24 All of this has another meaning as well. Each of the two women stands for one of the agreements God made with his people. Hagar, the slave woman, stands for the agreement that was made at Mount Sinai. Everyone born into her family is a slave. 25 Hagar also stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia* and for the present city of Jerusalem. She* and her children are slaves.

26 *But our mother is the city of Jerusalem in heaven above, and she isn’t a slave.