Romans

Chapter 1

¹ Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, a called apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, ² which he promised beforehand by his prophets in the holy Scriptures, ³ concerning his Son—who was born from a seed of David according to the flesh, ⁴ who was designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection of dead ones—Jesus Christ our Lord, ⁵ through whom we received grace and apostleship for obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, for the sake of his name, ⁶ among whom you also are called ones of Jesus Christ. ⁷ To all those being in Rome, beloved of God, called saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁸ First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ concerning all of you, because your faith is being proclaimed in the whole world. ⁹ For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, how I continually make mention of you, ¹⁰ always requesting in my prayers if somehow now at last I will be successful by the will of God to come to you. ¹¹ For I long to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gracious gift to strengthen you, ¹² and that is to be mutually encouraged with you through each other's faith, both yours and mine. ¹³ Now I do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, that I often intended to come to you (but I was hindered until now), so that I might have some fruit among you also, just as also among the rest of the Gentiles. ¹⁴ I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise ones and to foolish ones. ¹⁵ So, as it depends on me, {I am} eager to proclaim the gospel also to you who {are} in Rome.

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, both to the Jew first and to the Greek. ¹⁷ For {the} righteousness of God is revealed in it from faith to faith, just as it is written, “But the righteous one will live by faith.”

¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who in unrighteousness are holding back the truth, ¹⁹ because that which {is} known about God is visible to them, for God made it visible to them. ²⁰ For his invisible qualities, both his eternal power and divine nature, are clearly seen from the creation of the world, being understood by the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹ For having known God, they did not glorify {him} as God, nor did they give {him} thanks. Instead, they became futile in their thoughts, and their senseless heart was darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise ones, they became foolish, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the imperishable God for a likeness of an image of perishable man, and of birds, and of four-footed beasts, and of creeping things.

²⁴ Therefore, God gave them over to the lusts of their hearts for uncleanness, to dishonor their bodies among themselves; ²⁵ who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshiped and served the creation instead of the Creator, who is blessed to eternity. Amen.

²⁶ For this reason, God gave them over to passions of dishonor, for both their females exchanged the natural use for that {which is} contrary to nature, ²⁷ and likewise, the males also, having left the natural use of the female, burned in their lust for one another, male with male producing shameless acts and receiving in themselves the penalty which was necessary for their perversion.

²⁸ And just as they did not approve of having God in {their} full awareness, God gave them over to a disapproved mind, to do those things that are not proper, ²⁹ filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, {and} malice, {they} are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, {and} evil intent. {They are} gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, ³¹ senseless, faithless, heartless, {and} merciless. ³² Who, having fully known the righteous decree of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do these things, but they also give consent to those who practice them.

Chapter 2

¹ Therefore, you are without excuse, O man—anyone who judges—for in that which you judge the other you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. ² Now we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. ³ But do you think this, O man, who judges those who are practicing such things and you are doing the same things, that you will escape from the judgment of God? ⁴ Or do you scorn the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? ⁵ But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God, ⁶ who will pay back to each one according to his deeds: ⁷ Indeed, eternal life to those who, according to endurance of good work, are seeking glory and honor and incorruptibility, ⁸ but to those who from selfish ambition are indeed being disobedient to the truth and becoming obedient to unrighteousness, wrath and anger. ⁹ Tribulation and distress {will be} on every soul of man that produces the evil, both to the Jew first and to the Greek. ¹⁰ But glory and honor and peace will be to everyone who works the good, both to the Jew first and to the Greek. ¹¹ For there is no favoritism with God. ¹² For as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and as many as have sinned with the law will be judged by the law. ¹³ For the hearers of the law {are} not righteous with God, but the doers of the law will be justified. ¹⁴ For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things of the law, they, not having the law, are a law to themselves, ¹⁵ who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, the thoughts between themselves both accusing or even defending them ¹⁶ on the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my gospel, through Christ Jesus.

¹⁷ But if you name yourself a Jew and rely upon the law and boast in God, ¹⁸ and know {his} will and approve of the things that are excellent, being instructed from the law; ¹⁹ and you have convinced yourself {that} you are a guide to blind men, a light to those in darkness, ²⁰ an instructor of foolish men, a teacher of little children, having in the law the form of the knowledge and of the truth, ²¹ then you, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You, who preach not to steal, do you steal? ²² You, who says not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You, who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³ You, who boast in the law, do you dishonor God through the transgression of the law? ²⁴ For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written. ²⁵ For circumcision indeed benefits if you practice the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. ²⁶ If, then, the uncircumcision keeps the requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be considered as circumcision? ²⁷ And the uncircumcision by nature, fulfilling the law, will judge you who {are}, through letter and circumcision, a transgressor of the law! ²⁸ For he is not a Jew who {is} one visibly; neither is this circumcision visible in {the} flesh. ²⁹ But the one who {is} secretly a Jew, and circumcision of {the} heart in the Spirit, not in {the} letter; whose the praise {is} not from men but from God.

Chapter 3

¹ What then {is} the advantage of the Jew, or what {is} the benefit of the circumcision? ² Great in every way! For indeed first, that they were entrusted with the sayings of God. ³ For what if some were unfaithful? Their unfaithfulness will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? ⁴ May it never be! Instead, let God be true, but every man a liar. Just as it is written,

     “So that you might be justified in your words

     and you will prevail when you are judged.”

⁵ But if our unrighteousness commends {the} righteousness of God, what will we say? God {is} not unrighteous for imposing {his} wrath, {is he}? (I speak according to men.) ⁶ May it never be! Otherwise, how will God judge the world? ⁷ But if the truth of God through my lie abounds to his glory, why am I still being judged as a sinner? ⁸ And not (just as we are blasphemed and just as some affirm us to say), “Let us do the evil things, so that the good things may come”?—whose judgment is just.

⁹ What then? Are we better off? Not at all. For we have already accused both Jews and Greeks, all of them, of being under sin. ¹⁰ Just as it is written:

     “There is none righteous, not even one.

     ¹¹ There is none who understands.

     There is none who seeks out God.

     ¹² All of them turned away. They together became useless.

     There is none doing kindness—there is not even one.”

 

    

¹³ “Their throat {is} an opened grave.

     They keep deceiving with their tongues.

     {The} poison of asps {is} under their lips,”

    

 

¹⁴ “whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”

 

    

¹⁵ “Their feet {are} swift to pour out blood.

     ¹⁶ Destruction and suffering {are} in their ways.

     ¹⁷ And they do not know a way of peace.”

    

 

¹⁸ “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

¹⁹ Now we know that as many things as the law says, it speaks to those with the law, so that every mouth may be shut and all the world may become accountable to God ²⁰ because not any flesh will be justified by works of law before him; for full awareness of sin {is} through law.

²¹ But now, apart from {the} law, {the} righteousness of God has been made visible, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets; ²² but {the} righteousness of God {is} through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe, for there is no distinction. ²³ For all sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that {is} in Christ Jesus; ²⁵ whom God presented {as} a propitiation through faith in his blood for a demonstration of his righteousness, because of the overlooking of the sins that happened previously ²⁶ in the forbearance of God, for the demonstration of his righteousness at this present time, so that he could be just, and justifying the one who {is} from faith in Jesus.

²⁷ Where then {is} the boasting? It is excluded. Through what kind of law? Of the works? No! But through a law of faith. ²⁸ For we reckon a man to be justified by faith apart from works of {the} law. ²⁹ Or {is he} God of Jews only? {Is he} not also of Gentiles? Yes, also of Gentiles, ³⁰ if, indeed, God {is} one, who will justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through the {same} faith.

³¹ Do we then nullify {the} law through the {same} faith? May it never be! Instead, we uphold {the} law.

Chapter 4

¹ What then will we say {that} Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has discovered? ² For if Abraham was justified by works, he has a boast, but not before God. ³ For what does the scripture say? “And Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” ⁴ Now to the one who works, the wage is not counted according to grace, but according to obligation. ⁵ Now to the one who does not work, but who believes on the one who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. ⁶ Even as David also speaks {of} the blessedness of the man to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

     ⁷ “Blessed {are those} whose lawless deeds have been forgiven,

     and whose sins have been covered.

     ⁸ Blessed {is} a man whose sin the Lord does certainly not count.”

⁹ Then {is} this blessedness upon the circumcision, or also upon the uncircumcision? For we say, “{His} faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.” ¹⁰ How then was it counted? Being in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? {It was} not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. ¹¹ And he received {the} sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith that {he had} in {his} uncircumcision so that he would be {the} father of all those who believe through uncircumcision, so that the righteousness would be counted to them; ¹² and {the} father of circumcision to those who {are} not only from {the} circumcision, but to those who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham in uncircumcision.

¹³ For the promise to Abraham or to his seed that he would be heir of the world {was} not through {the} law but through {the} righteousness of faith. ¹⁴ For if the heirs {are} from the law, the faith has been emptied, and the promise has been nullified. ¹⁵ For the law produces wrath, but where there is no law, neither {is there} transgression. ¹⁶ For this reason {it is} by faith in order that according to grace, so that the promise might be certain to all the seed—not only to the {one} from the law, but also to the {one} from {the} faith of Abraham, who is {the} father of us all, ¹⁷ just as it is written, “I have appointed you {the} father of many nations,” in the presence of God whom he trusted, who makes the dead ones live and calls the things not existing as existing; ¹⁸ who against hope believed on the basis of hope, so that he might become the father of many nations, according to what {was} said, “So will your seed be.” ¹⁹ And not weakening in the faith, he considered {his} own body as already being dead (being about a hundred years old)—and the deadness of the womb of Sarah. ²⁰ But toward the promise of God, he did not waver in the unbelief, but was strengthened in the faith, having given glory to God, ²¹ and having been fully convinced that what he had promised, he is also able to do. ²² And therefore, “it was counted to him as righteousness.” ²³ Now it was not written only for his sake, “It was counted to him,” ²⁴ but also for our sake, to whom it is about to be counted, to those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from {the} dead {ones}, ²⁵ who was given up for the sake of our trespasses and was raised for the sake of our justification.

Chapter 5

¹ Therefore, having been justified by faith, let us have peace ^[1] with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we also have access by {this} faith into this grace in which we stand, and we boast on the basis of hope of the glory of God. ³ And not only this, but we also boast in {our} sufferings, knowing that {this} suffering produces endurance; ⁴ and {this} endurance, character; and {this} character, hope. ⁵ And that hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who was given to us. ⁶ For we still being weak, yet at the right time Christ died on behalf of {the} ungodly. ⁷ For someone will hardly die on behalf of a righteous {person}. Perhaps, though, someone might even dare to die on behalf of the good {person}. ⁸ But God commends {his} own love toward us, in that, we still being sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Much more then, having now been justified by his blood, we will be saved through him from the wrath. ¹⁰ For if, being enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. ¹¹ Not only this, but we also are boasting in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we now have received the reconciliation.

¹² For this reason, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin, death, so also death spread to all men because of which all sinned. ¹³ For until law, sin was in {the} world, but sin is not charged, being no law. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, death ruled from Adam until Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a pattern of the one who is coming.

¹⁵ But not like the trespass, so also {is} the gracious gift. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, how much more did the grace of God and the gift by grace that {is} of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many! ¹⁶ And the gift {is} not as through one who sinned. For indeed, the judgment from one, to condemnation, but the gracious gift from many trespasses, to justification. ¹⁷ For if, by the trespass of the one, death ruled through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of the grace and the gift of the righteousness rule in life through the one, Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ So then, as through one trespass to all men {led} to condemnation, so also through one righteous act to all men {led} to justification of life. ¹⁹ For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one will the many be made righteous. ²⁰ Now {the} law slipped in so that the trespass might increase. But where the sin increased, the grace abounded even more, ²¹ so that just as sin ruled in death, so also grace might rule through righteousness to everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Chapter 6

¹ What then will we say? Should we continue in the sin so that the grace might increase? ² May it never be! We who died to sin, how will we still live in it? ³ Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were buried, then, with him through the baptism into {his} death, so that just as Christ was raised from {the} dead through the glory of the Father, so we too in newness of life might walk. ⁵ For if we have become planted together in the likeness of his death, we will also certainly become {part of} the resurrection; ⁶ knowing this, that our old man was crucified together {with him}, in order that the body of sin might be nullified, {for it} to no longer enslave us to the sin. ⁷ For the one who died has been freed from the sin. ⁸ But if we died together with Christ, we believe that we will also live together with him, ⁹ knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, no longer dies; death no longer is lord over him. ¹⁰ For in that he died, he died for sin once and never again. But in that he lives, he lives for God. ¹¹ In the same way, you also must consider yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

¹² Therefore, do not let sin rule in your mortal body, in order to obey its lusts. ¹³ And do not keep presenting your members {as} tools of unrighteousness to sin. But present yourselves to God, as living from death, and your members {as} tools of righteousness to God. ¹⁴ For sin must not be lord over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.

¹⁵ What then? Should we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? May it never be! ¹⁶ Do you not know that to what you keep presenting yourselves {as} slaves for obedience, you become slaves to what you obey—whether of sin {leading} to death, or of obedience {leading} to righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks {be} to God! For you were slaves of sin, but you listened from {the} heart to the pattern of teaching that was passed on {to you}. ¹⁸ And having been freed from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. ¹⁹ I speak as a man because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to uncleanness and to more and more lawlessness, so now present your members {as} slaves to righteousness {leading} to sanctification. ²⁰ For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with respect to righteousness. ²¹ So what fruit were you then having because of which things you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things {is} death. ²² But now, having been freed from sin and having been enslaved to God, you have your fruit {leading} to sanctification, and the outcome {is} everlasting life. ²³ For the wages of sin {is} death, but the gracious gift of God {is} eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Chapter 7

¹ Or do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to {those} who know {the} law), that the law is lord of the man for as long as he lives? ² For the married woman remains bound by law to the living husband, but if the husband dies, she has been released from the law of the husband. ³ So then, the husband being alive, if she becomes {married} to another husband, she will be titled an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress, having become {married} to another husband. ⁴ Therefore, my brothers, you yourselves were also made dead to the law through the body of Christ, so that you might become {married} to another, to the one who was raised from {the} dead, in order that we might produce fruit for God. ⁵ For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions that {were} through the law were working in our members in order to produce fruit for death. ⁶ But now we have been released from the law, having died to {that} by which we were being held, so that we might serve in newness of {the} Spirit and not in oldness of {the} letter.

⁷ What will we say then? {Is} the law sin? May it never be! However, I would not have known sin, if not through {the} law. For I would not have known the covetousness unless the law said, “You will not covet.” ⁸ But sin, having taken opportunity through the commandment, produced every lust in me. For apart from law, sin {is} dead. ⁹ Now at one time I was alive without law, but the commandment having come, sin came to life again, ¹⁰ and I died. And the commandment that {was} to be life, it was found to be death for me. ¹¹ For sin, having taken the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it, killed {me}. ¹² So then, the law {is} indeed holy, and the commandment {is} holy and righteous and good.

¹³ So did what {is} good become death to me? May it never be! But sin, in order that it might be shown {to be} sin through what {is} good, producing death in me, so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure. ¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I myself am fleshly, sold into slavery under sin. ¹⁵ For what I produce, I do not understand. For what I do not want {to do}, this I practice. But what I hate, this I do. ¹⁶ But if what I do not want, this I do, I agree with the law that {it is} good. ¹⁷ But now no longer I myself produce it, but the sin living in me! ¹⁸ For I know that there does not live in me, (that is, in my flesh), good. For the wanting is present in me, but not to produce the good. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want; but the evil I do not want, this I practice. ²⁰ Now if what I do not want, this I do, I myself no longer produce it, but the sin living in me. ²¹ I find, then, {this} law: the wanting to do good {is} in me, but that evil is present in me. ²² For I delight in the law of God with the inner man. ²³ But I see a different law in my members fighting against the law of my mind and taking me captive by the law of the sin that exists in my members. ²⁴ I am a miserable man! Who will rescue me from the body of this death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve with the mind the law of God, but with the flesh, {the} law of sin.

Chapter 8

¹ {There is} therefore now no condemnation at all for those who {are} in Christ Jesus. ² For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus set you free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law {was} unable {to do}, in that it was weak through the flesh, God {did}, having sent {his} own Son in {the} likeness of sinful flesh and for the sake of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ so that the righteous deeds of the law might be fulfilled in us, those walking not according to the flesh, but according to {the} Spirit. ⁵ For those existing according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those according to the Spirit, {on} the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For the mindset of the flesh {is} death, but the mindset of the Spirit {is} life and peace. ⁷ {This is} because the mind of the flesh {is} hostility toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not able {to do so}. ⁸ But those existing in {the} flesh are not able to be pleasing to God. ⁹ However, you yourselves are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, since indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. But if someone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this one is not of him. ¹⁰ But if Christ {is} in you, the body {is} dead because of sin, but the Spirit {is} life because of righteousness. ¹¹ If indeed the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from {the} dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also make alive your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

¹² So then, brothers, we are debtors—not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For as many as are being led by {the} Spirit of God, these are {the} sons of God. ¹⁵ For you did not receive again a spirit of slavery {leading} to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by which we cry out, “Abba, Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. ¹⁷ Now if children, {then} also heirs: both heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer together with {him} so that we may also be glorified together with {him}.

¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time {are} not worthy {to be compared} with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the eager expectation of the creation is eagerly expecting the revelation of the sons of God. ²⁰ For to the futility the creation was subjected, not willingly, but because of the one who subjected it, on the basis of hope ²¹ that also the creation itself will be freed from the slavery of the decay into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²² For we know that all the creation groans and labors in pain together until now. ²³ Not only that, but also we, having the firstfruit of the Spirit—even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly expecting our adoption, the redemption of our body. ²⁴ For in {this} hope we were saved. Now hope being seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, with endurance we are eagerly expecting {it}.

²⁶ Now in the same way, the Spirit also helps in our weakness. For the thing for which we should pray as we ought, we do not know, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groans. ²⁷ But the one who searches the hearts knows what {is} the mindset of the Spirit, because he intercedes on behalf of the saints according to the will of God. ²⁸ For we know that for those who love God, God works all things together for good, ^[1] for the ones who are called according to {his} purpose. ²⁹ Because those whom he foreknew, he also predestined {to be} a similar form to the image of his Son, so that he might be {the} firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ Now those whom he predestined, these he also called. And those whom he called, these he also justified. And those whom he justified, these he also glorified.

³¹ What then will we say to these things? If God {is} for us, who {is} against us? ³² Who indeed did not spare {his} own Son but gave him up on behalf of us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? ³³ Who will bring an accusation against God’s elect? God {is} the one who justifies. ³⁴ Who {is} the one who condemns? Christ Jesus {is} the one who died—but more {than that}, he was raised ^[2] who also is at the right hand of God—who also intercedes on our behalf. ³⁵ Who will separate us from the love of Christ? ^[3] Tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or hunger, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁶ Just as it is written,

     “For your sake we are being put to death the whole day {long}.

     We were considered as sheep for slaughter.”

³⁷ But in all these things we are more than conquerors through the one who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor governments, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which {is} in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Chapter 9

¹ I speak truth in Christ. I do not lie—my conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit— ² that for me there is great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. ³ For I could wish myself to become cursed, cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race according to {the} flesh; ⁴ who are Israelites, of whom {is} the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the law-giving, and the service, and the promises; ⁵ of whom {are} the fathers from whom also {is} the Christ—(that {is}, according to {the} flesh)—the one who {is} over all, blessed God to eternity. Amen.

⁶ But {it is} not such a thing that the word of God has failed. For not all the ones from Israel, these {are} Israel. ⁷ Neither that all the children are seed of Abraham. But, “In Isaac your seed will be called.” ⁸ That is, the children of the flesh, these {are} not children of God. But the children of the promise are considered as seed. ⁹ For this {is} the word of promise: “At this time I will come, and a son will be to Sarah.” ¹⁰ Now, not only {this}, but Rebekah also having conceived from one {man}, our father Isaac— ¹¹ for not yet having been born, nor indeed having done anything good or bad, so that the purpose of God according to election might endure, ¹² not by works, but by the one who calls—it was said to her, “The older will will be enslaved to the younger.” ¹³ {It is} just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

¹⁴ What then will we say? {There is} no unrighteousness with God{, is there}? May it never be! ¹⁵ For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy {on} whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion {on} whomever I will have compassion.” ¹⁶ So then, {it is} not of the one who wills, nor of the one who runs, but of God, who has mercy. ¹⁷ For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up, so that I might demonstrate my power in you, and so that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” ¹⁸ So then, he has mercy on whom he wills, but whom he wills, he hardens.

¹⁹ You will say then to me, “Why then does he still find fault? For who has ever withstood his will?” ²⁰ O man, who indeed are you who answers against God? The thing molded will not say to the one who molded it, “Why did you make me this way?” will it? ²¹ Or does the potter not have authority over the clay to make from the same lump what {is} on the one hand a vessel for honor, and on the other hand, what {is} for dishonor? ²² But {what} if God, willing to demonstrate {his} wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction; ²³ and so that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory— ²⁴ even us whom he called, not only from {the} Jews, but also from {the} Gentiles? ²⁵ As he says also in Hosea:

     “I will call the one who {was} not my people, ‘my people,’

     and the one not loved, ‘Beloved.’

     ²⁶ And it will be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘You {are} not my people,’

     there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”

²⁷ But Isaiah cries out concerning Israel,

     “Though the number of the sons of Israel might be as the sand of the sea,

     the remnant will be saved,

     ²⁸ for {the} Lord will carry out {his} word on the earth,

     finishing {it} and cutting {it} short.”

     ²⁹ And just as Isaiah has said beforehand,

     “If {the} Lord of hosts did not leave us descendants,

     we would have become like Sodom,

     and we would have been made like Gomorrah.”

³⁰ What will we say then? That the Gentiles, who are not pursuing righteousness, obtained righteousness, but righteousness that {is} by faith. ³¹ But Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not attain {it} through {the} law. ³² Why? Because {it was} not by faith, but as by works. They stumbled over the stone of stumbling, ³³ just as it is written,

     “Behold, I place in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense,

     and the one who believes on it will not be ashamed.”

Chapter 10

¹ Brothers, the good pleasure of my heart and {my} prayer to God {is} on behalf of them for salvation. ² For I testify about them that they have a zeal of God, but not according to full knowledge. ³ For not knowing about the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish {their} own righteousness, they did not submit themselves to the righteousness of God. ⁴ For Christ {is} the completion of {the} law for righteousness for everyone who believes. ⁵ For Moses writes {about} the righteousness that {is} from {the} law: “The man who does these things will live by it.” ⁶ But the righteousness by faith says this: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down); ⁷ or, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from {the} dead). ⁸ But what does he say?

     “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.”

This is the word of faith, which we proclaim. ⁹ For if with your mouth you confess Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart {one} believes to righteousness, and with the mouth {one} confesses to salvation. ¹¹ For the scripture says, “Everyone who believes on him will not be put to shame.” ¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord {is} of all, being rich to all who call upon him. ¹³ For all, whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. ¹⁴ How then would they call on whom they have not believed? And how would they believe in whom they have not heard? And how would they hear without someone preaching? ¹⁵ And how would they preach, unless they would be sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful {are} the feet of those who proclaim good news {of} good things!”

¹⁶ But not all of them became obedient to the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” ¹⁷ So {this} faith {is} by hearing, and {this} hearing through the word of Christ. ^{[1] 18} But I say, “Did they certainly not hear?” Yes, indeed.

     “Their sound went out into all the earth,

     and their words to the ends of the world.”

¹⁹ But I say, “Did Israel certainly not know?” First Moses says,

     “I myself will provoke you to jealousy by a non-nation;

     by means of a senseless nation, I will provoke you to anger.”

²⁰ Now Isaiah is very bold and he says,

     “I was found by those who were not seeking me;

     I appeared to those who were not asking for me.”

²¹ But to Israel he says, “The whole day I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contradictory people.”

Chapter 11

¹ I say then, God did not reject his people, did he? May it never be! For I myself also am an Israelite, from {the} seed of Abraham, of {the} tribe of Benjamin. ² God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Or do you not know what the scripture says about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? ³ “Lord, they killed your prophets, they tore down your altars, and I alone was left behind, and they seek my life.” ⁴ But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for myself 7, 000 men who have not bent a knee to Baal.” ⁵ Even so then, at this present time also there is a remnant according to {the} election of grace. ⁶ But if by grace, {it is} no longer by works. Otherwise {this} grace becomes no longer grace. ^{[1] 7} What then? The {thing} Israel diligently seeks, it did not obtain, but the elect obtained it, and the rest {of them} were hardened, ⁸ just as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of dullness, eyes not to see, and ears not to hear, until this very day.” ⁹ And David says,

     “Let their table become for a net and for a trap,

     and for a stumbling block and for a retribution to them.

     ¹⁰ Let their eyes be darkened to not see,

     and make their backs bend continually.”

¹¹ I say then, “They did not stumble so that they might fall, did they?” May it never be! Instead, by their transgression, {this} salvation {is} to the Gentiles, in order to provoke them to jealousy. ¹² Now if their transgression {is} wealth of the world, and their loss {is} wealth of {the} Gentiles, how much more {will} their fullness {be}? ¹³ Now I am speaking to you the Gentiles. As much therefore as I myself am an apostle to {the} Gentiles, I glorify my ministry, ¹⁴ if somehow I might provoke to jealousy {those who are} of my {own} flesh and might save some from them. ¹⁵ For if their rejection {is} reconciliation of {the} world, what {is their} acceptance if not life from {the} dead? ¹⁶ Now if the firstfruit {is} holy, the lump {of dough} also. And if the root {is} holy, the branches also. ¹⁷ But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive branch, were grafted into them, and became partakers with them of the richness of the root of the olive tree, ¹⁸ do not boast over the branches. But if you boast, you yourself do not support the root, but the root, you. ¹⁹ You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I myself might be grafted in.” ²⁰ {That is} true. They were broken off in {their} unbelief, but you yourself stand firm in the faith. Do not think highly {of yourself}, but fear! ²¹ For if God did not spare of the natural branches, neither will he spare of you. ²² See, then, {the} kindness and {the} severity of God: severity on those who fell, but kindness of God on you, if you continue in {his} kindness. Otherwise you yourself also will be cut off. ²³ But those, if they do not continue in {their} unbelief, will be grafted in. For God is able to graft them in again. ²⁴ For if you from what {is} by nature a wild olive tree were cut off, and contrary to nature were grafted into a good olive tree, how much more will these, who {are} according to nature, be grafted back into {their} own olive tree?

²⁵ For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, in order that you might not be wise in yourselves, for a partial hardening has occurred in Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; ²⁶ and thus all Israel will be saved, just as it is written:

     “From Zion will come the Deliverer.

     He will turn away ungodly things from Jacob.

     ²⁷ And this {will be} for them the covenant with me,

     when I take away their sins.”

²⁸ Indeed, according to the gospel, {they are} enemies because of you, but according to election, {they are} beloved because of {their} forefathers. ²⁹ For the gracious gifts and the calling of God {are} without regret. ³⁰ For just as you yourselves were formerly disobedient to God, but now were shown mercy in the disobedience of these, ³¹ thus also, these now were disobedient, so that by the mercy {shown} to you, they might also now be shown mercy. ³² For God shut up all {people} into disobedience, in order that he might show mercy on all the {people}.

³³ Oh, {the} depth of {the} riches and {the} wisdom and {the} knowledge of God! How unsearchable {are} his judgments, and his ways beyond discovering!

     ³⁴ “For who has known {the} mind of the Lord

     or who has become his advisor?

     ³⁵ Or who gave to him,

     that he should be repaid by him?”

³⁶ For from him and through him and to him {are} all things. To him {be} the glory to the ages. Amen.

Chapter 12

¹ I urge you therefore, brothers, by the compassions of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well-pleasing to God, which {is} your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of the mind, so that you can approve what {is} the good and well-pleasing and perfect will of God.

³ For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you to not think more highly of himself than what he ought to think, but to think with sound mind, as God has distributed to each one a measure of faith. ⁴ For just as we have many members in one body, but not all the members have the same function, ⁵ in the same way, we, the many, are one body in Christ and the {body} individually {are} members of one other. ⁶ But we have different gracious gifts according to the grace given to us: if prophecy, according to the proportion of {his} faith; ⁷ if service, in the service; if the one teaching, in the teaching; ⁸ if the one encouraging, in the encouragement; the one giving, in generosity; the one leading, in diligence; the one showing mercy, with cheerfulness.

⁹ {Let} love {be} without hypocrisy, abhoring the wicked, holding on to the good; ¹⁰ in the love of the brothers, affectionate to one another; in honor, outdoing one another; ¹¹ in diligence, not lazy; in the spirit, being eager; serving the Lord; ¹² in the hope, rejoicing; in the suffering, being patient; in the prayer, persisting; ¹³ in the needs of the saints, sharing; pursuing the hospitality. ¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse; ¹⁵ to rejoice with those who rejoice; to weep with those who weep; ¹⁶ thinking the same {thing} toward one another, not thinking the high {things}, but accepting the lowly {things}. Do not be wise in yourselves; ¹⁷ repaying to no one evil for evil; giving careful thought to good things in the sight of all men; ¹⁸ if possible, what {is} from you, living at peace with all men; ¹⁹ not avenging yourselves, beloved, but give way to {God's} wrath, for it is written, “‘Vengeance {is} for me; I will repay,’ says the Lord.”

     ²⁰ “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him.

     If he is thirsty, give him a drink.

     For doing this, you will heap coals of fire on his head.”

²¹ Do not be overcome by the evil, but overcome the evil with the good.

Chapter 13

¹ Let every soul be subject to governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and the existing {authorities} are appointed by God. ² So then, the one who resists {that} authority have opposed the command of God, and the ones who have oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. ³ For rulers are not a terror to the good deed, but to the evil {deed}. Now do you want to not fear the authority? Do the good, and you will have praise from it, ⁴ for he is a servant of God to you for the good. But if you do the evil, fear; for he does not carry the sword in vain, for he is a servant of God, an avenger for wrath on the one who practices {what is} evil. ⁵ Therefore, {it is} necessary to be subjected not only because of the wrath, but also because of the conscience. ⁶ For because of this you pay taxes also; for they are servants of God, persisting in this very thing. ⁷ Pay back to everyone {your} obligations: tax to whom tax, toll to whom toll, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.

⁸ Owe nothing to no one, except to love one another, for the one who loves {his} neighbor has fulfilled the law. ⁹ For this: “You shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,” and if any other commandment, it is summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰ {This} love does not work evil to a neighbor; therefore, love {is the} fulfillment of {the} law.

¹¹ And this, knowing the time, that {it is} already {the} hour for you ^[1] to awake from sleep. For now our salvation {is} nearer than when we believed. ¹² The night advanced, and the day has come near. Let us therefore put off the works of the darkness, and let us put on the weapons of the light. ¹³ Let us walk decently, as in {the} day, not in drunken celebrations or drunkenness; let us not walk in sexual immorality and uncontrolled lust, not in strife and jealousy. ¹⁴ But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no forethought with regard to desires of the flesh.

Chapter 14

¹ But accept the one who is weak in the faith, not for passing judgments on opinions. ² One person believes to eat anything, but the one who is weak eats vegetables. ³ Let the one who eats not despise the one who does not eat, and let the one who does not eat not judge the one who eats. For God has accepted him. ⁴ Who are you who judges a household slave belonging to another? To {his} own master he stands or falls. But he will be made to stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. ⁵ Indeed, one {person} judges day from day, but another person judges every day {alike}. Let each one be fully convinced in {his} own mind. ⁶ The one who regards the day, regards it for the Lord; and the one who eats, eats for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God, and the one who does not eat, does not eat for the Lord; he also gives thanks to God. ⁷ For none of us lives for himself, and none dies for himself. ⁸ For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or whether we die, we are of the Lord. ⁹ For to this {purpose} Christ died and lived {again}, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and of the living. ¹⁰ But you, why do you judge your brother? And you also, why do you despise your brother? For we will all present ourselves before the judgment seat of God. ¹¹ For it is written,

     “‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘to me every knee will bend,

     and every tongue will confess to God.’”

¹² So then, each one of us will give an account concerning himself to God.

¹³ Therefore, let us no longer judge one another, but rather judge this: to not place a stumbling block for the brother or a snare. ¹⁴ I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing {is} unclean by itself, except to the one who considers anything to be unclean, for that one {it is} unclean. ¹⁵ For if for the sake of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food that one for whom Christ died. ¹⁶ So do not allow your good to be blasphemed. ¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ For the one who serves Christ in this way {is} well-pleasing to God and approved by men. ¹⁹ So then, let us pursue the things of peace and the things of the building up {that are} for one another. ²⁰ Do not tear down the work of God on account of food. All things {are} indeed clean, but {it is} evil for the man who eats through a stumbling block. ²¹ {It is} good not to eat meat, nor to drink wine, nor {anything} by which your brother takes offense or is caused to stumble or becomes weak. ^{[1] 22} {The} faith that you yourself have, keep according to yourself before God. Blessed {is} the one who does not judge himself in what he approves. ²³ But the one who passes judgment is condemned if he eats, because {it is} not from faith. And all that {is} not from faith is sin.

Chapter 15

¹ Now we who {are} able ought to bear the weaknesses of the ones who are unable, and not to please ourselves. ² Let each of us please {his} neighbor for {his} good, toward {his} building up. ³ For even Christ did not please himself. Instead, just as it is written, “The insults of those who insult you fell on me.” ⁴ For whatever was previously written was written for {our} own instruction, in order that through the patience and through the encouragement of the scriptures we would have the hope. ⁵ Now may the God of patience and of encouragement grant you to think the same with each other according to Christ Jesus, ⁶ so that with one accord you might glorify with one mouth the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁷ Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted you, to {the} glory of God. ⁸ For I say that Christ has become a servant of {the} circumcision because of the truth of God, to confirm the promises of the fathers, ⁹ and also for the Gentiles to glorify God because of {his} mercy, just as it is written,

     “For this {reason}, I will confess you among {the} Gentiles

     and sing psalms to your name.”

¹⁰ And again it says,

     “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”

¹¹ And again,

     “Praise the Lord, all {you} Gentiles;

     and let all the peoples extol him.”

¹² And again, Isaiah says,

     “The root of Jesse will come, even the one who rises to rule over {the} Gentiles; in him {the} Gentiles will hope.”

¹³ Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you might abound in {this} hope, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

¹⁴ But I myself am also persuaded about you, my brothers, that also you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to instruct one another. ¹⁵ But I wrote more boldly to you partly as reminding you, because of the grace given me by God, ¹⁶ in order for me to be a servant of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, offering as a priest the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles might become well-pleasing, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. ¹⁷ Therefore, in Christ Jesus I have a boast {about} the {things} pertaining to God. ¹⁸ For I will not dare to speak anything {except} what Christ produced through me for the obedience of the Gentiles—by word and deed, ¹⁹ in {the} power of signs and wonders, in {the} power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem, and round about as far as Illyricum, I have fulfilled the gospel of Christ; ²⁰ but in this way, counting it honor to proclaim the gospel, not where Christ has been named, in order that I might not build upon another man’s foundation. ²¹ But just as it is written:

     “To those whom it was not reported concerning him will see,

     and those who have not heard will understand.”

²² Therefore, I was also prevented {these} many times from coming to you. ²³ But now, no longer having a place in these regions, and having a longing from a considerable {number} of years to come to you, ²⁴ whenever I travel to Spain, I indeed hope, passing through, to see you, and to be sent ahead there by you, if I might first be satisfied for a while by you. ²⁵ But now I am traveling to Jerusalem, ministering to the saints. ²⁶ For Macedonia and Achaia were well-pleased to make a certain contribution to the poor of the saints in Jerusalem. ²⁷ Indeed, they were pleased, and they are obligated to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are obligated also to minister to them in material things. ²⁸ Therefore, having completed this and having sealed this fruit to them, I will go away through you to Spain. ²⁹ But I know that coming to you, I will come in {the} fullness of {the} blessing of Christ.

³⁰ Now I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in the prayers to God for me, ³¹ so that I might be delivered from those who are disobedient in Judea, and so that my service that {is} for Jerusalem might be very acceptable to the saints; ³² so that I might come to you in joy through the will of God, {and} might be refreshed together with you. ³³ Now the God of peace {be} with you all. Amen.

Chapter 16

¹ Now I commend to you Phoebe our sister, also being a servant of the church which {is} in Cenchrea, ² in order that you might welcome her in the Lord, in a manner worthy of the saints, and might stand by her in whatever matter she might have need of you. For she has also become a patroness of many, and of myself as well.

³ Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, ⁴ who for the sake of my life laid down {their} own neck. To them not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles, ⁵ and the church {based in} their house. Greet Epaenetus my beloved, who is {the} firstfruit of Asia for Christ. ⁶ Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you. ⁷ Greet Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners who are prominent among the apostles, who also have been in Christ before me. ⁸ Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. ⁹ Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stachys, my beloved. ¹⁰ Greet Apelles, the approved in Christ. Greet those who {are} from the {household} of Aristobulus. ¹¹ Greet Herodion, my kinsman. Greet those from the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord. ¹² Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who work hard in the Lord. Greet Persis the beloved, who has worked much in the Lord. ¹³ Greet Rufus, the elect in the Lord, and his mother and mine. ¹⁴ Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who {are} with them. ¹⁵ Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who {are} with them. ¹⁶ Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.

¹⁷ Now I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who are causing divisions and obstacles, contrary to the teaching that you have learned, and turn away from them. ¹⁸ For ones such as these are not enslaved to our Lord Christ, but to {their} own stomach, and through {their} smooth speech and flattery they deceive the hearts of the innocent. ¹⁹ For your obedience reaches to everyone. I rejoice, therefore, over you, but I want you to be wise as to the good, but innocent as to the evil. ²⁰ Now the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet with haste.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ {be} with you.

²¹ Timothy, my fellow worker, and Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen, greet you. ²² I, Tertius, who wrote {this} epistle, greet you in the Lord. ²³ Gaius, the host for me and for the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the steward of the city, greets you, and Quartus the brother. ^24[1] [The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ {be} with all of you. Amen.]

     ²⁵ Now to the one who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ,

     according to {the} revelation of {the} mystery, kept secret for long ages,

     ²⁶ but now having been revealed through {the} prophetic writings, according to {the} command of the eternal God, to the obedience of faith, having been made known to all the nations,

     ²⁷ to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom {be} the glory to eternity. Amen.