Isaiah 60:4

60:4 Look all around you! ¹ 

They all gather and come to you –

your sons come from far away

and your daughters are escorted by guardians.

Hosea 1:10

The Restoration of Israel

1:10 (2:1) ²  However, ³  in the future the number of the people ⁴  of Israel will be like the sand of the sea which can be neither measured nor numbered. Although ⁵  it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it will be said to them, “You are ⁶  children ⁷  of the living God!”

Matthew 3:9

3:9 and don’t think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones!

Galatians 4:26-28

4:26 But the Jerusalem above is free, ⁸  and she is our mother. 4:27 For it is written:

“Rejoice, O barren woman who does not bear children; ⁹ 

break forth and shout, you who have no birth pains,

because the children of the desolate woman are more numerous

than those of the woman who has a husband.” ¹⁰ 

4:28 But you, ¹¹  brothers and sisters, ¹²  are children of the promise like Isaac.

¹ tn Heb “Lift up around your eyes and see!”

² sn Beginning with 1:10, the verse numbers through 2:23 in the English Bible differ by two from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 1:10 ET = 2:1 HT, 1:11 ET = 2:2 HT, 2:1 ET = 2:3 HT, etc., through 2:23 ET = 2:25 HT. Beginning with 3:1 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.

³ tn The vav prefixed to וְהָיָה (véhaya) functions in an adversative sense: “however” (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 71, §432).

⁴ tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); KJV, ASV “the children”; NAB, NIV “the Israelites.”

⁵ tn Heb “in the place” (בִּמְקוֹם, bimqom). BDB 880 s.v. מָקוֹם 7.b suggests that בִּמְקוֹם (preposition בְּ, bet, + noun מָקוֹם, maqom) is an idiom carrying a concessive sense: “instead of” (e.g., Isa 33:21; Hos 2:1). However, HALOT suggests that it functions in a locative sense: “in the same place” (HALOT 626 s.v. מָקוֹם 2b; e.g., 1 Kgs 21:19; Isa 33:21; Hos 2:1).

⁶ tn The predicate nominative, “You are…,” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁷ tn Heb “sons” (so KJV, NASB, NIV).

⁸ sn The meaning of the statement the Jerusalem above is free is that the other woman represents the second covenant (cf. v. 24); she corresponds to the Jerusalem above that is free. Paul’s argument is very condensed at this point.

⁹ tn The direct object “children” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied for clarity. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

¹⁰ tn Grk “because more are the children of the barren one than of the one having a husband.”

¹¹ tc Most mss (א A C D² Ψ 062 Ï lat sy bo) read “we” here, while “you” is found in Ì⁴⁶ B D* F G 0261^vid 0278 33 1739 al sa. It is more likely that a copyist, noticing the first person pronouns in vv. 26 and 31, changed a second person pronoun here to first person for consistency.

¹² tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:11.