BWE - Romans

Chapter 1

1:1  I am Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ. He called me to be an apostle and to tell God’s good news.

1:2  Through his prophets long ago God promised this good news to people, in the holy writings.

1:3  The good news was about his Son. He is Jesus Christ our Lord. He was a man born in David’s family.

1:4  He came alive from death. That showed he was God’s Son. He had God’s power. God’s Holy Spirit did all this.

1:5  This same Jesus Christ was kind to me. And he made me an apostle. I am sent in his name so that people in all nations will obey him.

1:6  You are some of them. You were called to belong to Jesus Christ.

1:7  I send greetings to all the Christians who live in the city of Rome. God loves you and has called you to be his people. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you. In their kindness may they give you peace.

1:8  People in all the world have heard that you believe. I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you.

1:9  God knows that I always talk to him about you. I worship him in my heart while I tell the good news about his Son.

1:10  I ask God that in some way now I may be able to visit you, if he wishes me to do it.

1:11  I want very much to see you. I want to give you some gift from the Holy Spirit to make you stronger.

1:12  I mean to say that we will both be helped. I will be helped because you believe, and you will be helped because I believe.

1:13  My brothers, I want you to know that I have often planned to come to you. But something has stopped me until now. I planned to come so that I might see good things happen among you. I have done this in the other nations which are not Jewish.

1:14  This is something I must do for the Greek people and for all other people. I must do it for people who are wise and for people who are not wise.

1:15  That is why I want so much to tell the good news to you people in the city of Rome also.

1:16  I am not ashamed of the good news of Jesus Christ. The good news is the power God uses to save every one who believes. The good news was for the Jews first, but also for those who are not Jews.

1:17  The good news shows how God puts a person right. God puts a person right when that person believes in his Son and keeps on believing. The holy writings say, ‘A person who is put right because he believes, will live for ever.’

1:18  God is angry. He has shown it from heaven. He is angry because of all the bad and wrong things people do. These people hold back God’s truth by the wrong things they do.

1:19  They know about God. God himself has shown them.

1:20  People cannot see that God has power which lasts for ever. They cannot see that he is really God. But ever since he made the world, he has clearly shown this by the things he made. So they cannot say, ‘I did not know about God.’

1:21  Even though they knew he was God, they did not worship him as God. They did not thank him. Their thoughts were no good. Their foolish minds became dark.

1:22  They said they were wise people, but they were foolish people.

1:23  They did not worship God who cannot die. But they worshipped things made to look like a man who does die. They worshipped things made to look like birds and animals and snakes.

1:24  So God left them to do the things their hearts wanted to do. They did the things that are not right to do with their bodies. They did not respect their own bodies.

1:25  They would not believe what was true about God. They believed a lie. They worshipped and worked for something that was made by God. They did not worship God–God who made all things. He is the one to worship for ever. Amen. May it be so!

1:26  That is why God left them to do the wrong things they wanted to do. Their women left the right way for women and did things that are wrong for women to do.

1:27  Their men also left the right way with women. They wanted to have sex with one another. They did wrong things with other men. Their own bodies were punished because of the wrong things they did.

1:28  They did not want to know God. So he left them to their wrong thoughts and to do things that are not right.

1:29  They were very bad. They did every kind of wrong thing. They were greedy. They hated people. They were very jealous. They killed many people. They fought. They fooled people. They told lies about people. They carried stories from one person to another.

1:30  They said wrong things about people. They hated God. They did not respect people. They were proud. They talked big. They even thought of new wrong things to do. They did not obey their parents.

1:31  They were foolish. They did not do what they said they would do. They did not love people. They were not kind.

1:32  They know that God says that people who do such things should die. Even so, they not only do them, but they praise other people who do them.

Chapter 2

2:1  Do you judge another people? You yourselves have done wrong things. So when you judge others, you judge yourselves, because you do the same things. You judge them and yet you do the same things.

2:2  We know that God judges people who do such things. And he judges them by what is true.

2:3  Man, you judge people who do such things and yet you do them yourself. Do you think that God will not judge you?

2:4  Or do you not respect him for being kind, very patient, and for waiting a long time? Do you not know that God is kind, and he wants to lead you away from doing wrong things?

2:5  But your hearts are hard. You will not stop. That is why God will be angry with you. He will be angry on the day when people will see that he judges in the right way.

2:6  He will pay every man for what he has done.

2:7  He will give life for ever to people who keep on doing good. These people want to have glory and honour from God, and to live for ever.

2:8  But God will be very angry with the people who think of themselves first before others. They do not obey what is right. They do wrong things.

2:9  Every one who does what is wrong will have much trouble and a hard time. This will happen to the Jews first, then to those who are not Jews.

2:10  And every one who does what is good, will be made great. He will have honour and peace. This will happen to the Jews first and then to those who are not Jews.

2:11  God does not love some people more than others.

2:12  All those who do not know the law and did what was wrong, will die. But they will not be judged by the law. All those who know the law and did what was wrong will be judged by the law.

2:13  (God does not say people are good because they have heard the law. But people who obey the law will be called good people.

2:14  Some people do not have the law. But they do what the law says because their own hearts tell them to. They have a law of their own, even though they do not know the law.

2:15  They show that the law is written in their hearts. They know what is right to do and what is wrong to do. Their own thoughts tell them they have done what is wrong or what is not wrong.)

2:16  This will be on the day when God judges the things men have kept secret. Jesus Christ will be the judge. That is part of the good news I tell people.

2:17  But you call yourselves Jews. You believe the law. You are proud of your God.

2:18  You know what he wants people to do. You know the thoughts that are good because you have been taught the law.

2:19  You are sure that you can lead people who are like blind men. You are like a light for people who are in the dark.

2:20  You are sure that you can tell foolish people what is right. You can teach people who are like children. You know what you need to know and you know what is true because you have the law.

2:21  You teach another person. Do you not teach yourself? You say people must not steal. Do you steal?

2:22  You say people must not commit adultery. Do you commit adultery? You hate idols. Do you steal things from the houses of idols?

2:23  You are proud that you have the law. Do you break the law, and in that way show you do not honour God?

2:24  The holy writings say, ‘People who are not Jews say wrong things about the name of God. They do it because of what you Jews do.’

2:25  Circumcision of the body is a good thing if you obey the law. But if you break the law, you are like a man who has not been circumcised with this mark of the Jew.

2:26  So if a man who has not been circumcised obeys the law, will he not be like a man who has been circumcised?

2:27  Some people have not been circumcised, but they obey the law. They will show that you should be punished. You have the written law and you have been circumcised, and yet you break the law.

2:28  If a person is a Jew only on the outside, he is not really a Jew. And true circumcision is not something that is done on the outside of the body.

2:29  If a person is a Jew inside, he is really a Jew. It is God who praises him, not people. True circumcision is done in the heart. It is in the spirit, not in the body. Such people are not praised; but God praises them.

Chapter 3

3:1  Then what does a Jew have that others do not have? Or what good is it if a person has been circumcised?

3:2  It is much better in every way. First, God’s law was given to the Jews.

3:3  But some Jews did not keep his law. Does that mean that God cannot be trusted?

3:4  No, it does not mean that. God must be true, even if every man is not true. The holy writings say this about God: ‘People will see that you are right in what you say. You will be without fault when you are judged.’

3:5  When we do wrong things, we show that God is right. What shall we say about that? Does God do wrong when he punishes us? (I speak the way people would think about it.)

3:6  No, he does not. If he did wrong, how could he judge the world?

3:7  Maybe I say what is not true. And that makes people praise God more because he is true. Then why does God still judge me and say I have done wrong?

3:8  Some people say wrong things about us. They say that we say, ‘Let us do wrong things so that good things will happen.’ People who say such things should be punished.

3:9  So what shall we say? Are we Jews any better than other people? No, we are not! I have already shown that all men, both Jews and people who are not Jews have done wrong things.

3:10  The holy writings say, ‘No one is good. No, not one person.

3:11  No one is wise. No one wants to know God.

3:12  They all have turned away from the straight road. Together they have gone the wrong way. No one does good, not even one person!

3:13  Their mouth is like an open grave. They have used their tongues to fool people. The poison of bad snakes is under their lips.

3:14  Their mouths are full of cursing and saying bad words to people.

3:15  Their feet run quickly to kill people.

3:16  Death and trouble are on the ways they go.

3:17  They do not know the way of peace.

3:18  They do not fear God.’

3:19  We know that everything the law says, it says to the people who have the law. Then no one can say a word for themselves. All the people in the world will be brought to God to be judged.

3:20  No one will be put right with God because he has tried to obey the law. The law only makes people know what they have done wrong.

3:21  So now God has shown how people can be put right with him without the law. The law and the prophets said he would do it.

3:22  God puts people right with himself when they believe in Jesus Christ. He does this for all who believe. They are all alike.

3:23  All have done wrong and all are far from being as good as God.

3:24  But God is kind and makes them right with himself. It is a gift. He does it because Christ Jesus paid the price to set them free.

3:25  God gave him as a sacrifice. When people believe in him, his blood pays for the wrong things they have done. This shows that God is good and right. He was right when he forgave the wrong things that people did long ago.

3:26  God also shows that he is right now. He does this when he makes right any person who believes in Jesus.

3:27  Then what have we to be proud of? Nothing at all. Why not? Does God put us right with himself because of anything we have done? No. He does it because we believe.

3:28  We know that if a person believes in Christ, God makes him right again. It is not because that person has obeyed the law.

3:29  Is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of other people also? Yes, he is. There is only one God of all peoples.

3:30  He will put right people who have been circumcised because they believe. And he will also put right people who are not circumcised when they believe.

3:31  When we believe, does that make the law no good to us? No. That is not so. When we believe, we show that the law is right.

Chapter 4

4:1  So what shall we say about Abraham? He is the father of our family on earth.

4:2  If Abraham was put right with God, because of what he did, he has something to be proud of. But he has nothing to be proud of when he stands before God.

4:3  What do the holy writings say? It says, ‘Abraham believed God. And God said that he was a good man.’

4:4  When a person works, his pay is not a gift to him. His pay belongs to him.

4:5  But no person can work to put himself right with God. It is God alone who makes a bad person right. The one who believes in him–even a bad person is put right.

4:6  David also says that God blesses a man. God calls him a good man but not because he has kept the law.

4:7  David said, ‘God blesses people who have been forgiven the wrong things they have done. God covers over the wrong things they have done.

4:8  The Lord blesses people when he forgets the wrong things they have done.’

4:9  Does God bless only people who have been circumcised? Or does he also bless those who are not? We say, because Abraham believed God, God called him a good man. His faith made him right with God.

4:10  When did God say that? Was it when Abraham was circumcised? Or was it before? It was not when he was circumcised: it was before.

4:11  Abraham was circumcised as a sign. It was a sign that he was a good man, because he believed when he was not yet circumcised. That makes him the father of all people who believe, even those who are not circumcised. God says they are good people.

4:12  That makes him also the father of those who are circumcised. I mean people who are circumcised and do as our father Abraham did. Even when he was not circumcised, he believed.

4:13  God promised Abraham and his family that the world would belong to them. God did not make the promise because Abraham obeyed the law. But he made the promise because Abraham believed him and was put right with God.

4:14  If the world will belong to people who obey the law, it is of no use to believe God. And the promise is no good.

4:15  Because of the law, God is angry. Where there is no law, no one breaks the law.

4:16  That is why people must believe. Because God is kind, he makes the promise sure for all of Abraham’s children. The promise is for those who have the law and also for those who believe as Abraham did. He is the father of us all.

4:17  The holy writings say, ‘I have made you the father of many nations.’ Abraham was made the father of many nations by God. He believed God. He believed that God could make dead people live. He believed God when he said that things were true even though they had not happened yet.

4:18  Abraham believed and hoped, though there was nothing to give him hope. He believed that he would become the father of many nations. God had told him this would happen.

4:19  He did not stop believing when he thought about his own body. It was almost dead. He was about one hundred years old. He did not stop believing when he thought about Sarah, even though she had never given birth to any children.

4:20  He did not stop believing God’s promise. He believed God very much. He did not praise God for his own faith, but for God’s promise.

4:21  He was sure that God was able to do what he had promised to do.

4:22  He was put right with God because he believed the promise.

4:23  The holy writings do not say that for Abraham only.

4:24  They say it for us too. God will say we are put right if we believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from death.

4:25  He was killed because we did wrong things. He was raised from death in order that we might be made right with God.

Chapter 5

5:1  We are made good people and put right with God when we believe in Jesus Christ. So now we have peace with God because of what our Lord Jesus Christ did.

5:2  Because we believe, Christ has brought us to the place where God can do us good. We are in that place now. We are very happy because we have the hope that we shall see God’s greatness.

5:3  And not only is that true, but we are very happy in our troubles, because we know that trouble makes us stronger.

5:4  When we are strong to take trouble, we prove that we believe. When we prove that we believe, we have hope.

5:5  We will not be disappointed by this hope. God has given us the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit has put God’s love in our hearts.

5:6  We could not help ourselves. So at the right time, Christ died to save us bad people.

5:7  Almost no one would die to save even a good man. But perhaps someone would die to save a very good man.

5:8  God shows his love for us in this way: Christ died to save us while we were bad people.

5:9  The blood of Christ has now put us right with God. So even more, he will save us from God’s strong anger.

5:10  When we were enemies, the death of his Son brought us back to God. Now that we are made right with God, it is the life of Jesus that will save us.

5:11  Not only is that true, but it is through our Lord Jesus Christ that we can enjoy God. This is for all who have been brought back to God by him.

5:12  One man did a wrong thing. And the wrong thing he did made him die. So all men die because all have done wrong things.

5:13  People in the world were not right with God before he gave the law. But wrong things are not punished when there is no law.

5:14  Yet death ruled over people from Adam’s time to Moses’ time. It even ruled over the people who were not as wrong as Adam. Adam was like a person who would come later.

5:15  But the free gift is not like the wrong thing. Many people died because one man did a wrong thing. This is sure. God was very kind and he gave a free gift. This gift was given to many people because one man, Jesus Christ, did a very kind thing.

5:16  The free gift is not like the wrong thing one man did. Because of that one man people were judged. And they were punished. Because many people did wrong things, God gave his free gift and many people were made right with him.

5:17  One man did a wrong thing. And so death ruled over people because of that one man. God has been kind to people and given them his free gift. That gift is to make people right with God. People who take that gift will live and rule because of one man, Jesus Christ.

5:18  One man did a wrong thing. And so all people were punished through him. But Christ did the right thing. And so all people can have the free gift of life through being put right with God.

5:19  One man did not obey. And so many people were bad people. One man obeyed. And so many people will be made right with God.

5:20  When the law came, it showed how wrong people really were. But when people were really bad, God was even more kind.

5:21  The wrong things people did ruled over them, and they died. Now God has been very kind. He has made people right with him. So now God’s blessing will rule over them, and they will live for ever. Jesus Christ our Lord has done this for them.

Chapter 6

6:1  What shall we say then? Shall we keep on doing wrong things so that God will be more kind to us?

6:2  No, surely not! We died to our wrong ways and no longer live in them.

6:3  All of us have been baptised in water. This means we are joined to Christ Jesus. We were baptised into his death. Do you know that?

6:4  We were buried when he was buried because we were baptised into his death. Christ was raised from death by the wonderful power of the Father. So we also must live a new life.

6:5  Have we shared with Christ and died as he died? Then we shall share with him by rising from death as he arose.

6:6  We know this is true. The old person we used to be was nailed to the cross with him, so that our bodies which do wrong things would die. Then we will no longer be like slaves to the wrong things we used to do.

6:7  Anyone who has died no longer does wrong things.

6:8  If we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

6:9  We know that Christ was raised from death and will not die again. Death has no power over him any more.

6:10  He died. And he died once for all time, so that people would stop their wrong ways. But now he lives. And he lives for God.

6:11  So you also must think you are dead, and stop your wrong ways. And you must think you are living for God along with Christ Jesus our Lord.

6:12  Do not let wrong things rule over your bodies that are going to die. Do not do the things your bodies want.

6:13  Do not use your bodies to do wrong things. But give yourselves to God like men who have been raised from death to life. Give your bodies to God and use them to do good things.

6:14  Wrong ways will not be your masters. The law does not rule over you now, but God’s loving kindness rules over you.

6:15  What then? The law does not rule over us now. God’s loving kindness rules over us. So, shall we do wrong things? No, never!

6:16  If you give yourselves to be slaves and obey your master, you are not free. You are his slaves. Do you not know this: you may be slaves to wrong things? But you will not live for ever. Or you may be slaves to obey God. Then you will be made good people and live with him.

6:17  You were at one time slaves to wrong things. But I praise God that you obeyed what your teachers taught you. And you obeyed because you wanted to obey.

6:18  You were made free from doing wrong things. You were made slaves to good things.

6:19  I speak the way people would think about such things, because your minds are weak. At one time you gave your bodies to be slaves to your unclean ways, and to do more and more wrong things. So now give your bodies to be slaves to doing what is right, and to being good.

6:20  When you were slaves to wrong things, you were free from doing good things.

6:21  You are now ashamed of those things. What good did they do you? For the end of those things is death.

6:22  But now you have been made free from wrong ways and you have been made God’s slaves. You are made good and you will live for ever.

6:23  The reward that wrong ways give is to die. But the gift which God gives is to live for ever. Christ Jesus our Lord has done this for us.

Chapter 7

7:1  My brothers, I am saying this to you people who know the law. Do you not know that the law is master over a person only while he lives?

7:2  A married woman belongs to her husband by law as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law that made her belong to her husband.

7:3  So if she belongs to another man while her husband is living, she commits adultery. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then if she belongs to another man, she does not commit adultery.

7:4  In the same way my brothers, you died when Christ died. And you are free from the law. Now you belong to another person. You belong to the one who has been raised from death. Because of that, we are able to do what God wants us to do.

7:5  One time we lived in the way our bodies wanted to live. The law made us think about doing wrong things. And we did things that made us die.

7:6  But now we have been made free from the law. We died, and so we are no longer slaves to the one who was our master. Now we are slaves to God in our new life. This new life is ruled by the Spirit. We do not work for the old written law.

7:7  So what shall we say? Shall we say that the law is bad? No! I would not have known what is wrong if there had been no law. The law says, ‘Do not want to take other people’s things.’ That is how I know it is wrong to want another person’s things.

7:8  My wrong ways used the law to make me want all kinds of things. When there is no law, the thing within me that wants to do wrong is dead.

7:9  Once I had no law, and I lived. But when the law came, that which wanted to do wrong things came to life, and I died.

7:10  The same law which was meant to make a person live, made me die.

7:11  My wrong ways used the law to fool me and kill me.

7:12  So the law is holy. And what the law says is holy and right and good.

7:13  So did that good thing make me die? No. The wrong things I did made me die, because that good thing showed they were wrong. And the law shows that the wrong things are very, very bad.

7:14  We know that the law came from the Holy Spirit. But I am a weak man. I have been sold like a slave to do wrong things.

7:15  I do not know why I do the things I do. I do not do what I want to do. But I do the things I hate.

7:16  And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.

7:17  So now it is no longer I who do it, but my wrong ways in me.

7:18  I know that no good thing lives in me. I mean, no good thing lives in my body. I want to do what is good, but I cannot do it.

7:19  I do not do the good thing I want to do, but I do the wrong thing that I do not want to do.

7:20  If I do the thing I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but the wrong thing in me that does it.

7:21  So there is a law I find that it is at work in me. When I want to do what is right, I can only do what is wrong.

7:22  In my own mind I am glad to obey the law of God.

7:23  But I see that in my body there is another law fighting against the law in my mind. And that makes me like a prisoner to the law of wrong things in my body.

7:24  I am a very sad man. Who will save me from this body that will make me die?

7:25  Thank God for Jesus Christ our Lord who will do it! So this is the way it is. In my mind I am a slave to do the law of God, but in my body I am a slave to do the law of wrong things.

Chapter 8

8:1  So now those who belong to Christ Jesus will not be judged.

8:2  The Spirit gives life in Christ Jesus. And the law of the Spirit has set me free from the law of wrong things, and the law of death.

8:3  God has done what the law could not do. The things people did made the law weak. God sent his own Son in a body of man. His body was like the bodies which others use to do wrong things. He sent him because people have done wrong things. And he judged the wrong things people have done in their bodies.

8:4  He did this so that we might be good people as the law said we should be. We are good people if we live the way the Spirit wants us to live, not the way our bodies want to live.

8:5  Some people live the way their bodies want to live. They think only about the things their bodies want to do. Other people live the way the Spirit wants them to live. They think about the things the Spirit wants them to do.

8:6  If you keep your mind on the things your bodies want to do, you will die. But if you keep your mind on the things the Spirit wants, you will live and have peace.

8:7  People who think about the things of this life are God’s enemies. They do not obey God’s law. They cannot obey it.

8:8  People who do what their bodies want cannot please God.

8:9  Does God’s Spirit live in you? If he does, then you are not living the way the body wants, but you are living the way the Spirit wants. If anyone does not have Christ’s Spirit, he does not belong to Christ.

8:10  But if Christ is in you, your bodies are dead because of the wrong things you have done. But your spirits live because you have been made right with God.

8:11  God raised Christ Jesus from death. Does God’s Spirit live in you? Then God will also give life to your bodies which die. He does this through his Spirit who lives in you.

8:12  So, my brothers, we must not live the way our bodies want us to live. We must not be ruled by our wrong ways.

8:13  If you live the way your bodies wants to live, you will die. But if, by the help of the Spirit, you stop doing the wrong things your bodies want to do, you will live.

8:14  All who do what God’s Spirit leads them to do are God’s sons.

8:15  The Holy Spirit you have received does not make you a slave again so that you are afraid. But the Spirit you have received makes you sons of God.

8:16  So we say, ‘Father! Father!’ The Spirit himself also, along with our own spirits, tells us that we are God’s children.

8:17  If we are his children, God will give us the good things that children receive. He will give us these blessings along with Christ. He will give it to us if we suffer with Christ. If we suffer with Christ, we will also be made great with him.

8:18  I think that the troubles we have in this life are nothing when we think of the great things that we shall have.

8:19  The whole world is waiting for the time when the sons of God will be seen.

8:20  The world was spoiled. It did not want to be spoiled, but God allowed it.

8:21  And it hoped to be free like God’s children when they are made great.

8:22  We know that the whole world has been crying. It has had much pain until now.

8:23  And not the world only, but we ourselves also cry out. We have the first blessing God gives of his Spirit. But we cry out in our hearts. We are waiting for God to finish making us his sons. Then our bodies will be set free.

8:24  That is what we hoped for when we were saved. When the thing hoped for is seen, there is no more hoping. When a person sees a thing, how can he hope for it?

8:25  But if we hope for something we do not see, we keep on waiting for it.

8:26  Also the Spirit helps us because we are weak. We do not know how we should talk to God. But the Spirit himself talks to God for us, while we cry and cannot say any words.

8:27  God looks to see what is in people’s hearts. And he knows what the Spirit is going to do. The Spirit talks to God for God’s people. And he asks for them what God wants them to have.

8:28  We know that God works out everything for the good of those who love him. They are the people who are part of his plan.

8:29  He knew all along that he would choose them. He chose them to be made like his Son. Then his Son would be the first one of many brothers.

8:30  He chose them and he also called them. He called them to himself as if they had never been bad people. He made them right with himself and he also made them great in heaven.

8:31  So what shall we say about this? If God is on our side, who can be against us?

8:32  He did not keep his own Son, but gave him up for us all. Because he has given him to us, will he not also give us all other things?

8:33  Who will say anything against God’s chosen people? For it is God himself who says they have been put right with him.

8:34  Who will say they are not right? Jesus Christ died. Yes, he was raised from death. He is at the right side of God. And he talks to God for us.

8:35  Who can take us away from Christ’s love? We may have trouble. We may have hard times. People may make us suffer because we believe. We may have no food to eat and no clothes to wear. We may be in danger. We may be killed with big knives. Can any of these things take us away from Christ’s love?

8:36  The holy writings say, ‘For your sake we are killed all day. We are like sheep ready to be killed.’

8:37  But Christ loved us. He has helped us to win great victory in all these things.

8:38  I know this. Death, life, angels, rulers, things happening now, things that will happen, high things, low things; nothing else in all the world can come between us and God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord.

8:39  I know this. Death, life, angels, rulers, things happening now, things that will happen, high things, low things; nothing else in all the world can come between us and God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Chapter 9

9:1  What I say is true and Christ knows it is. I do not tell a lie. My heart tells me it is true. And the Holy Spirit knows this.

9:2  I am very sad. I am always troubled.

9:3  I could almost wish I were taken away from Christ for the sake of my brothers, the people of my own nation.

9:4  They are Jews. God gave them the right to be his sons. He showed them how great he is. He made agreements with them. He gave them the law. He told them how to worship him. He gave them the promises.

9:5  The great men were their fathers. Christ was born a Jew. He is God over all. Praise him for ever! Yes, he is!

9:6  God will do what he said he would do. Not all who are Jews belong to the real Israel.

9:7  Not all the people in Abraham’s family are his children. But the holy writings say, ‘It is Isaac’s family who will be called your family.’

9:8  This means that not all who were born in Abraham’s family are God’s children. God promised Abraham a son are the ones that God called Abraham’s true family.

9:9  For this is what God promised, ‘About this time next year I will come and Sarah shall have a son.’

9:10  And that is not all. Rebecca also had children. Their father was Isaac, our father.

9:11  When the children were not yet born, they had done nothing good or bad. God chooses the people he wants. He does not choose people because of what they have done. He chooses people who will answer his call. So he said to Rebecca, ‘The older one will be a slave of the younger one.’

9:12  When the children were not yet born, they had done nothing good or bad. God chooses the people he wants. He does not choose people because of what they have done. He chooses people who will answer his call. So he said to Rebecca, ‘The older one will be a slave of the younger one.’

9:13  The holy writings also say, ‘I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.’

9:14  So what shall we say? Does God do what is not right? No, never!

9:15  He says to Moses, ‘I will be kind to a person if I choose to be kind to him. I will share in the suffering of others if I choose to be sorry for them.’

9:16  God is not kind to a person because the person wants God to be kind to him. God is not kind to him because the person runs to him to ask him for help. God is kind because he chooses to be kind.

9:17  In the holy writings it says to Pharaoh, ‘That is why I made you live. I wanted to show my power through you. I wanted people to know about me all over the earth.’

9:18  So God is kind to any person if he wants to be kind to him. And God makes a man’s heart hard if he wants to do that.

9:19  So you will ask me, ‘Why does God still blame us? Who can fight against what God has planned?’

9:20  But you are only a man. Will you tell God what to do? Can the pot say to the man who made it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’

9:21  The person who makes pots has power over the mud. He can make two different pots out of one pile of mud. One pot will be fine and another will not be fine. Can the potter not make them so?

9:22  God has a right to be very angry if he wants to be. He has the right to show his power. God was very angry with some people who deserved to die. And yet he waited a long time before he did anything to them.

9:23  He did it to show how very great he is. He was kind to some people. He planned for them to be made great.

9:24  That means he also called us. He called not only those who are Jews, but also those who are not Jews.

9:25  In the book written long ago by the prophet Hosea, God says ‘They were not my people. But I will call them “my people”. I did not love her, but I will call her “the one I love.”

9:26  And in the very place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” they will be called “sons of the living God.”’

9:27  Isaiah the prophet of God said long ago about Israel, ‘Even if the people of Israel are as many as the sand by the sea, only some of them will be saved.

9:28  The Lord will do what he said he will do on the earth. He will do it all and do it soon.’

9:29  And Isaiah also said, ‘The Lord who has power, left some of our children. If he had not, we would have been like Sodom. We would have been destroyed like Gomorrah.’

9:30  So what shall we say? The people who are not Jews have been put right with God. They did nothing to make themselves right with God. But they were put right because they believed God.

9:31  But the Jews tried to obey the law that could make them good people. But they did not obey it all.

9:32  Why was that? They did not trust in God. They only trusted in doing the things of the law. They therefore hit their feet on the stone on which men hit their feet.

9:33  That is what the holy writings say, ‘I put in Zion a stone on which people will hit their feet. It is a rock that will make them fall down. Anyone who believes in him will not be ashamed.’

Chapter 10

10:1  My brothers, with all my heart I want the Jews to be saved. And I ask God to save them.

10:2  I can say this about them, they want very much to obey God. But they do not know the right way.

10:3  They did not know the way God makes people right with him. They tried to make themselves good people. So they did not obey God’s way to become right with him.

10:4  Christ has made an end to the law as a way of getting right with God. Everyone who believes in him is put right with God.

10:5  Moses wrote this: ‘A man who obeys the law will live by it.’

10:6  But the holy writings also speak about those who are put right by believing: ‘Do not say in your heart, “Who will go up into heaven?”’ (That means, ‘Who will go up to heaven to bring Christ down?’)

10:7  ‘Do not say, “Who will go down into the hole that has no bottom?”’ (That means, ‘Who will go down to bring Christ up from the dead people?’)

10:8  But what do the holy writings say? They say, ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.’ That means, the word to believe which we tell people.

10:9  If you say with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and if you believe in your heart that God has raised Christ from death, you will be saved.

10:10  A person believes with his heart, and he is made right with God. He speaks with his mouth and so is saved from his wrong ways.

10:11  The holy writings say, ‘Anyone who believes in him will not be let down.’

10:12  The Jews and other people are alike. The same Lord is Lord of all people. He richly blesses all who call out to him.

10:13  The holy writings say, ‘Everyone who calls out to the Lord will be saved.’

10:14  But how can people call someone if they have not believed in him? And how can they believe in him if they have not heard about him? And how can they hear about him if no one tells them about him?

10:15  And how can people tell about him if no one sends them? The holy writings say, ‘How good are the feet of those who bring the good news of peace and happiness.’

10:16  But they have not all obeyed the good news. It is as Isaiah said it would be, ‘Lord, who has believed what we have told them?’

10:17  So people believe because they hear. They hear because people tell them about Christ.

10:18  But I ask, have they not heard? Yes, they have. The holy writings say, ‘Their voice has gone out all over the earth. And their words have gone out all over the world.’

10:19  But I ask, did not the Jews know? First the book of Moses says, ‘I will make you jealous through people who are not a nation like the Jews. I will make you angry through people who do not even know or understand these things.’

10:20  But the book of Isaiah says even stronger words. ‘The people who did not look for me have found me. I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.’

10:21  But he says about the Jews, ‘All day I held out my hands to a people who did not obey me, who said wrong things against me.’

Chapter 11

11:1  So I ask, has God left his people? No, he has not! I myself am a Jew. I was born in Abraham’s family. I belong to the tribe of Benjamin.

11:2  God has not left his people whom he knew from the first. Do you not know what the holy writings say about the prophet Elijah? He talked to God against the people of Israel.

11:3  He said, ‘Lord, they have killed your prophets. They have pulled down your holy places. I am the only one that is left, and they are trying to kill me.’

11:4  But what did God answer him? He said, ‘I have seven thousand men who have not kneeled down to the idol god Baal.’

11:5  So now some are left because God was kind to them, and chose them.

11:6  But if it was a gift because he was kind to them, then it was no longer because of the things they did. Or else a gift would no longer be a gift.

11:7  So what does that mean? The Jews did not get what they tried to get. Only the people God chose got it. The hearts of the rest of the people became hard.

11:8  The holy writings say, ‘God made them dull with sleep. He gave them eyes that could not see, and ears that could not hear. They have been like that until today.’

11:9  And David said long ago, ‘May the table where they eat be like a net and like a trap. May it make them fall down. May it punish them.

11:10  Make their eyes become blind so that they cannot see. Make their backs bent all the time.’

11:11  So I ask, ‘Have their feet been caught so that they have really fallen down?’ No. But because they began to fall, the people who are not Jews were told how to be saved. That would make the Jews jealous.

11:12  The people who are not Jews have been richly blessed because the Jews failed. So it will be even better for them when the Jews no longer fail God.

11:13  Now I say this to you who are not Jews. I am an apostle to those who are not Jews, so I think highly of the work I have been sent to do.

11:14  I want the people of my own nation, the Jews, to be jealous. Then I may be able to save some of them.

11:15  God turned away from the Jews in order to bring the world back to himself. Then if that is true, when he takes the Jews back to himself, will not that be like making dead people live?

11:16  If the first piece of bread is holy, so is all the rest which came from the same bread mix. If the root of a tree is holy, the branches are holy also.

11:17  Maybe some of the tree’s branches were broken off. And you, a branch from a wild olive tree, were made to grow on the tree among the branches. You then have the good water that comes from the root of the olive tree.

11:18  But do not think that you are better than the tree’s own branches. If you do, remember it is not you that holds the root in place. But it is the root that holds you.

11:19  Then you will say, ‘The branches were broken off so that I might be joined to the tree.’

11:20  That is true. They were broken off because they did not believe. And you have your place only because you believe. So do not be proud, but fear.

11:21  If God punished the tree’s own branches, he will punish you also.

11:22  See how kind God is. And see how hard he is. He is hard on those who have fallen. But God is kind to you if you go on following in his ways. If you do not, you also will be broken off.

11:23  God will also put back the other branches if they believe. God is able to put the Jews back where they belong.

11:24  You were cut off from a wild olive tree. And you were put on a good olive tree. That is not the way trees grow. But it can be done. And so, even more, the Jewish branches will be put back on their own olive tree.

11:25  My brothers, I want you to know something that has been a secret. Then you will not be proud of yourselves. The secret is this. Some Jews will have hard hearts until the right number of other people have come in.

11:26  Then all the Jews will be saved. The holy writings say, ‘Someone will come from Zion to save people. He will take away the wrong ways of our father Jacob.’

11:27  This will be my agreement with them when I take away the wrong things they have done.

11:28  The Jews make themselves enemies of God because they do not want the good news of Jesus Christ. That helps you since the good news has then come to you. But God still loves the Jews because of the promise he made to their fathers long ago.

11:29  God does not change his gifts or his call to people.

11:30  At one time you did not obey God. But now he has been kind to you because the Jews did not obey him.

11:31  So now, they also have not obeyed him. But he will also be kind to them because he was kind to you.

11:32  God allowed people to disobey him. He did it so that he might be kind and forgive all people.

11:33  God is very kind. He is very wise. He knows much. No one can understand why he judges the way he does. No one can find out why he does the things he does.

11:34  The holy writings say, ‘Who has known what the Lord thinks? Who has ever told him what to do?

11:35  Who has given a gift to God first, so that God would give him something also?’

11:36  All things come from God, through God, and return to God. Praise him for ever! Yes, it is so!

Chapter 12

12:1  God has been kind to you. So I ask you, brothers, give your bodies to him like a living sacrifice. That is, a holy sacrifice. It will please God. And it is what you should do for him.

12:2  Do not be like the people of this world, but have a new mind. Then you will prove for yourselves what God wants you to do. That will be good. It will please God. And it will be all right.

12:3  God has given me this gift. So I say this to every one of you. Do not think you are better than you really are. But think of yourself as you are. You are what you are because God has given you something when you believed.

12:4  In a body there are many parts, but all the parts do not do the same thing.

12:5  In the same way, we are many people. But we are one body because we are all joined together in Christ. Each one of us is a part of all the others.

12:6  We have different gifts because God has blessed us in different ways. If a person can speak words from God, he must say what he believes he should say.

12:7  If a person can help others, he must help others. If a person can teach, he must teach.

12:8  If a person can talk to others, he must talk to others. If a person can give something, he must give it gladly. If a person can be a leader, he must try to be a good leader. If a person can help someone, he must do it gladly.

12:9  Your love must be real love. Hate what is wrong. Hold to what is good.

12:10  Love one another very much, like brothers. Honour other people more than you honour yourself.

12:11  Do not hold back in what you do. Let the Spirit burn in you. Work hard for the Lord.

12:12  Be very happy because you have a hope. Be strong when you have trouble. Keep on talking with God.

12:13  Give to God’s people who need it. Be glad to take care of strangers in your house.

12:14  Bless those who do wrong things to you. Bless them. Do not curse them.

12:15  Be happy with people who are happy. Cry with people who cry.

12:16  Agree with one another. Do not be proud, but be friends with anybody. Do not think you are wiser than you are.

12:17  When people do wrong things to you, do not do wrong things to them also. But try to do good things for all people.

12:18  As much as you can, live in peace with everyone.

12:19  My dear brothers, do not punish people who do wrong to you. But let God’s anger punish them. In the holy writings the Lord says, ‘I myself will punish people. If they have done wrong things, I will do wrong things to them also.’

12:20  But, ‘If your enemy is hungry, give him food. If he is thirsty, give him a drink. When you do that, it will be as if you put a pile of coals from the fire on his head.’

12:21  Do not let wrong things win a victory over you. But win a victory over wrong things by the good things you do.

Chapter 13

13:1  Every person must obey the rulers over him. Every ruler has his power from God. And the rulers are put there by God.

13:2  So anyone who fights against the ruler, fights against what God put there. And those who fight will be punished.

13:3  The rulers do not bring fear to a good man, but they bring fear to a bad man. If you do not want to be afraid of a ruler, do what is good and he will praise you.

13:4  Such a person is God’s servant and will do what is good for you. But if you do what is wrong, you should fear him. He has great power and he will use it. He is God’s servant and will punish those who do wrong.

13:5  So you must obey, not only because of the punishment, but because you know it is right.

13:6  That is why you also pay taxes. The rulers serve God and they give all their time to their work.

13:7  Pay them all that they should have. Pay taxes to the person who should have the taxes. Pay money to the person who should have the money. Respect the people who should be respected. Honour a person who should be honoured.

13:8  Do not have any debts, but love each other. Anyone who loves his neighbour has done all that the law says we should do.

13:9  The law says, ‘Do not commit adultery. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not want things that belong to other people.’ These laws and others are all in this one law: ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself.’

13:10  Anyone who loves his neighbour will do no wrong to him. So love does all that the law says to do.

13:11  In all this you know what a special time it is. It is time now for you to wake up from your sleep. The time when we will be saved is nearer to us now than when we first believed.

13:12  The night is almost past. Morning is near. Let us stop doing the wrong things people do in the dark. Let us do the good things that people do in the light.

13:13  Let us live in the right way like people who are in the light. We must not take part in noisy feasting with dancing, or get drunk. We must not do any kind of wrong thing with sex. We must not quarrel or be jealous.

13:14  But you must take the Lord Jesus Christ into your hearts. And do not plan to do the wrong things your bodies want to do.

Chapter 14

14:1  Be ready to take a person into the church even if he does not know and believe all you believe. Do not judge what he thinks about things.

14:2  One person believes he may eat anything. Another person, who does not believe that, eats only things that grow in the garden.

14:3  The one who eats anything must not despise the one who does not eat everything. And the one who does not eat must not judge the person who does. God has accepted him as he is.

14:4  Why do you judge another person’s servant? He stands or he falls before his own master. But he will stand because the Lord can give him power to stand.

14:5  One man thinks, ‘This day is better than that day.’ But another man thinks, ‘All days are alike.’ Every man should be sure in his own mind what he believes.

14:6  One man honours the day to honour the Lord; another man does not honour the day to honour the Lord. The person who eats everything, eats it because he honours the Lord. And he thanks God. And the person who will not eat every kind of food also does so to honour the Lord. And he still gives thanks to God.

14:7  Not one of us lives for himself. And not one of us dies for himself.

14:8  If we live, we live for the Lord. And if we die, we die for the Lord. So then, if we live or if we die we belong to the Lord.

14:9  Christ wanted to be Lord, both of dead people and of living people. That is why he died and lived again.

14:10  Why do you judge your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? We shall all stand before God to be judged.

14:11  The holy writings say, ‘The Lord says, “As sure as I live, every knee will bow to me. Every tongue will praise God.”’

14:12  So each of us will tell God about what he has done.

14:13  So we must not judge each other any longer. But it is better for us to judge this. Never put anything in a brother’s way that will hurt him or that will make him fall down.

14:14  As a Christian, I know and believe that nothing in itself is not right to eat. But it is not right for anyone to eat who thinks it is not right to eat.

14:15  Does what you eat trouble your brother? If it does, you are no longer living in love. Do not destroy the faith of someone because of what you eat. Christ died for him.

14:16  What is good for you must not be something that other people say is wrong.

14:17  The kingdom of God is not about what a person eats and drinks. But it is about living in a way which is right with God. It is peace. It is joy because a person has the Holy Spirit.

14:18  A person who does the work of Christ in this way pleases God. And people like him.

14:19  But we must do the things that make peace and that help each other to do better.

14:20  Do not spoil what God has done because you want some food. Everything is right. But it is wrong for anyone to eat anything if that will make his brother fall.

14:21  The right thing is to eat no meat, and drink no wine, and not do anything that makes your brother fall.

14:22  Keep to yourself and God what you believe about these things. God blesses a man who does not feel he has done wrong when he did what he thought was right.

14:23  But a man who is not sure that he should eat something, does wrong if he eats it. That is because he does not believe the thing he is doing is right to do. And it is wrong to do what you do not believe is right.

Chapter 15

15:1  We who are strong must help those who are not strong. We must not do what pleases us.

15:2  But each of us must please his neighbour. He must do what is good for him and what will help him do better.

15:3  Christ did not please himself. But the holy writings say, ‘I took upon myself the wrong things that people said against you.’

15:4  Everything that is in the holy writings was written to teach us. They give hope and strength when we have troubles. The holy writings comfort our hearts.

15:5  God gives people power to take their troubles and he comforts their hearts. I ask him to help you to think the same way as Christ did.

15:6  Then, together you will praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

15:7  So, accept one another, as Christ has accepted you. Then people will know that God is great.

15:8  What I say is this. Christ came to serve the Jews. He did this to prove that what God said was true. He proved that God kept his promises to the fathers.

15:9  He did this so that people who are not Jews would praise God because he is kind. The holy writings say, ‘So I will praise you among the people who are not Jews. I will sing songs to your name.’

15:10  The holy writings also say, ‘People who are not Jews, be glad with those who are God’s people.’

15:11  And they also say, ‘People who are not Jews, praise the Lord. All peoples should praise him.’

15:12  Also, Isaiah says, ‘Someone from Jesse’s family will come. He will come to rule the people who are not Jews. People who are not Jews will have hope in him.’

15:13  God gives hope. May he make you very happy. May he give you peace because you believe. Then the power of the Holy Spirit will give you much hope.

15:14  My brothers, I myself believe that you are very good people. I believe that you know many things and are able to teach one another.

15:15  I have written strong words to you. There are some things I want you to remember. I have written because of the gift God has given to me.

15:16  I am a servant of Christ Jesus to the people who are not Jews. I am like a priest to them, to tell them God’s good news. Then I offer the people to God. That pleases God. They have been accepted by him and made holy by the Holy Spirit.

15:17  So, because of Christ Jesus, I am proud of my work for God.

15:18  I will speak only of what Christ has done through me. People who are not Jews have obeyed the good news. They have obeyed because of what I told them and because of what I did.

15:19  I had the power to do signs and wonderful things through the power of the Holy Spirit. So I have told the good news of Christ all the way from the city of Jerusalem to the country of Illyricum.

15:20  I have wanted to tell the good news where people have not heard the name of Christ. I did not want to work where another man had started to work.

15:21  The holy writings say, ‘They were not told about him, but they will see him. And the people who have not heard of him will understand.’

15:22  So I have been stopped many times from coming to you.

15:23  But now, I am no longer needed to work in these places. And I have wanted for many years to come to you.

15:24  When I go to the country of Spain, I hope to see you on my way there. I hope you will help me on my way to that place. But first I will be happy to be with you for a little while.

15:25  But now I am going to Jerusalem with a gift to help God’s people.

15:26  The people of Macedonia and Achaia wanted to send a gift to help God’s people in Jerusalem who are poor.

15:27  They wanted to do it, and they should do it for them. The Jews gave the people who were not Jews the good things their spirits need. So the people who were not Jews should give the Jews the good things their bodies need.

15:28  I will finish doing this, and I will give them what the people send them. Then I will go by you on my way to Spain.

15:29  And I know that when I come to you, I will bring great blessings from Christ.

15:30  My brothers, I ask you to do this for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ and because the Spirit has given you love. Talk to God for me. And I also will talk to him.

15:31  Ask him to save me from the people in Judea who do not believe. Ask him that the gift I take to Jerusalem may please God’s people there.

15:32  Ask him to let me come to you and have a good time with you.

15:33  God gives peace. I ask that he will be with you all. He will!

Chapter 16

16:1  I want to tell you good things about our sister Phoebe. She helps in the church in Cenchrea.

16:2  I want you to take her in because she is a Christian. That is what God’s people should do. Help her in any way she needs help. She has helped many people and has helped me too.

16:3  I send greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, who worked with me for Christ Jesus.

16:4  They almost died to save me. I am not the only one who thanks them. All the churches who are not Jews thank them also.

16:5  Give my greetings also to the church in their house. Give my greetings also to dear Epaenetus. He was the first person in Asia Minor to believe in Christ.

16:6  Give my greetings to Mary. She worked hard to help us.

16:7  Give my greetings to Andronicus and Junia. They belong to my family. We were in prison together. The apostles think they are good men. They were Christians before I was.

16:8  Give my greetings to Amplias. I love him because he is a Christian.

16:9  Give my greetings to Urbanus. He worked with us for Christ. Give my greetings to dear Stachys also.

16:10  Give my greetings to Apelles. He has proved himself to be a Christian. Give my greetings to the family of Aristobulus.

16:11  Give my greetings to Herodion. He belongs to my family. Give my greetings to the family of Narcissus. They are Christians.

16:12  Give my greetings to Tryphena and Tryphosa. They worked for the Lord. Give my greetings to dear Persis. She has worked hard for the Lord.

16:13  Give my greetings to Rufus. The Lord chose him. Give my greetings also to his mother who is like a mother to me.

16:14  Give my greetings to Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brothers who are with them.

16:15  Give my greetings to Philologus, Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympas, and all God’s people who are with them.

16:16  Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the Christian churches send greetings to you.

16:17  Brothers, I ask you to do this. Watch the people who make quarrels. They make people do wrong because they teach things you have not been taught. Have nothing to do with those people.

16:18  Those people do not work for our Lord Jesus Christ. They work only for themselves. With their words of praise they fool people who do not know what is wrong.

16:19  People everywhere know that you obey. I am very happy about you. I want you to be wise and know what is right. I want you to know nothing about what is wrong.

16:20  God gives peace. He will soon crush Satan under your feet. May our Lord Jesus Christ bless you.

16:21  Timothy sends you greetings. He worked with me. Luke, Jason, and Sosipater send you greetings. They belong to my family.

16:22  (I, Tertius, send you Christian greetings. I am writing this letter for Paul.)

16:23  Gaius sends you greetings. I am staying in his house. The whole church that meets in his house sends you greetings too. Erastus sends greetings to you. He takes care of the money for the city. Our brother Quartus sends you greetings.

16:24  I ask our Lord Jesus Christ to show you his loving kindness. He will!

16:25  Praise God! He is able to make you stand firm. That is the good news that I tell. That is what the message about Jesus Christ says. The message was kept secret for a long time in the past. But it has now been made known.

16:26  The books of the prophets have told this message. The God who lives for ever told the prophets to write this message so that all the people who are not Jews will believe and obey.

16:27  God is the only one who is wise. Praise him for ever because of Jesus Christ. Yes, it is so!