1

1 From Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, a called apostle, separated to the gospel of God,

2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures,

3 concerning his son, who descended from the seed of David according to the flesh,

4 who was marked out as the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection of the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

5 through whom we have received grace and an apostleship for obedience in faith among all the Gentiles for the cause of his name,

6 among whom you are also – being a called people of Jesus Christ –

7 to all those who are in Rome, God's beloved, called as saints, grace to you and peace from God our father and Lord Jesus Christ.

8 Firstly, I give thanks to my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, in that your faith is proclaimed in the whole world.

9 For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the cause of the gospel of his son, as to how I ceaselessly make mention of you,

10 always on the occasions of my prayers asking that I might by some means, sometime, at last, by the will of God, have a prosperous journey and come to you.

11 For I yearn to see you, in order that I may share a spiritual gift with you for you to be strengthened,

12 that is to say, for me to be encouraged along with you through each other's faith, both yours and mine.

13 But I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I often planned to come to you (but I have been prevented up to now) so that I might also bear some fruit among you as indeed among the rest of the Gentiles.

14 I am a debtor to both Greeks and barbarians, to both wise and foolish –

15 that is the nature of my eagerness to preach the gospel to you in Rome also.

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed, by faith, in faith, as it stands written, “And the righteous shall live by faith.”

18 For God's anger is revealed from heaven on all ungodliness and injustice of men who suppress the truth in injustice,

19 because what can be known about God is evident among them, for God has manifested it to them.

20 For the invisible attributes of him, from the creation of the world, are understood and caught sight of in the things made: his perpetual power and deity, so that they are without excuse,

21 because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give thanks, but became vain in their reasonings, and their undiscerning heart was darkened.

22 Asserting that they were wise, they became foolish,

23 and changed the glory of indefectible God into a likeness, an image of perishable man and birds and quadrupeds and reptiles.

24 This is why God has delivered them up to uncleanness in the desires of their hearts, so that their bodies are dishonoured among themselves.

25 And they exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served creation more than the creator, who is blessed throughout the ages. Amen.

26 For this reason God delivered them up to dishonourable passions. For their women also exchanged the natural way of things for one which is against nature,

27 and similarly the men also abandoned the natural way of things of the woman and burned in their lust for each other, males practising with males that which is indecent, and receiving the inevitable consequence of their error among themselves.

28 And just as they did not think it fit to acknowledge God, God delivered them up to a discredited mentality, so as to do things which are not fitting,

29 being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, fraud, malice; being full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity – whisperers,

30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

31 without understanding, without allegiance, without affection, implacable, merciless,

32 who, although they are well aware of the decree of God, that those who do such things are worthy of death, not only do they do them, but they also approve of those who do them.

2

1 Therefore you are without excuse, O man – everyone who judges. For in the way that you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge do the same things.

2 But we know that God's judgment is according to truth on those who do such things.

3 Do you think this, O man who judges those who do such things, although you do them yourself: that you will escape God's judgment?

4 Or do you look down on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and longsuffering, being ignorant of the fact that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

5 But you, with your obduracy and unrepentant heart, are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation and the righteous judgment of God,

6 who will render to each person according to his works,

7 to some in accordance with their patience in good work, seeking glory and honour and incorruptibility – age-abiding life;

8 but to those who are of contention, and disobedient to the truth, and trusting in unrighteousness, wrath and anger –

9 tribulation and anguish on the mind of every man who perpetrates evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek,

10 but glory and honour and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

11 For there is no partiality with God.

12 For those who have sinned without the law will also die without the law. And those who have sinned in the law will be judged by the law,

13 for it is not the hearers of the law who are just with God, but it is the doers of the law who will be justified.

14 For when the Gentiles, who do not have the law, carry out by nature the requirements of the law, they, although not having the law, are a law to themselves,

15 who demonstrate the work of the law written in their hearts, while their conscience bears witness also, while their reasonings accuse or else defend each other –

16 this judgment being on the day when God judges the secret things of men according to my gospel through Jesus Christ.

17 Look, you are called a Jew, and you rely on the law and boast in God,

18 and you know his will, and you scrutinize the things that differ, being taught from the law,

19 and you trust yourself to be a guide of the blind, a light to those in darkness,

20 as an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, having the formulation of the knowledge and the truth in the law.

21 So you who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach not to steal, do you steal?

22 You who tell people not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abominate idols, do you steal sacred items?

23 You who boast in the law, do you through your transgression of the law dishonour God?

24 “For the name of God is blasphemed by you among the Gentiles,” as it stands written.

25 For circumcision is indeed of benefit if you carry out the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

26 So if the uncircumcision keeps the ordinances of the law, will not his uncircumcision be considered as circumcision?

27 And will not uncircumcision by nature, if it fulfils the law, judge you a transgressor of the law, despite your writings and circumcision?

28 For it is not he who is openly so who is a Jew, nor he who is openly circumcision in the flesh,

29 but he who is a Jew in secret, and is the circumcision of the heart by spirit, not by letters, one whose praise is not from men but from God.

3

1 What, then, is special about the Jew? Or what is the benefit to the circumcision?

2 Much in every respect. Firstly, then, because the oracles of God were entrusted to him.

3 For what if some have disbelieved? Their disbelief does not make God's faithfulness void, does it?

4 May it not be so. But let God be true and every man a liar, as it stands written, “In order that you may be justified with your words and that you may be vindicated when you are judged.”

5 And if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Surely God who brings wrath is not unjust? I speak humanly.

6 May it not be so. Otherwise, how will God judge the world?

7 For if God's truth has abounded to his glory in the face of my untruth, why am I for my part still judged as a sinner?

8 – and not according to how we are slanderously spoken of, and as some also claim that we say, “Let us do evil things so that good things may come,” whose judgment is merited.

9 What then? Are we superior? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin.

10 As it stands written, “Not even one is righteous.

11 There is no-one who understands; there is no-one who seeks God.

12 All have turned aside; they have become altogether useless. There is no-one who shows kindness; there is not even one.

13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have been deceitful; asps' venom is under their lips,

14 whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

15 Their feet are swift to shed blood.

16 Ruin and hardship are in their ways,

17 but they do not know the way of peace.

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

19 But we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped up, and the whole world may be accountable to God.

20 Because no flesh will be justified by the works of the law before him, for through the law is acknowledgment of sin.

21 But now the righteousness of God has been made manifest without the law, testified to by the law and the prophets –

22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all and on all who believe, for there is no distinction,

23 for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God,

24 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,

25 whom God appointed as a propitiation through faith in his blood, as a demonstration of his righteousness, for the sake of the remission of previously committed sins,

26 in God's forbearance, as a demonstration of his righteousness at the present time, with a view to him being just and a justifier of him who is a partaker of faith in Jesus.

27 So where is boasting? It is excluded. By what law? That of works? No, rather by the law of faith.

28 We conclude therefore that man is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

29 Or is God God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles too,

30 seeing that God, who will justify circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith, is one.

31 Do we make the law void through faith? Far from it. Rather, we establish the law.

4

1 What then shall we say Abraham our father has found with respect to the flesh?

2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has a reason to boast, but not to God.

3 For what does the scripture say? “Now Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him as righteousness.”

4 And the wages due to the workman are not considered as being of grace, but as a debt.

5 But for one who does not work, but who believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

6 As indeed David also says of the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness, apart from works,

7 “Blessed are they whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered over.

8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin at all.”

9 So is this blessedness on the circumcision or also on the uncircumcision? For we say, “Faith was imputed to Abraham as righteousness.”

10 How then was it imputed? To him when he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision but in uncircumcision.

11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of faith which was in uncircumcision, so that he should be the father of all those who believe despite uncircumcision, with a view to righteousness being imputed to them also,

12 and the father of the circumcision, not to those of the circumcision only, but also to those who march in the footsteps of our father Abraham's faith, which was in uncircumcision.

13 For the promise to Abraham or to his seed was not through the law, that he should be heir to the world, but it was through the righteousness of faith.

14 For if those of the law were heirs, faith would have been made void, and the promise would have been invalidated,

15 for the law engenders wrath, for where there is no law, neither is there transgression.

16 Here is why it is of faith: so that it is by grace, in order that the promise be secure for all the seed, not only to that of the law, but also to that of Abraham's faith, who is the father of us all,

17 as it stands written, “I have appointed you a father of many nations,” in the sight of God whom he believed, who makes the dead alive, and calls the things not in existence to exist.

18 And he against hope but in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations according to what had been spoken, “So shall your seed be.”

19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, which was by that time dead, he being about one hundred years old, or the deadness of Sarah's womb,

20 and he did not hesitate at God's promise in disbelief, but was strengthened in faith, and gave glory to God,

21 and was fully convinced that what he had promised, he was also able to do,

22 which is also why it was imputed to him as righteousness.

23 But it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him,

24 but also for our sakes, to whom it is going to be imputed – to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,

25 who was delivered on account of our transgressions, and raised on account of our justification.

5

1 Having been justified therefore by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

2 through whom we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we exult in the hope of the glory of God.

3 And not only so, but we also exult in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces patience;

4 and patience, proven character; and proven character, hope.

5 Now hope does not cause shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by holy spirit which has been given to us.

6 For while we were still weak, Christ at the due time died for the ungodly.

7 For scarcely will anyone die for a righteous person. Yet for a good person someone might perhaps even dare to die.

8 But God commends his own love to us, because while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

9 So having been all the more justified now by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath by him.

10 For if when we were hostile, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved by his life!

11 And not only so, but we also exult in God through our Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

12 This is why, just as sin came into the world through one man, and through sin, death, so also death passed on to all men, seeing that all have sinned,

13 for even before the law sin was in the world, but sin is not indicted when there is no law.

14 But death reigned from Adam to Moses, including over those who had not sinned in a similar way to the transgression of Adam, who is a depictment of the one to come.

15 But the act of grace is not as the transgression is. For if in the transgression of one person, many have died, how much more has the grace of God, and the gift in grace which is from one man Jesus Christ, abounded to many!

16 And the gift is not just subsequent to one person having sinned. For the judgment on one person led to condemnation, but the act of grace ensuing from the transgressions of many led to justification.

17 For if death started reigning by the transgression of one man – through the one – how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through one man, Jesus Christ!

18 So then, as by one transgression sentence came on all men leading to condemnation, so also by one righteous act the gift came to all men leading to justification which is life.

19 For as through the disobedience of one man many were established as sinners, so also through the obedience of one many will be established as righteous.

20 Then the law came along, so that transgression should abound, but where sin abounded, grace superabounded,

21 so that as sin reigned by death, so also grace might reign through righteousness leading to age-abiding life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

6

1 What then shall we say? Do we continue in sin so that grace may abound?

2 Far from it! How shall we who have died to sin go on living in it?

3 Or do you not know that as many of us as have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death?

4 Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ rose from the dead by the glory of the father, so we too should walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been made of a joint nature in the likeness of his death, then we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection,

6 knowing this, that our old man was jointly crucified, in order that the body of sin might be put out of action, so that we should no longer serve sin.

7 For he who has died has been cleared of sin.

8 So if we died with Christ, we believe we shall also live with him,

9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, no longer dies: death no longer has dominion over him.

10 For as regards the fact that he died, he died to sin once and for all, but as regards the fact that he is alive, he is alive to God.

11 Likewise, you also count yourselves to be dead to sin, but living to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

12 Do not let sin reign in your mortal body by obeying it in its desires.

13 And do not put your members as weapons of iniquity at the disposal of sin, but put yourselves at the disposal of God, as being living from the dead, and your members as weapons of righteousness at the disposal of God.

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace.

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? Far from it.

16 Do you not know that to whom you put yourselves at the disposal of as slaves in obedience – to him whom you obey – you are slaves, whether of sin resulting in death or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

17 But thanks be to God, because you were slaves of sin, but you have been obedient from the heart to the form of doctrine to which you were committed.

18 But having been set free from sin, you have become servants of righteousness.

19 I speak humanly on account of the weakness of your flesh. For as you have in the past put your members in service to immorality and lawlessness, resulting in lawlessness, so now put your members in service to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

21 So what fruit did you then have from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the result of those things is death.

22 But now, having been set free from sin, and having been made servants to God, you have your fruit in sanctification, and the result, which is age-abiding life.

23 For the wages of sin are death, but the gift of God is age-abiding life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

7

1 Or are you unaware, brothers – for I speak to those who know the law – that the law rules over man as long as he is alive?

2 For a married woman is bound by the law to her husband while he is alive, but if the husband dies, she is released from the law of the husband.

3 So she will be called an adulteress if she becomes the wife of another man while the husband is alive. But if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress if she becomes the wife of another man.

4 So, my brothers, you too have died to the law through the body of Christ so as to become subject to another, him who has been raised from the dead, so that we may bear fruit to God.

5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions defined by the law were active in our members so as to produce fruit to death.

6 But now, we have been released from the law, and we have died to that by which we were being held, so that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

7 What, then, shall we say? Is the law sin? Far from it. But I would not have known sin, except through the law. For indeed I would not have known covetousness if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

8 And sin, having seized the opportunity through the commandment, engendered in me all sorts of covetousness. For without the law, sin is dead.

9 And I was alive without the law at one time. But when the commandment came, sin came to life, but I died,

10 and the very commandment leading to life was found by me to lead to death,

11 for sin seized the opportunity through the commandment, and deceived me, and killed me through it.

12 And so the law is holy, and the commandment holy and righteous and good.

13 So did that which was good become death to me? Far from it. But sin did, in order that it might be shown up as sin, engendering death to me through that which is good – in order that sin might become exceedingly sinful through the commandment.

14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.

15 For I am not conscious of what I do. For it is not the case that I do what I want to do, but what I hate – that is what I do.

16 And if I do what I do not wish to do, I assent to the law that it is good.

17 But now it is no longer I who do it, but sin which dwells in me.

18 For I know that there does not dwell in me – that is, in my flesh – anything good. For willing a thing is readily available to me, but doing that which is good escapes me.

19 For I do not do the good that I wish to do, but as for the evil that I do not wish to do – that is what I do.

20 Now if I do that which I do not wish to do, it is no longer I who do it, but the sin which dwells in me.

21 So I find the principle for me, who would like to do that which is good, that evil besets me.

22 For I delight in the law of God from the perspective of the inward man.

23 But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which is in my members.

24 Miserable man that I am! Who will rescue me from this mortal body?

25 I thank God that it is through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but the law of sin with the flesh.

8

1 So there is now no condemnation of those in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

2 For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and death.

3 For what was impossible with the law, in that it was weak as a result of the flesh, God did, having sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and concerning sin condemned sin in the flesh,

4 in order that the righteous decree of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit.

5 For those who are according to the flesh concentrate on the interests of the flesh, but those who are according to the spirit concentrate on the interests of the spirit.

6 For the mindset of the flesh is on a par with death, but the mindset of the spirit is on a par with life and peace.

7 For the mindset of the flesh is hostile to God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be,

8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, assuming the spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he is not one of his.

10 But if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness.

11 And if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies on account of his spirit which dwells in you.

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, but 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 you mortify the deeds of the body through the spirit, you will live.

14 For those who are led by the spirit of God are the sons of God.

15 For you have not received the spirit of bondage again, leading to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption, by which we cry, “Abba, father.”

16 The spirit itself bears joint witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

17 And if children, then also heirs, God's heirs at that, and Christ's joint heirs, if indeed we jointly suffer, in order also for us to be jointly glorified.

18 For I do not consider the sufferings of the present time worthy compared to the coming glory which is to be revealed to us.

19 For the eager expectation of creation awaits the revelation of the sons of God.

20 For creation was subject to futility, not willingly, but on account of him who did the subjecting, but in hope,

21 that also creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

22 For we know that the whole of creation has been groaning and suffering labour pains together up to now.

23 And not only that, but also those who have the firstfruit of the spirit, and we ourselves also groan inwardly while awaiting the adoption – the redemption of our body.

24 For we have been saved by hope. Now hope which is seen is not hope. For what someone sees, in what way does he also hope for it?

25 But if we hope for that which we do not see, we await it with patience.

26 And likewise, the spirit also helps counter our weaknesses. For we do not know in what way we shall pray – as we ought to – but the spirit itself intercedes for us with unutterable sighings.

27 And he who searches hearts knows what the mindset of the spirit is, because it intercedes for the saints in God's way.

28 And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose,

29 that those whom he knew beforehand, he also pre-destined to be conformed to the likeness of his son, so that he should be the firstborn among many brothers,

30 and those whom he pre-destined, he also called; and those whom he called, he also justified; and those whom he justified, he also glorified.

31 What, then, shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

32 He who for his part did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for all of us, how will he not with him also make a gift of all things to us?

33 Who can bring a charge against God's chosen ones? God is the one who justifies.

34 Who is the accuser? Christ is the one who died, or rather, who was also raised, who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

35 Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or destitution or danger or the sword?

36 As it stands written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We have been considered as sheep for slaughter.”

37 But in all these things we do more than conquer through him who loved us.

38 For I have been persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor dominions nor powers, either present or future,

39 nor height nor depth nor any other creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

9

1 I am speaking the truth in Christ – I am not lying – with my conscience jointly bearing me witness by holy spirit,

2 that I have great sorrow and continual distress in my heart.

3 For I could vow that I myself were accursed from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh,

4 who are Israelites, who have the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the instituting of the law and the service and the promises,

5 of whom the fathers are, and from whom Christ is as regards the flesh, who is above all, God blessed throughout the ages. Amen.

6 But it is not so that the word of God has failed. For it is not all those of Israel who are Israel,

7 nor is it so that because they are the seed of Abraham, they are all children, but, “In the line of Isaac seed will be called to you.”

8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but rather the children of the promise are counted as seed.

9 For this is the word of promise, “At this time I will come and Sarah will have a son.”

10 And not only this, but Rebecca also conceived from one man, Isaac our father,

11 for while they had not yet been born and had not done anything good or bad (so that the purpose of God should stand by choice, not of works, but by him who does the calling)

12 it was said to her, “The elder will serve the younger.”

13 As it stands written, “I have loved Isaac, but I have hated Esau.”

14 What, then, shall we say? Surely there is no injustice with God? May it not be so.

15 For he says to Moses, “I will show mercy to whomever I will show mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”

16 So then, it is not a matter of him who wishes, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.

17 For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “I raised you up for this very thing: that I might show my power by means of you and so that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

18 So he has mercy on whom he wishes and he hardens whom he wishes.

19 Then you will say to me, “Why does he blame anyone then? For who is withstanding his will?”

20 Rather, O man, who are you to answer back to God? Will the artefact say to the artist, “Why did you make me like this?”

21 Or does the potter not have the power over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel having honour, but another lacking honour?

22 So what if God, wishing to show anger and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath, prepared for destruction,

23 and acted in order that he might make the riches of his glory known on vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory –

24 us whom he called, not only out of the Jews, but also out of the Gentiles.

25 As he also says in Hosea, “I will call those who are not my people, ‘my people’, and her who was not beloved, ‘beloved’.

26 And it will be the case that in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘the sons of the living God.’ ”

27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Even if the number of the sons of Israel is like the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved.

28 For he will complete the account and make decrees in righteousness, because the Lord will carry out the pronouncement which has been decreed on the earth.”

29 And as Isaiah foretold, “If the Lord of hosts had not left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made to resemble Gomorrha.”

30 What, then, shall we say? – That the Gentiles who do not pursue righteousness have attained righteousness, and righteousness out of faith at that.

31 But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not come up to the standard of the law of righteousness.

32 How come? Because they pursued it not out of faith but out of works of the law. For they stumbled at the stumbling block,

33 as it stands written, “Behold, I put a stumbling block in Zion and a rock of offence, but no-one who believes in it will be ashamed.”

10

1 Brothers, my heart's desire and supplication to God for Israel is for salvation.

2 For I testify to them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

3 For they are ignorant of God's righteousness, and, seeking to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted to God's righteousness.

4 For Christ is the objective of the law leading to righteousness to everyone who believes.

5 For Moses describes the righteousness which is of the law, that the man who does the requirements will live by them.

6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaks like this: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will go up to heaven?’ ” – that is, to bring Christ down –

7 or, “‘Who will go down to the abyss?’ ” – that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.

8 But what does it say? “The word is near to you, in your mouth and in your heart,” – that is, the word of faith which we proclaim,

9 that if you confess the Lord Jesus with your mouth, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

10 For one believes with the heart leading to righteousness, and confesses with the mouth leading to salvation.

11 For the scripture says, “No-one who believes in him will be ashamed.”

12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same one is Lord of all, being rich towards all those who call on him.

13 For whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

14 How, then, will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how will they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without one who does the proclaiming?

15 And how will they do the proclaiming if they are not sent? As it stands written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, of those who preach the gospel of good things!”

16 But not all have responded to the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our announcement?”

17 So faith comes from an announcement heard, and the announcement comes through the word of God.

18 But I say, “Have they not heard?” They certainly have – their speech went out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.

19 But I say, “Did Israel not know?” Firstly, Moses says, “I will provoke you to jealousy by a non-nation, by a foolish nation I will provoke you to anger.”

20 But Isaiah shows boldness and says, “I have been found by those who were not seeking me; I have become evident to those who were not enquiring after me.”

21 But to Israel he says, “All day long I have stretched out my hands to a disbelieving and refractory people.”

11

1 So I say, “Surely God has not rejected his people?” May it not be so. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

2 God has not rejected his people whom he knew beforehand. Or do you not know what the scripture says in Elijah, when he intercedes to God against Israel, and says,

3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and demolished your altars, and I am left remaining on my own, and they seek my life”?

4 But what does the oracle say to him? – “I have kept myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

5 So in this way even at the present time a remnant exists by a gracious choice.

6 And if by grace, then no longer by works, for then grace is no longer grace. But if by works, then it is no longer grace, for then the work is no longer work.

7 What is the case then? What Israel is seeking it has not obtained, but those chosen did obtain it, whereas the rest became hardened.

8 As it stands written, “God gave them a slumbering spirit, eyes not for seeing and ears not for hearing,” which holds up to this day.

9 And David says, “Make their table become a snare and a trap, and a stumbling block and a requital to them;

10 make their eyes darkened so as not to see, and bend their back continually.”

11 So I say, “Did they stumble in order that they might fall?” Far from it. But by their fall there is salvation to the Gentiles, so as to provoke them to jealousy.

12 Now if their fall is the world's richness, and their decline is the richness of the Gentiles, how much more is their fulness!

13 For I speak to you Gentiles. Insofar as I am an apostle of the Gentiles, I glorify my ministry,

14 seeing if somehow I can provoke those of my flesh to jealousy and save some of them.

15 For if casting them aside is the reconciliation of the world, what is the acceptance of them, if not life from the dead?

16 And if the firstfruit is holy, so is the bulk. And if the root is holy, so are the branches.

17 But if some of the branches have been broken off, and you, being a wild olive, have been grafted into them, and have become a joint partaker of the root and the fatness of the olive tree,

18 do not boast over the branches. And if you do boast, consider that it is not you who supports the root, but the root you.

19 Then suppose you should say, “Some branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”

20 Well now, they were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be high-minded, but be fearful.

21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, maybe he will not spare you either.

22 So see the kindness and severity of God: severity towards those who have fallen, but kindness to you, if you remain in the kindness, otherwise you will also be cut off.

23 And they too, if they do not remain in unbelief, will be grafted in. For God is able to graft them in again.

24 For if you were cut out from the naturally wild olive and were unnaturally grafted in to the fine olive, how much more can these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!

25 For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you are not clever in your own estimation: that hardness in part has taken place with Israel, and will remain until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in.

26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it stands written, “The deliverer will come out of Zion and will turn ungodliness away from Jacob,

27 and this is my covenant in relation to them when I take away their sins.”

28 Now in relation to the gospel they are hostile for your sake, but in relation to the choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.

29 For the gracious gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

30 For just as you once did not believe God, but now have received mercy in their unbelief,

31 so also have these not believed either, in the mercy shown to you, in order that they too may receive mercy.

32 For God has shut everyone up in unbelief in order that he may show everyone mercy.

33 O depth of God's riches and wisdom and knowledge, how unsearchable his judgments are and untraceable his ways are!

34 For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor?

35 Or who has given him anything beforehand, and it will be repaid to him?

36 For all things are from him and through him and destined for him. To him be glory throughout the ages. Amen.

12

1 So I exhort you, brothers, being moved by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, a holy one, pleasing to God, as your rational service,

2 and not to be conformed to this age, but to be transformed to the renewal of your mind, in order to determine what the will of God is, what is good and pleasing and perfect.

3 For by the grace which has been given to me, I am telling everyone among you not to be high-minded above how you should be minded, but be minded to be sober-minded, as God has apportioned a measure of faith to each one.

4 For as we have many members in one body, but not all members have the same function,

5 so, being many, we are one body in Christ, but individually members of each other.

6 And we have different gracious gifts according to the grace given to us, whether prophecy, according to the proportion of our faith,

7 whether a ministry, in the ministry, or whether as a teacher, in education,

8 or whether as one who encourages, with encouragement; a sharer, with liberality, one who presides, with diligence; one who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

9 Love is unpretentious. Let us abhor evil, clinging to goodness,

10 showing tender affection to each other in brotherly love, guiding each other with honour,

11 with diligence, not being slack, being fervent in the spirit, serving the Lord,

12 rejoicing in hope, being patient in tribulation, persevering in prayer,

13 contributing to the needs of the saints: pursuing hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse.

15 Rejoice with those who are rejoicing and weep with those who are weeping.

16 Be of the same mind towards each other. Do not be high-minded, but sympathize with those who are low-ranking. Do not become wise-minded in your own estimation.

17 Let no-one render evil for evil. Have a predisposition for good things in the presence of all men.

18 If it is possible, as much as you can, be peaceable with all men.

19 Do not take revenge on each other, beloved, but leave room for anger, for it stands written, “Vengeance is mine. I will repay,” says the Lord.

20 “So if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink. For by doing this you will heap fiery coals on his head.”

21 Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with goodness.

13

1 Let every person be subject to supreme authorities. For there is no authority unless appointed by God, and the existing authorities have been appointed by God,

2 so that he who opposes authority is resisting God's ordinance, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.

3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to bad ones. Now do you wish not to fear authority? Do what is good and you will have commendation for it,

4 for it is an instrument of God which applies to you to good purpose. But if you do what is wrong, then fear, for it does not bear the sword for nothing, for it is an instrument of God, an avenger in wrath on him who does wrong.

5 So it is necessary to be subject not only on account of the wrath, but also on account of one's conscience.

6 And so in view of this, pay your taxes. For they are God's ministers persevering with this very thing.

7 So pay to everyone what is due – tax to whom tax is due, levies to whom levies are due, fear to whom fear is due, honour to whom honour is due.

8 Don't owe anyone anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.

9 For the injunctions are, “You shall not commit adultery. You shall not kill. You shall not steal. You shall not covet.” And if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this formula, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

10 Love does not inflict harm on one's neighbour. Therefore, love is the fulness of the law.

11 And there is this, while we know the time, that the hour is already here for us to be roused from sleep. For our salvation is now nearer than when we believed.

12 The night is advanced; the day has drawn near. So let us put away the works of darkness and put on the armour of light.

13 Let us walk decently as in the day, not with orgies and in drunkenness, not in promiscuity and licentiousness, not in strife and jealousy,

14 but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not indulge in the predisposition of the flesh in its desires.

14

1 Receive him who is weak in faith, but not by getting involved in arbitrating in arguments.

2 One person believes in eating everything, another who is weak eats vegetables.

3 Let not him who eats something despise him who does not eat it, nor he who does not eat something judge him who does eat it. For God has accepted him.

4 Who are you to judge another person's servant? He stands or falls serving his own master. But he will be upheld, for God is able to uphold him.

5 One person judges one day against another, while another judges each day. Let each one be completely sure in his own mind.

6 He who considers the day considers it to the honour of the Lord, and he who ignores the day ignores it to the honour of the Lord. And he who eats something, eats it to the honour of the Lord, for he gives thanks to God. And he who refrains from eating something refrains from eating it also to the honour of the Lord, and gives God thanks.

7 For none of us lives for himself, and no-one dies for himself.

8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, or if we die, we die to the Lord. So whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.

9 For it is for this reason that Christ died and rose and came to life: in order that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

10 And why do you judge your brother? Or again, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand at Christ's court.

11 For it stands written, “ ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘to me every knee shall bow, and every tongue will confess to God.’ ”

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

13 So let us no longer judge each other, but judge this rather, not to put a stumbling-block or a cause of offence in your brother's way.

14 I know and have been persuaded by the Lord Jesus that nothing is profane of itself, except that to anyone who considers something to be profane, to him it is profane.

15 And if your brother grieves on account of food, you no longer walk lovingly. Do not lose him for whom Christ died by your food.

16 So do not let your good behaviour be slandered,

17 for the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy by holy spirit.

18 For he who serves Christ in these matters is pleasing to God, and approved of by men.

19 So then, let us pursue the things that pertain to peace and to each other's edification.

20 Do not undo the work for God on account of food. All things are clean, but it is wrong for the man who eats with offence to do so.

21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or to consume anything at which your brother stumbles or is offended or falters.

22 Do you have faith? Have it as your own in God's sight. Blessed is he who does not judge himself in what he approves of.

23 But he who is in two minds stands condemned if he eats like that, because it is not based on faith. Indeed everything that is not based on faith is a sin.

15

1 Now we who are able should bear the weaknesses of those who are unable to, and should not please ourselves.

2 Let each one of us please his neighbour in what is right for edification.

3 For indeed, Christ did not please himself, but as it stands written, “The reproaches of those who reproach you fell on me.”

4 For all the things which were written beforehand were written for our instruction, in order that we might have hope through patience and through the encouragement of the scriptures.

5 May the God of patience and encouragement give you the same mindset among each other, in accordance with Christ Jesus,

6 so that you glorify the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ in unanimity and in unison.

7 On this account, receive each other as Christ also received you, with a view to God's glory.

8 Now I say that Christ Jesus has become a minister of the circumcision for God's truth, to confirm the promises to the fathers,

9 and for the Gentiles to glorify God for his mercy, as it stands written, “On account of this I will confess you among the Gentiles, and I will sing praises to your name.”

10 And again he says, “Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.”

11 And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,” and “Laud him, all you peoples.”

12 And again, Isaiah says, “There will be the Root of Jesse and 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 abound in the hope, by the power of holy spirit.

14 And I am convinced, my brothers, I my very self, concerning you, that you yourselves too are full of goodness, and are filled with all knowledge, and are able also to advise others.

15 Now I have written rather boldly to you, brothers, on occasion, as one reminding you, on account of the grace given to me by God

16 for me to be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, sacredly ministering the gospel of God, in order that the Gentiles' offering might be acceptable, sanctified by holy spirit.

17 So I have exultation in Christ Jesus in respect of matters pertaining to God.

18 For I will not dare to speak of anything other than of the things which Christ accomplished through me in the cause of obedience of the Gentiles in word and deed,

19 by the power of signs and miracles, by the power of God's spirit, so that I have completed the proclamation of the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum,

20 in this way being particular not to preach the gospel where Christ has been named, so that I do not build on another's foundation,

21 but as it stands written, “Those to whom no announcement about him was made shall see, and those who have not heard will understand.”

22 And this is also why I was prevented in many ways from coming to you,

23 but now, no longer having an opportunity in these regions, but having had a longing to come to you for many years,

24 as soon as I go to Spain, I will come to you. For I hope to see you as I pass through and to be sent on my way there by you, if I may first enjoy your company for a while.

25 But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints.

26 For Macedonia and Achaea were pleased to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.

27 For they were pleased and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles had a share in their spiritual benefits, they conversely have a duty to minister to them in material matters.

28 So when I have completed this, and have sealed the transfer of these proceeds to them, I will depart passing through your way for Spain.

29 And I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.

30 And I encourage you, brothers, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the spirit, to jointly strive with me in prayers to God for me,

31 in order that I may be delivered from those who in Judaea do not believe and that my ministry in Jerusalem may be well-received by the saints,

32 in order that I may come to you with joy through the will of God, and may refresh myself with you.

33 May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

16

1 I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a minister of the church which is in Cenchrea,

2 so that you welcome her in the Lord, in a way worthy of the saints, and that you stand by her in whatever matter she needs from you, for indeed she has been a patroness to many, including myself.

3 Greet Prisca and Aquila my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,

4 who have risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I, but also all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks,

5 and greet the church in various homes of theirs. Greet Epainetus my beloved, who is the firstfruit of Achaea in Christ.

6 Greet Mary, who has toiled a lot for us.

7 Greet Andronicus and Junia my kinsmen and my fellow captives, who are outstanding among the apostles, who were also in Christ before me.

8 Greet Amplias, my beloved in the Lord.

9 Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stachus, my beloved.

10 Greet Apelle, who is proven in Christ. Greet those of the household of Aristobulus.

11 Greet Herodion, my kinsman. Greet those of the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord.

12 Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who have toiled in the Lord. Greet Persis the beloved, who has toiled a lot in the Lord.

13 Greet Rufus, who is eminent in the Lord, and his mother, and mine.

14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes and the brothers with them.

15 Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympus and all the saints who are with them.

16 Greet each other with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ greet you.

17 And I exhort you, brothers, to look out for those who cause dissensions and offences contrary to the teaching which you have learned, and turn away from them.

18 For suchlike do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and they deceive the hearts of the naive through smooth speech and fine language.

19 For your obedience has reached everyone. So I rejoice over you. And I want you to be wise with respect to good, but untainted with respect to evil.

20 And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet quickly. 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 out the epistle, greet you in the Lord.

23 Gaius, my host – and of the whole church – greets you. Erastus, the steward of the city greets you, as does Quartus, our brother.

24 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you. Amen.

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