Romans

Chapter 1

1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,

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

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

4 who was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations for the sake of his name,

6 among whom you also are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

7 to all those in Rome who are beloved of God, called to be saints: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.

9 For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you

10 always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.

11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you

12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.

13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you, and have been prevented until now, in order that I might have some fruit among you as well, just as among the rest of the nations.

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

15 so I am eager to preach the gospel to you also 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, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written: "The righteous shall live by faith."

18 For the anger of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

19 because what may be known of God is manifest among them; for God has made it manifest to them.

20 For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divinity, have been clearly perceived since the creation of the world, being understood through the things that have been made, so that they are without excuse;

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

22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed beasts and reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves;

25 they exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever, amen.

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions; for their women exchanged the natural use for that which is against nature,

27 and likewise the men also, abandoning the natural use of the woman, were inflamed in their desire for one another, men with men committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error.

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind, to do what is not fitting,

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

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

31 senseless, faithless, heartless, merciless;

32 who, though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do them but also approve of those who practice them.

Chapter 2

1 Therefore you are without excuse, O man, every one of you who judges; for in that in which you judge another, you condemn yourself, for you who judge practice the same things.

2 And we know that the judgment of God is according to truth upon those who practice such things.

3 Do you reckon this, O man who judges those who practice such things and does them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God?

4 Or do you despise 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 impenitent heart you are storing up anger for yourself on the day of anger and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

6 who will render to each according to his works:

7 to those who by perseverance in good work seek glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life;

8 but to those who are of selfish ambition and disobey the truth but obey unrighteousness, anger and fury.

9 Tribulation and distress upon every soul of man who works evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek;

10 but glory and honor and peace to everyone who works good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek;

11 for there is no partiality with God.

12 For as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and as many as have sinned under the law will be judged through the law;

13 for it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before 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, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves;

15 they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness together, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or even excusing them,

16 on the day when God judges the secrets of men according to my gospel through Christ Jesus.

17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rest upon the law and boast in God

18 and know his will and approve the things that excel, being instructed out of the law,

19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light to those in darkness,

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

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

22 You who say not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

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

24 For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, as it is written.

25 For circumcision indeed profits if you practice the law; but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

26 If then the uncircumcised keeps the requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be reckoned as circumcision?

27 And the one uncircumcised by nature who fulfills the law will judge you who, with the letter and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law.

28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh,

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

Chapter 3

1 What advantage, then, has the Jew, or what is the benefit of circumcision?

2 Much in every way. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.

3 What then? If some were unfaithful, shall their unfaithfulness nullify the faithfulness of God?

4 By no means! Let God be true, and every man a liar, as it is written: "That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged."

5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts anger?

6 By no means! For then how shall God judge the world?

7 But if the truth of God has abounded through my lie to his glory, why am I still judged as a sinner?

8 And why not say, as we are slanderously reported, and as some claim that we say, "Let us do evil that good may come"? Their condemnation is just.

9 What then? Are we better off? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin,

10 as it is written: "There is none righteous, not even one;

11 there is none who understands, there is none who seeks after God.

12 All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.

13 Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues they have practiced deceit; the venom of asps is under their lips;

14 whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

15 Their feet are swift to shed blood;

16 destruction and misery are in their ways,

17 and the way of peace they have not known.

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

19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become accountable to God;

20 because by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified in his sight, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

21 But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets,

22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for 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 that is in Christ Jesus,

25 whom God set forth as a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, to demonstrate his righteousness, because of the passing over of the sins previously committed

26 in the forbearance of God, for the demonstration of his righteousness at the present time, so that he may be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

27 Where then is boasting? It has been excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.

28 For we reckon that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

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

30 since God is one, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

31 Do we then nullify the law through faith? By no means! Rather, we establish the law.

Chapter 4

1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?

2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.

3 For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness."

4 Now to the one who works, the wages are not counted as a gift but as what is owed;

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

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just 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 are forgiven and whose sins are covered;

8

blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will by no means count."

9 Is this blessedness, then, upon the circumcised only, or also upon the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.

10 How then was it counted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not in circumcision but in uncircumcision.

11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe though uncircumcised, that righteousness might be counted to them also,

12 and the father of the circumcised, to those who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith which our father Abraham had while uncircumcised.

13 For the promise to Abraham or to his offspring, that he should be heir of the world, did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

14 For if those of the law are the heirs, faith has been emptied and the promise has been nullified;

15 for the law works anger; but where there is no law, neither is there transgression.

16 Therefore it is by faith, so that it may be according to grace, in order that the promise might be sure to all the offspring, not only to that which is of the law, but also to that which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,

17 as it is written: "I have made you the father of many nations", in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls the things that are not as though they were.

18 Against hope, in hope he believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what had been said: "So shall your offspring be."

19 And not weakening in faith, he considered his own body, already as good as dead—being about a hundred years old—and the deadness of Sarah's womb;

20 yet with regard to the promise of God he did not waver in unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God,

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

22 Therefore it was also counted to him as righteousness.

23 Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was counted to him,

24 but also for our sake, to whom it is going to be counted. to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,

25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Chapter 5

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

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

3 And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance,

4 and endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope.

5 And hope does not put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

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

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

8 but God demonstrates his own love toward us in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

9 Much more, then, having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved through him from the anger.

10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

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

12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death, so also death spread to all men, because all sinned

13 for until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law;

14 yet death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of Adam's transgression, who is a type of the one to come.

15 But the gift is not like the trespass; for if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ abound to the many.

16 And the gift is not like what came through the one who sinned; for the judgment from one led to condemnation, but the gift from many trespasses led to justification.

17 For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.

18 So then, as through one trespass there came condemnation to all men, so also through one act of righteousness there came justification of life to all men;

19 for just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one the many will be made righteous.

20 Now the law came in alongside, so that the trespass might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Chapter 6

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

2 By no means! We who died to sin, how shall we still live in it?

3 Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

4 We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall certainly also be united in his resurrection;

6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer serve sin;

7 for he who has died is justified from sin.

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

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

10 For the death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

11 So you also, reckon yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires,

13 and do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness.

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

15 What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

16 Do you not know that to whomever you present yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

17 But thanks be to God that, though you were slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart the pattern of teaching to which you were handed over,

18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves to righteousness.

19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to 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 What fruit, then, did you have at that time? Things of which you are now ashamed, for the end of those things is death.

22 But now, having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end, eternal life.

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Chapter 7

1 Or do you not know, brothers—for I speak to those who know the law—that the law has authority over a person only as long as he lives?

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

3 So then, while her husband lives, she will be called an adulteress if she becomes another man's; but if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress if she becomes another man's.

4 Therefore, my brothers, you also were put to death to the law through the body of Christ, so that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.

5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions aroused through the law were at work in our members to bear fruit for death;

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

7 What then shall we say? Is the law sin? By no means! Yet I would not have known sin except through the law; for I would not have known coveting if the law had not said, "You shall not covet."

8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, worked in me every kind of coveting; for apart from the law sin is dead.

9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came to life,

10 and I died; and the commandment that was meant for life proved to be death for me.

11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.

12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Rather it was sin, that it might be shown to be sin, working death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin might become sinful beyond measure.

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

15 For I do not understand what I do; for I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.

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

18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present with me, but the doing of the good is not.

19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.

20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but the sin dwelling in me.

21 So I find this law: when I want to do good, evil lies close at hand.

22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inner man,

23 but I see another law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and taking me captive to the law of sin that is in my members.

24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself with my mind serve the law of God, but with my flesh the law of sin.

Chapter 8

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.

3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh,

4 so that the righteous requirement 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 set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those according to the Spirit on the things of the Spirit.

6 For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace,

7 because the mind of the flesh is enmity toward God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor indeed can it;

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

9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not 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 through his Spirit who dwells 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 about to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery again unto fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, in whom we cry, "Abba, Father."

16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

17 And if children, then heirs also—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

18 For I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

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

20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope

21 that the creation itself also will be freed from the bondage of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

22 For we know that the whole creation groans together and travails together until now;

23 and not only so, but we ourselves also, having the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves, awaiting adoption, the redemption of our body.

24 For in hope we were saved; but hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he sees?

25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we await it with endurance.

26 Likewise the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with unutterable groanings;

27 and he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because he intercedes for the saints according to God.

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 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers;

30 and 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 shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things?

33 Who will bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.

34 Who is he who condemns? Christ [Jesus] is the one who died, rather, who was raised—who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

36 As it is written: "For your sake we are put to death all day long; we were reckoned as sheep for slaughter."

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

38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, 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 the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit

2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.

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

4 who are Israelites; to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises;

5 to them belong the fathers, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel,

7 nor are they all children because they are Abraham's offspring; but "through Isaac shall your offspring be named."

8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

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

10 And not only that, but also Rebecca, when she had conceived by one man, our father Isaac

11 for though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose according to election might stand,

12 not because of works but because of him who calls, it was said to her, "The elder shall serve the younger,"

13 as it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice with God? By no means!

15 For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."

16 So then it depends not on the one who wills, nor on the one who runs, but on God who shows mercy.

17 For the scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."

18 So then he has mercy on whom he wills, and he hardens whom he wills.

19 You will say to me then, "Why then does he still find fault? For who has resisted his will?"

20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Shall what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me thus?"

21 Or has the potter no authority over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

22 And what if God, willing to show his anger and to make known his power, endured with much patience vessels of anger prepared for destruction,

23 in order to make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory

24 even us, whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

25 As indeed he says in Hosea, "I will call those who were not my people 'my people,' and her who was not beloved 'beloved.'"

26 "And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' there they shall be called sons of the living God."

27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only the remnant shall be saved;

28 for the Lord will carry out his word upon the earth, completing it and cutting it short."

29 And as Isaiah said before, "If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have become like Sodom and been made like Gomorrah."

30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained righteousness, the righteousness that is by faith;

31 but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not attain to that law.

32 Why? Because they pursued it not by faith, but as if by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,

33 as it is written, "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him shall not be put to shame."

Chapter 10

1 Brothers, my heart's desire and my prayer to God on their behalf is for their salvation.

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

3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God's righteousness.

4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is from the law, that the person who does these things shall live by them.

6 But the righteousness that is from faith speaks thus: 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 it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart—that is, the word of faith which we proclaim.

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

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

11 For the scripture says: Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.

12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, being rich toward all who call upon him.

13 For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

14 How then shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without someone proclaiming?

15 And how shall they proclaim unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things.

16 But not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says: Lord, who has believed our report?

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

18 But I say, have they not heard? Indeed they have: Their voice has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.

19 But I say, did Israel not know? First Moses says: I will provoke you to jealousy by that which is no nation; by a foolish nation I will provoke you to anger.

20 And Isaiah is bold and says: I was found by those who did not seek me; I became manifest to those who did not ask for me.

21 But to Israel he says: All day long I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.

Chapter 11

1 I say then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I too am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Or do you not know what the scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?

3 "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have torn down your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life."

4 But what does the divine answer say to him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal."

5 So too then at the present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

6 But if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

7 What then? What Israel seeks, it did not obtain, but the elect obtained it; and the rest were hardened,

8 as it is written: "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes not to see and ears not to hear, down to this very day."

9 And David says: "Let their table become a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a retribution for them;

10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their back forever."

11 I say then, did they stumble so as to fall? By no means! But through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to provoke them to jealousy.

12 But if their trespass means riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!

13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles: inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I glorify my ministry,

14 in the hope that I may somehow provoke my own flesh to jealousy and save some of them.

15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

16 If the firstfruit is holy, so also is the lump; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became a sharer in the rich root of the olive tree,

18 do not boast over the branches. But if you boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you.

19 You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in."

20 True; they were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be high-minded, but fear;

21 for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.

22 See then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who fell, but God's kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off.

23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again.

24 For if you were cut out of what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will 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, lest you be wise in your own conceits: that a partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in,

26 and so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.

27 And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins."

28 As regards the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but as regards election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers;

29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

30 For just as you were once disobedient to God but now have received mercy through their disobedience,

31 so they too have now been disobedient in view of the mercy shown to you, so that they also may now receive mercy.

32 For God has shut up all in disobedience, so that he may have mercy on all.

33 O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

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

35 Or who has first given to him, that it should be repaid to him?

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Chapter 12

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable worship.

2 And do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has apportioned.

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

5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: if prophecy, in proportion to the faith;

7 if service, in serving; the one who teaches, in teaching;

8 the one who exhorts, in exhortation; the one who gives, with generosity; the one who leads, with diligence; the one who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.

10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; outdo one another in showing honor.

11 Do not be slack in zeal; be fervent in spirit; serve the Lord.

12 Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer.

13 Share in the needs of the saints; pursue hospitality.

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

15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.

16 Be of the same mind toward one another; do not set your minds on lofty things, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.

17 Repay no one evil for evil; take thought for what is good in the sight of all men.

18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live at peace with all men.

19 Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to anger, for it is written: "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord."

20 But if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by doing this you will heap coals of fire upon his head.

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

Chapter 13

1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been ordained by God.

2 Therefore whoever resists the authority opposes the ordinance of God, and those who oppose will bring judgment upon themselves.

3 For rulers are not a terror to good work, but to evil. Do you wish not to fear the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from it;

4 for it is God's servant for your good. But if you do evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword in vain; for it is God's servant, an avenger for anger upon the one who practices evil.

5 Therefore it is necessary to be subject, not only because of anger but also because of conscience.

6 For this reason you also pay taxes, for they are ministers of God, devoting themselves to this very thing.

7 Render to all what is owed: taxes to whom taxes are due, tolls to whom tolls, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.

8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves the other has fulfilled the law.

9 For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

10 Love works no evil to the neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

11 And do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awake from sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

12 The night is far advanced, and the day has drawn near. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.

13 Let us walk becomingly, as in the day, not in revelries and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and licentiousness, not in strife and jealousy;

14 but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its desires.

Chapter 14

1 Now welcome the one who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions.

2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.

3 Let not the one who eats despise the one who does not eat, and let not the one who does not eat judge the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.

4 Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will be made to stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

5 one person judges one day above another, while another judges every day alike; let each be fully convinced in his own mind.

6 The one who observes the day observes it to the Lord; and the one who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and the one who does not eat, refrains to the Lord and gives thanks to God.

7 For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself;

8 for if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So whether we live or whether we die, we belong to the Lord.

9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

10 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you also, why do you despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God,

11 for it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God."

12 So each of us will give an account of himself.

13 Therefore let us no longer judge one another; but rather decide this: not to put a stumbling block or a snare in a brother's way.

14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, except that to the one who considers something unclean, to him it is unclean.

15 For if your brother is grieved because of food, you are no longer walking according to love; do not by your food destroy that one for whom Christ died.

16 Therefore let not your good be spoken of as evil.

17 For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, 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 that build one another up.

20 Do not for the sake of food destroy the work of God. All things indeed are clean, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense.

21 It is good not to eat meat nor to drink wine nor to do anything by which your brother stumbles.

22 The faith [that] you have, keep to yourself before God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself in what he approves;

23 but the one who doubts is condemned if he eats, because it is not from faith; and everything that is not from faith is sin.

Chapter 15

1 We who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, for building up.

3 For even Christ did not please himself, but as it is written: "The reproaches of those who reproached you fell upon me."

4 For whatever was written beforehand was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.

5 Now may the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus,

6 so that with one accord, with one mouth, you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

7 Therefore welcome one another, just as Christ also welcomed you, for the glory of God.

8 For I say that Christ became a servant of the circumcision for the sake of God's truth, in order to confirm the promises made to the fathers,

9 and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: "Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles, and sing 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: "There shall be the root of Jesse, even he who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles hope."

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

14 And I myself am persuaded concerning you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.

15 But I have written to you rather boldly in part, as reminding you, because of the grace given to me by God

16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

17 Therefore I have my boast in Christ Jesus in the things pertaining to God.

18 For I will not dare to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished 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 around as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ,

20 and thus making it my ambition to preach the gospel not where Christ had been named, lest I build upon another's foundation,

21 but as it is written: "Those to whom nothing was announced concerning him shall see, and those who have not heard shall understand."

22 Therefore I have also often been hindered from coming to you.

23 But now, having no longer any place in these regions, and having had for many years a longing to come to you,

24 whenever I journey to Spain, for I hope to see you as I pass through, and to be sent on my way there by you, once I have first enjoyed your company in part.

25 But now I am going to Jerusalem, ministering to the saints.

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

27 They were pleased to do so, and indeed they are their debtors; for if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they ought also to serve them in material things.

28 When therefore I have completed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will set off by way of you to Spain;

29 and I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.

30 I urge you, brothers, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf,

31 that I may be delivered from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my ministry for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints,

32 so that coming to you in joy by the will of God, I may find rest together with you. 33Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

Chapter 16

1 I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a deacon of the church at Cenchreae,

2 that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her in whatever matter she may need from you; for she herself has been a patron of many, and of myself as well.

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

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

5 and greet the church in their house. Greet Epaenetus my beloved, who is the firstfruits of Asia for Christ.

6 Greet Mary, who has labored much for you.

7 Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsfolk and my fellow prisoners, who are notable among the apostles, and who were 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, approved 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 labor in the Lord. Greet the beloved Persis, who has labored much in the Lord.

13 Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.

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

15 Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints 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 cause divisions and stumbling blocks contrary to the teaching you have learned, and turn away from them;

18 for such people do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the innocent.

19 For your obedience has become known to all; therefore I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good, and innocent as to what is evil.

20 And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

21 Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you, as do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsfolk.

22 I, Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.

23 Gaius, my host and host of the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, greets you, and Quartus the brother.