Edits from Forest Deal on UDB Gal

49-GAL.usfm

@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@
 \v 1-2 I, Paul, am writing to my dear brothers and sisters in the province of Galatia. I am Paul, the apostle. No group of people made me an apostle, and God did not tell anybody to make me one. Instead, I am an apostle because Jesus Christ and God the Father have sent me as one—yes, God the Father, who made Christ live again after he had died! I and all the fellow believers who are here with me greet you all in the churches in the province of Galatia.
 
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-\v 3 I pray that God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ will kindly help you and give you peace.
-\v 4 Christ sacrificed himself to God for our sins, in order to take us away from this world in which people act in such evil ways. He did this because God, our Father, wanted him to.
+\v 3 I pray that God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ will kindly help you and give you peace.
+\v 4 Christ sacrificed himself to God for our sins in order to take us away from this world in which people act in such evil ways. He did this because God, our Father, wanted him to.
 \v 5 Because that is true, let us now praise God forever and ever.
 
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@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@
 \v 18 If I again believed that God would make me right in his sight because I obey his law, I would be like a man who rebuilds a shaky old building that he had once torn down. Everyone would see that I was breaking God's law.
 \v 19 As I was trying to obey God's law, I became like a dead man; it was as if the law had killed me. This happened so that I might live to worship God.
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-\v 20 It is as though my old way of life ended when Christ died on the cross. I no longer direct my life. Christ who lives in my heart now directs how I live. And whatever I do now while I live, I do it trusting in God's Son. He is the one who loved me and offered himself as the sacrifice to provide God's forgiveness to me.
+\v 20 It is as though my old way of life ended when Christ died on the cross. I no longer direct my life. Christ, who lives in my heart, now directs how I live. And whatever I do now while I live, I do it trusting in God's Son. He is the one who loved me and offered himself as the sacrifice to provide God's forgiveness to me.
 \v 21 I do not set aside God's kindness, as if keeping the law could make us right with God. Otherwise, Christ would have died on the cross for nothing.
 
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@@ -130,12 +130,12 @@
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 \v 19 So why did God later give his law to us? God gave his law to teach us that we all deliberately break it. And looking forward, God gave the law for the time when a descendent of Abraham would come. That descendent is the one who receives the promise that was made before to Abraham. The angels protected and applied the law by the authority of the one who would stand between God and people.
-\v 20 Now, when one person speaks directly with another, there is no mediator. And God himself made his promises directly to Abraham.
+\v 20 Now when one person speaks directly with another, there is no mediator. And God himself made his promises directly to Abraham.
 
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 \v 21 So do the words of the law speak against what God promises? Certainly not. If we could obey the law and then live forever with God, then he certainly would have regarded us as good in his sight.
-\v 22 But that was impossible. Instead, because we sin, the law in the scriptures controls us—and all things—just as if we were in prison. So when God promised to free us from that prison, he was speaking about anyone who believes in Jesus Christ.
+\v 22 But that was impossible. Instead, because we sin, the law in the scriptures controls us—and all things—just as if we were in prison. So when God promised to free us from that prison, he was speaking about everyone who believes in Jesus Christ.
 
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 \v 23 Before God revealed the good news about how people should trust in Christ, his law was like a soldier who kept us in prison, unable to move about.
@@ -145,14 +145,14 @@
 \v 26 I say this because you are all God's children because you have trusted in Christ Jesus.
 
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-\v 27 All of you who trust in Christ and were baptized so that you are joined to him, have taken on the characteristics of Christ's life. 
+\v 27 All of you who trust in Christ and were baptized so that you are joined to him and you have taken on the characteristics of Christ's life. 
 \v 28 If you are believers, it does not matter to God if you are Jews or non-Jews, slaves or free persons, males or females, because all of you are together joined to Christ Jesus.
 \v 29 Furthermore, since you belong to Christ, he makes you into descendants of Abraham, and you will receive everything that God has promised him and us.
 
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-\v 1 Now, I will further discuss children and heirs. An heir is a son who will later possess all that his father has. But as long as that heir is a child, he is like a slave whom others control.
+\v 1 Now I will further discuss children and heirs. An heir is a son who will later possess all that his father has. But as long as that heir is a child, he is like a slave whom others control.
 \v 2 Until the day that his father has previously determined, other persons supervise the child and manage his property.
 
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@@ -204,13 +204,9 @@
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 \v 26 But there is a new Jerusalem in heaven, and that city is like a mother of all us who believe in Christ, and that city is free!
 \v 27 That new Jerusalem will have many more people than the old Jerusalem. This is because the prophet Isaiah wrote,
-\q "You who live in Jerusalem, you must rejoice!
-\q Now you have no children,
-\q2 like a woman who cannot have children!
-\q But one day you will shout with joy
-\q2 even though you have no children now.
-\q Like a woman who cannot give birth to children,
-\q2 and you feel deserted.
+\q "Be glad, you women who have no children!
+\q Shout out loud and cry out,  
+\q2 you who have never had labor pains!
 \q You will have more children than
 \q2 any woman with a husband could have borne."
 
@@ -230,19 +226,19 @@
 \v 2 Consider very carefully what I, Paul, an apostle, now tell you. If you let anyone circumcise you, what Christ has done for you will not help you at all!
 
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-\v 3 Once again I solemnly declare to every man whom they have circumcised, that he must obey the law perfectly, for God to declare him good in his sight.
+\v 3 Once again I solemnly declare to every man whom they have circumcised: All of them must obey the law perfectly for God to declare them good in his sight.
 \v 4 If you expect God to declare you good in his sight because you try to keep the law, you have separated yourself from Christ; God will no longer act kindly toward you.
 
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 \v 5 We whom God's Spirit enables to trust in Christ are confidently waiting for the time when God will declare us good in His sight.
-\v 6 God is not concerned whether we are circumcised or not circumcised. Instead, God is concerned about whether we trust in Christ, with the result that we love others because we trust in him.
+\v 6 God is not concerned whether we are circumcised or not circumcised. Instead, God is concerned  that the trust we have in Christ will result in the love we have for other people.
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 \v 7 You were following Christ so well! Who stopped you from obeying his true message?
 \v 8 God, the one who chose you, is not the one who is persuading you to think like this!
 
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 \v 9 This false teaching that someone is teaching you is in danger of spreading to all of you, just like a little yeast in the dough causes it all to swell up.
-\v 10 I am certain that the Lord Jesus will keep you from believing in anything else except his true good news. God will certainly punish anyone who is confusing you by teaching this false message, whoever he is.
+\v 10 I am certain that the Lord Jesus will keep you from believing in anything other than his true good news. God will certainly punish anyone who is trying to confuse you by teaching you this false message.
 
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 \v 11 But, my fellow believers, maybe someone is saying that I still teach that you must let them circumcise you. I certainly taught that before I followed Christ, but I am not teaching that any longer. But what they are saying cannot be true; otherwise, no one would be persecuting me now. No, I tell you that if people think they have to be circumcised to follow Christ, then the fact that Christ died on the cross no longer make any difference to them.
@@ -251,7 +247,7 @@
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 \v 13 My fellow believers, God has called you to set you free. But do not think he set you free so you could sin. Instead, love and serve each other, because you are now free to do that!
-\v 14 Remember something that Jesus said. He said all the law means this: "Love each person like you love yourself."
+\v 14 Remember something that Jesus said. He said all the law means this: "Love each person in the same way that you love yourself."
 \v 15 So if you attack and harm each other like wild animals, you might completely destroy each other.
 
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@@ -262,7 +258,7 @@
 
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-\v 19 It is easy to recognize what is sinful. Sinful people commit evil sexual actions, sexual actions that even go against what is natural, and they desire things that are against good laws.
+\v 19 It is easy to recognize what is sinful. Sinful people commit evil sexual actions, actions that even go against what is natural, and they desire things that are against good laws.
 \v 20 They also worship false gods and things that represent those gods. They try to get evil spirits to act for them. People are hostile to others. People quarrel with each other. People are jealous. People behave angrily. People try to get others to think highly of them and do not consider what others want. People do not associate with others. People associate only with those who agree with them.
 \v 21 People want what others have. People get drunk. People get drunk and riot. And they do other things like these. I warn you now, just like I warned you previously, that the ones who constantly act and think like this will not receive what God has for his own people when he reveals himself to everyone as king.