Galates 4
1 Mais moi, je dis qu'aussi longtemps que l'héritier est un enfant, il n'est pas différent d'un esclave, bien qu'il soit le maître de tout,
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 mais il est sous la tutelle et l'intendance jusqu'au jour fixé par le père.
Until the [day that] his father [previously] determined, [other] persons supervise him and manage his father’s property.
3 Ainsi, nous aussi, quand nous étions enfants, nous étions asservis aux principes élémentaires du monde.
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 Mais, lorsque les temps furent accomplis, Dieu a envoyé son Fils, né d'une femme, né sous la loi,
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 afin qu'il rachète ceux qui étaient sous la loi, pour que nous soyons adoptés comme des enfants.
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 Et parce que vous êtes des enfants, Dieu a envoyé dans vos cœurs l'Esprit de son Fils, qui crie: « Abba, Père! »
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 Ainsi, vous n'êtes plus esclaves, mais fils; et si vous êtes fils, vous êtes héritiers de Dieu par le Christ.
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 Mais en ce temps-là, ne connaissant pas Dieu, vous étiez asservis à ceux qui, par nature, ne sont pas des dieux.
When you did not have a relationship with God [MET], you served gods that really did not exist [MET]. You were their slaves.
9 Mais maintenant que vous avez appris à connaître Dieu, ou plutôt à être connus de Dieu, pourquoi revenez-vous aux principes élémentaires, faibles et misérables, auxquels vous voulez être de nouveau asservis?
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 Vous observez les jours, les mois, les saisons et les années.
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 Je crains pour vous que je n'aie gaspillé mon travail pour vous.
I (worry/am concerned) about your [mistaken ideas. I do not want] to have [so] strenuously served you in vain.
12 Je vous en prie, frères, devenez comme moi, car moi aussi je suis devenu comme vous. Vous ne m'avez fait aucun tort,
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 mais vous savez que c'est à cause de ma faiblesse dans la chair que je vous ai annoncé la Bonne Nouvelle la première fois.
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 Ce qui était pour vous une tentation dans ma chair, vous ne l'avez ni méprisé ni rejeté; mais vous m'avez reçu comme un ange de Dieu, comme le Christ Jésus.
[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 Quelle a été la bénédiction dont vous avez bénéficié? Car je vous témoigne que, si cela avait été possible, vous vous seriez arraché les yeux et vous me les auriez donnés.
(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 Suis-je donc devenu votre ennemi en vous disant la vérité?
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 Ils ne vous recherchent pas avec zèle dans une bonne intention. Non, ils veulent vous éloigner, afin que vous les recherchiez.
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 Mais il est toujours bon d'avoir du zèle pour une bonne cause, et pas seulement quand je suis présent avec vous.
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 Mes petits enfants, pour lesquels je suis encore en travail jusqu'à ce que Christ soit formé en vous -
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 mais je voudrais être présent avec vous maintenant, et changer de ton, car je suis perplexe à votre sujet.
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 Dis-moi, toi qui veux être sous la loi, n'écoutes-tu pas la loi?
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 Car il est écrit qu'Abraham a eu deux fils, l'un de la servante, l'autre de la femme libre.
[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 Or, le fils de l'esclave est né selon la chair, mais le fils de la femme libre est né par la promesse.
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 Ces choses contiennent une allégorie, car il s'agit de deux alliances. L'une est celle de la montagne du Sinaï, portant des enfants à la servitude, qui est Hagar.
[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 Car cette Agar, c'est le mont Sinaï en Arabie, et elle correspond à la Jérusalem actuelle, car elle est dans la servitude avec ses enfants.
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 Mais la Jérusalem d'en haut est libre, elle est notre mère à tous.
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 Car il est écrit, « Réjouissez-vous, vous les stériles qui n'enfantez pas. Sortez et criez, vous qui ne travaillez pas. Car la femme désolée a plus d'enfants que celle qui a un mari. »
[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 Nous, frères, nous sommes, comme Isaac, des enfants de la promesse.
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 Mais de même qu'alors celui qui était né selon la chair persécutait celui qui était né selon l'Esprit, ainsi en est-il maintenant.
[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 Or, que dit l'Écriture? « Chassez la servante et son fils, car le fils de la servante n'héritera pas avec le fils de la femme libre ».
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 Ainsi donc, frères, nous ne sommes pas enfants de la servante, mais de la femme libre.
[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].
