Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Galatians 4:27 - 4:27

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Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Galatians 4:27 - 4:27


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27. γέγραπται γὰρ. γὰρ. I say that not the visible, but the invisible Jerusalem is our mother, for this stands prophesied of her, in Isa 54:1. The quotation is taken verbally from the LXX., which represents the Hebrew accurately, save that for the simple ῥῆξον the latter has “break forth into singing.” The prophet is speaking of the greater population etc. of the restored Zion than of the earlier. It is to have the experience of Sarah, to possess a progeny far greater than that of Hagar (with a silent reference to Gen 16:2-4). The prophet refers however to Zion in words transcending the fulfilment in the return from Babylon. Thus St Paul’s quotation is more than a play on words; it gives the essential part of the original meaning, that there is to be a Jerusalem other than that which we now see, and that the number of its children is to be far greater.