Translations
KJVPrimary
King James VersionWhich things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GThese things carry an allegorical meaning — for these women are two covenants: one from Mount Sinai, bearing children into slavery, which is Hagar.
F.O.G.M
F.O.G MessageNow this account is meant to be understood as an allegory — for the two women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai, and it produces children born into slavery: that is Hagar.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleThese things serve as illustrations, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children into slavery: This is Hagar.
Footnotes
ἀλληγορούμενα (allēgoroumena) — "being spoken/interpreted allegorically" — is Paul's own hermeneutical declaration, signalling that he is reading the historical narrative of Hagar and Sarah as carrying a deeper covenantal pattern, consistent with Jewish midrashic and Hellenistic Jewish allegorical interpretation (cf. Philo). This does not deny the historicity of the account but mines it for its typological depth. The loaded term is διαθῆκαι (diathēkai) — "covenants" — Paul's bold alignment of the Sinai covenant with Hagar and slavery reframes the Torah's covenantal function: not as the covenant of salvation but as the covenant of bondage for those who trust it for justification.
