthae he a hoeihae pawt khaming tila nangmih taengah ka birhih.
I (worry/am concerned) about your [mistaken ideas. I do not want] to have [so] strenuously served you in vain.
12 Kai bangla om uh lah. Kai khaw nangmih vanbang ni tila manuca rhoek nangmih te kan hloep. Kai nan veet uh moenih.
My fellow believers, I strongly urge you that you do as I do. [Stop thinking that you have to obey (Jewish rules and rituals/ceremonial laws]). [When I was with you], I [did not obey all the Jewish rules and rituals], just like you [did not obey them]. [At that time] you treated me entirely as you should have [LIT].
13 Tedae a cuekca kah nangmih taengah ka phong te pumsa kah vawtthoek dongah tila na ming uh.
You know that the first time I preached to you, [I went to your area to regain my health, because I was physically weak].
14 Ka pumsa ah nangmih ham noemcainah om cakhaw nan hnaelcoe uh pawt tih nan tuei uh moenih. Tedae Pathen kah puencawn bangla, Jesuh Khrih bangla kai nan doe uh.
[Although] you might have [despised me because] I was physically weak, you did not despise me or act contemptuously/disrespectfully toward me. Instead, you welcomed me like [you would welcome] an angel from God. [You welcomed me] like [you would welcome] Christ Jesus!
15 Te koinih nangmih kah yoethennah tah menim? A phoeng mai koinih na mik te na koeih uh tih kai nan paek uh mako tila nangmih taengah ka laipai.
(I am disappointed that you have forgotten [that then] you [declared that you were] pleased with [me]./Have you forgotten [that then] you [declared that you were] pleased with [me]?) [RHQ] I can testify that you [would have done anything to help me]. You would have gouged out your eyes [and] given them to me, [if that would have helped me]!
16 Nangmih ham oltak ka thui dongah nangmih kah rhal la ka coeng a?
So I am very disappointed that you [now] act as though [RHQ] I have become hostile to you [because I have kept] speaking the true [message about Christ] to you.
17 Nangmih taengah a thatlai uh te thuem pawh. Tedae nangmih te khoe a ngaih uh daengah amih te na thatlai thil uh mako.
Those [who are insisting on obeying Jewish rules] are eagerly [showing interest in] you, but [what they are doing is] not good. They even want you not to associate with [me and other true] believers, because they want you to eagerly show [interest in] them, [not in us].
18 Tedae a then la thatlai ham tah then yoeyah ngawn. Te dongah nangmih taengkah ka om rhuet bueng moenih.
But [just like] it always feels good to have others show that they appreciate you, [I would like you] always [to appreciate me], and not only when I am with you.
19 Ka ca rhoek nangmih ah Khrih a kap duela u ham nim ka bung a tloh bal.
You [who are like] my children, [once] again I am very worried/concerned about you [MET], [and I will continue to] be worried/concerned until Christ’s [nature becomes developed] in you [completely and wholeheartedly] [MET] [as a child] becomes developed [in his mother’s womb].
20 Te dongah nangmih taengah om laeh ka ngaih coeng. Ka ol te thovael ham khaw nangmih soah ka ingang coeng.
But I do wish that I could be with you now and that I might talk [more gently with you], because I do not know [what to do about] you [while we are apart].
21 Kai taengah thui uh lah. Olkhueng hmuiah om ham aka ngaih rhoek, olkhueng te na ya uh mahnim?
Some of you desire [to obey all the laws] that God gave Moses. [I say that] you [should] consider [RHQ] [the implications of what Moses wrote in] the Scriptures.
22 Abraham loh capa panit a khueh te a daek coeng ta. Pakhat te salnu kah tih pakhat te aka loeih nu kah ta.
[He] wrote that Abraham became the father of two sons. His female slave, [Hagar], bore one son, and his [wife Sarah], who was not a slave, bore the other.
23 Tedae salnu kah te tah pumsa la a cun. Aka loeih nu kah te tah olkhueh lamloh a cun.
Also, [the sons differed. Ishmael], the [son born by] the female slave, was conceived naturally. But [Isaac], the [son born by] his wife who was not a slave, was conceived [miraculously] as a result of what [God] had promised [Abraham].
24 Amih rhoi loh a tueng sak te om. Amih rhoi tah paipi panit la om. Pakhat tah Sinai tlang lamkah tih sal la a cun. Anih tah Hagar ni.
[I am telling you this] as an illustration. These [two women] symbolize two agreements. [God made] the first [agreement, which involved obeying the laws that God gave to Moses] at Sinai Mountain. [Because that agreement forces those who accept it to keep obeying all its rules] [MET], [it is like a slave mother who] gives birth to slaves. [So] Hagar, [the female slave, symbolizes] that [agreement].
25 Hagar tah Arabia kah Sinai tlang coeng ni. Tahae kah Jerusalem banghui la, a ca rhoek taengah sal a bi.
Also, the [word] ‘Hagar’ is [associated with] Sinai Mountain, [which is] in Arabia [land. Hagar, the female slave, also] represents Jerusalem as it is today. Jerusalem is [like] [MET] a slave [mother, and those who live there] [PRS] [are like] her slave children [MET] [because they all must obey the laws that God gave to Moses].
26 Tedae soben Jerusalem tah aka loeih ni. Anih tah mamih kah manu ni.
But there will be a [new] Jerusalem in heaven [MTY], and we [who will go there] are free [from having to obey Jewish laws]. We [who belong to that city consider it to be] our mother [MET] [city because we are God’s true children].
27 A daek coeng te ta, Cakol la cacun mueh aw uum khungdaeng lamtah bung aka tlo pawt aw tamhoe lah. Va aka khueh lakah khosoek kah camoe tah taoe ping ta.
[Our new city will have more people than those who live in Jerusalem now. It will be just like] Isaiah foretold about [the people whom he expected would come back to Jerusalem from exile. He expected that they would be more numerous than those who] were taken into exile. He wrote: [You who live in Jerusalem, you will] rejoice! Now you have no children, like a barren [woman] who does not give birth to [children! But some day you will] shout [joyfully], (without restraint/as loudly as you can), [even though now you are few in number, like a woman who] cannot give birth [to children, and you] feel deserted. [You will be very happy] because [you will have many children who will come to you. Those children will be] more than [the children] any woman with a husband [could have borne].
28 Manuca rhoek nangmih ngawn tah Isaak bangla olkhueh kah ca rhoek la na om uh.
Now, [my] fellow believers, you have become children [of God as a result of believing God’s] promise to us, as Isaac [was born as a result of Abraham believing what God promised to him] [MET].
29 Tedae pumsa la a cun loh mueihla la cun te a hnaemtak vanbangla tahae ah khaw om van tangloeng.
[Also, long ago Abraham’s son] Ishmael, the one who was conceived naturally, caused trouble for [Abraham’s son] Isaac, who [was conceived] supernaturally [MET]. Similarly, now [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].
30 Tedae cacim loh, “Salnu neh a capa te haek laeh. Salnu kah a capa te aka loeih nu kah capa taengah phaeng loengloeng boel saeh,” a ti te ta.
But these are [RHQ] the words in the Scriptures [PRS]: “The son of the [woman] who was not a slave will inherit [what his father has]. The female slave’s son will certainly not inherit those things. So send away from [this place] the female slave and her son [MET]!” [That means that you should certainly expel from your groups those who insist that we obey all the laws God gave Moses] [MET].
31 Te dongah manuca rhoek salnu kah voel pawt tih aka loeih kah ca rhoek la n'om uh.
[My] fellow believers, [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] [MET]. [So] we are not [the] female slave [Hagar’s spiritual] descendants [MET]. But [Sarah’s descendants are those who were born as a result of believing what God promised to Abraham. So we are] the [spiritual] descendants of [Sarah, the woman] who was not a slave [MET].

< Galati 4 >