Montgomery - Romans

Chapter 1

1:1  From Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for a gospel of God,

1:2  which through his prophets he promised beforetime, in holy writings;

1:3  this gospel is concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of David’s posterity in respect of his bodily nature,

1:4  but was by his resurrection from the dead instated as Son of God, with power, in respect of his spirit of holiness.

1:5  It is through him, even Jesus Christ our Lord, that I received grace and apostleship to promote obedience to the faith among all the Gentiles, for his name’s sake;

1:6  among whom you also are called to be Jesus Christ’s.

1:7  To all that are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints. May God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, bless you, and give you peace.

1:8  First I thank my God, through Jesus Christ, for all of you, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout all the world.

1:9  God is my witness, to whom I render holy service in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, how unceasingly I am ever making mention of you in my prayers,

1:10  always entreating him that now at length, if such be his will, the way may be made clear for me to come to you.

1:11  For I am longing so to see you, in order to impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established;

1:12  that is, that I with you may be encouraged by you, each of us by the other’s faith, yours and mine.

1:13  I want you to know, brothers, that many a time I have planned to come to you - though until now I have been hindered - so as to have some harvest-fruit among you also, even as I have among the rest of the Gentiles.

1:14  To Greeks and to barbarians, to the cultured and to the uncultured, I have a debt to discharge.

1:15  So much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

1:16  FOR I AM PROUD OF THE GOSPEL. IT IS GOD’S SAVING POWER FOR EVERY ONE WHO BELIEVES. FOR THE JEW FIRST, AND ALSO FOR THE GENTILE.

1:17  FOR IN IT IS BEING REVEALED A RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH PROCEEDS FROM GOD, FROM FAITH UNTO FAITH; AS IT IS WRITTEN.

1:18  For God’s wrath is ever being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who smother the truth by their unrighteousness.

1:19  This is so because that which may be known of God is manifest among them; for God has made it manifest to them.

1:20  For ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, even his everlasting power and divinity, has been clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made. So they have no excuse.

1:21  For although they knew God, yet they did not glorify him as God, nor give him thanks; but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened.

1:22  While they professed to be wise, they became fools,

1:23  and exchanged the majesty of the imperishable God for an idol, graven in the likeness of perishable man, or of birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things.

1:24  So God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their own bodies;

1:25  because they exchanged the truth of God for an untruth, and worshiped and served the creature, rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen.

1:26  That is why God has given them up to passions of dishonor; for on the one hand their women actually changed the natural function of sex into that which is against nature;

1:27  and on the other hand their men likewise abandoned the natural use of women, and were ablaze with passion for one another; men with men practising shameless acts and receiving in their own person that recompense of their wrong-doing which necessarily followed.

1:28  And just as they refused to continue to retain God in their knowledge, so did God cast them out to an outcast mind, to do those things which were indecent.

1:29  They were overflowing with every kind of iniquity, depravity, greed, and malice. They were full of envy, murder, quarreling, deceit, and malignity.

1:30  They became whisperers, back-biters, hated of God, insolent, haughty, boastful. They invented sins. They were disobedient to parents.

1:31  They were without sense, without faith, without natural affection, without mercy.

1:32  Though they knew well the ordinance of God, that those who practise such vices are worthy of death, they not only continue to do the same, but were even applauding those who practise vice.

Chapter 2

2:1  You are therefore inexcusable, O man, whoever you are, that sits in judgment; for in judging another you are condemning yourself. You, the judge, are habitually practising the very same things.

2:2  "We know that God’s judgment against those who practise such vices is in accord with the truth," you say?

2:3  Very well; and do you suppose, you who judge those that practise such vices, and are doing the very same, that you will elude the judgment of God?

2:4  Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and long patience? Do you not know that the kindness of God is leading you to repentance?

2:5  In your hardness and impenitence of heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath on the Day of Wrath, when the righteous judgment of God is revealed.

2:6  For He will render to every man according to his works;

2:7  eternal life to those who by patience in well-doing strive for glory and honor and immortality;

2:8  but anger and wrath upon those who are self-willed and disobey the truth, but obey unrighteousness.

2:9  Anguish and calamity will be upon every soul of man who practises evil, upon the Jew first, and also upon the Gentile;

2:10  but glory and honor and peace to every man who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.

2:11  For there is no partiality with God.

2:12  For all who have sinned without law will also perish without law; and all who have sinned under law will be judged by law.

2:13  For it is not the hearers of law who are righteous in the eyes of God; nay, it is the doers of law who will be accounted righteous.

2:14  For when Gentiles, who have no law, obey by natural instinct the commands of the Law, they even though they have no law, are a law to themselves.

2:15  For they show that the work of the Law is written in their hearts, while their conscience bears them witness, as their reasonings accuse, or it may be defend, them,

2:16  in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.

2:17  Now if you bear the name of a Jew, and rely upon law, and boast yourself in God,

2:18  and know his will, and can test the things that differ; if you are instructed out of the Law,

2:19  and are confident that you yourself are a darkness,

2:20  an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of the young, because you have in the Law the form of knowledge and of the truth - well then, you who are teaching others, do you ever teach yourself?

2:21  You who are preaching that a man should not steal, do you practise theft?

2:22  You who keep saying that a man should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who hold idols in abhorrence, are you plundering their temples?

2:23  You who are making your boast in the Law, do you habitually dishonor God through your transgressions of the Law?

2:24  For the name of God is continually blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, even as the Scripture itself says.

2:25  Circumcision does indeed profit, if you are obedient to the Law; but if you habitually break the Law, your circumcision is become uncircumcision.

2:26  So if the uncircumcised keeps the ordinance of the Law, shall not his uncircumcision be reckoned equivalent to circumcision.

2:27  And shall not those who are physically uncircumcised, but who keep the Law, condemn you who are a breaker of the Law, although you have a written law and circumcision?

2:28  For the real Jew is not the man who is one outwardly, and the real circumcision is not outward in the flesh;

2:29  but the real Jew is one inwardly, and real circumcision is heart- circumcision, spiritual, not literal, praised not by men, but by God.

Chapter 3

3:1  What special privilege, then, has the Jew? Or what is the use of circumcision?

3:2  Much in every way. First of all, because to them were entrusted the oracles of God.

3:3  Supposing some of them have proved faithless?

3:4  By no means! Be sure that God is ever true, though all mankind prove false. As it is written, That thou mayest be found just in thine argument, And gain thy cause when thou contendest.

3:5  But if our unrighteousness thus brings out God’s righteousness, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous - I speak after the manner of men - when he inflicts his anger on us?

3:6  Be it far from us; for in that case how could God judge the world?

3:7  But if by a falsehood of mine the truthfulness of God has been made to redound to his glory, why am I still tried as a sinner?

3:8  And why not say (as I myself am slanderously reported to say), "Let us do evil that good may come out of it"? Such arguments are rightly condemned.

3:9  What then? Are we Jews in a better position? Not at all, for I have already charged all, both Jews and Gentiles, with being under sin.

3:10  As it is written. There is none righteous, no, not one;

3:11  There is none that understands, none that seeks for God!

3:12  All have swerved from the right path; Every one of them has become corrupt. There is none that practises good, no, not one.

3:13  Their throat is an open grave; With their tongues they have used deceit. The venom of asps is under their lips.

3:14  Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

3:15  Their feet are swift to shed blood.

3:16  Destruction and ruin are in their paths;

3:17  And the path of peace they have not known.

3:18  Reverence for God is not before their eyes.

3:19  Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law; so that every mouth may be shut, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.

3:20  For no man will be justified in God’s sight by works of the Law; for through the Law comes the consciousness of sin.

3:21  But now, quite apart from any law, a righteousness coming from God has been fully brought to light, continually witnessed to by the Law and the Prophets.

3:22  I mean a righteousness coming from God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all who believe. For there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile,

3:23  since all have sinned and lack the glory which comes from God;

3:24  but they are now being justified by his free grace through the deliverance that is in Christ Jesus.

3:25  For God openly set him forth for himself as an offering of atonement through faith, by means of his blood, in order to show forth his righteousness - since in his forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed - to show forth his righteousness,

3:26  I say, at this present time; that he himself might be just, and yet the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus.

3:27  Then what becomes of boasting? It is shut out. What sort of law forbids it? A law of works? No, but a law of faith.

3:28  For I conclude that a man is justified by faith, altogether apart from the deeds of the Law.

3:29  Is God then the God of the Jews alone, and not of the Gentiles also? He is God of the Gentiles also,

3:30  since there is one God who will justify the circumcised through faith, and by their faith will he justify the uncircumcised.

3:31  Do we then render law invalid through faith? Certainly not; on the contrary we make it stand.

Chapter 4

4:1  What then shall we say of Abraham, our ancestor in the flesh?

4:2  For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to be proud of, but not before God.

4:3  For what does Scripture say? And Abraham believed God, and it was set down to his account as righteousness.

4:4  Now if a man earn his pay by his work, it is not counted to him as a favor, but it is paid him as a debt;

4:5  but a man who does not "work," but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, has his faith imputed to him for righteousness.

4:6  Just as David also speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from actions.

4:7  Blessed he says are they whose iniquities have been forgiven, And whose sins have been covered.

4:8  Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

4:9  Is this blessing, then, for the circumcised alone? or for the uncircumcised also? Abraham’s faith, I say, was imputed to him for righteousness.

4:10  How then was it imputed to him? When he was circumcised? or uncircumcised? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision;

4:11  and he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the faith- righteousness which he had while he was in uncircumcision; in order that he might be the father of all who believe, even though they are uncircumcised; so that righteousness might be imputed to them.

4:12  He is the father of circumcision to those who are not merely circumcised, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham which he held while he was as yet uncircumcised.

4:13  For the promise that he should be heir of the world did not come to Abraham or to his posterity through law, but through faith- righteousness.

4:14  For if those who are righteous through law are heirs, faith is empty and the promise becomes void.

4:15  For law works wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there transgression.

4:16  This is why righteousness is of faith, that it may be a free gift; so that the promise stands firm to all Abraham’s posterity; not to his children of his faith. For in the sight of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead, and calls into being that which is not, Abraham is the father of us all both Jews and Gentiles,

4:17  as it is written, I have made you a father of many nations.

4:18  For Abraham, hoping against hope, had faith to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, So numberless shall your descendants be.

4:19  Though he was about a hundred years old, his faith did not fail him when he regarded his own body, now as good as dead. and remembered Sarah’s barrenness.

4:20  Nor did he with regard to the promise of God waver in unbelief, but he waxed strong in faith, while he gave God glory,

4:21  and was fully persuaded that what God had promised, he was able also to perform.

4:22  And so his faith was reckoned to him for righteousness.

4:23  Now these words were not written simply for his sake, but for us as well.

4:24  For it will be "reckoned for righteousness." to us also, who believe on him that raised from the dead our Lord Jesus;

4:25  who was betrayed to death for our transgressions, and raised again to life for our justification.

Chapter 5

5:1  Since we stand justified as the result of faith, let us continue to enjoy the peace we have with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

5:2  Through him also we have had our access into this grace in which we have taken our stand, and are exulting in hope of the glory of God.

5:3  And not only so, but we are actually exulting also even in our troubles; for we know that trouble works fortitude,

5:4  and fortitude character, and character, hope -

5:5  a hope which never disappoints us. For through the Holy Spirit who has given to us, the "brimming river of the love of God" has overflowed in our hearts.

5:6  For while we were still without strength, Christ died in due time for the ungodly.

5:7  Why, a man will hardly give his life for another, even for a righteous man, though perchance for a good man one might even take it upon himself to die.

5:8  But God gives proof of his love to us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

5:9  By how much more, then, being now justified in his blood, shall we be saved through him from the wrath of God.

5:10  For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved in his life.

5:11  And not only that, but we exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now obtained our reconciliation.

5:12  Thus, then, sin came into the world through one man, and through sin came death and so death spread to all men, because all had sinned.

5:13  For prior to the Law, sin actually existed in the world, but sin was not set down to man’s account when there was no law.

5:14  Nevertheless, from Adam to Moses death reigned as king, even over those who had not sinned after the likeness of Adam’s transgression. Now Adam is a type of Him who was to come.

5:15  But the free gift is not like the transgression; for if through the transgression of that one man the rest on men died, much more did the grace of God and the gift given in his grace in the one Man, Jesus Christ, overflow unto the rest of men.

5:16  And it is not with the free gift as it was through the one that sinned; for the judgment came from one transgression unto condemnation; but the free gift came from many transgressions unto acquittal.

5:17  For if through the transgression of the one, death reigned as king through the one, much more shall those who receive the overflowing grace and gift of righteousness reign as kings in life through One, through Jesus Christ.

5:18  It follows then, as through the transgression of one man came condemnation unto all men, even so through the act of righteousness of One came acquittal and life to all men.

5:19  For just as through the disobedience of one man the rest were made sinners; even so by the obedience of One shall all the rest be made righteous.

5:20  Now law was brought in so that transgression might abound; but where sin abounded, grace super-abounded;

5:21  in order that as sin has ruled as king in death, so also grace might rule as king in righteousness which issues in eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord, - ours!

Chapter 6

6:1  What then shall we say? Shall we continue to abound in sin, in order that grace may come to abound?

6:2  No indeed; how shall we who have died to sin still go on living in it any longer?

6:3  For do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Jesus Christ, have been baptized into his death?

6:4  We have been buried together with him, then, through baptism into his death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we should live in a newness of life.

6:5  For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, so we shall also be united with him in the likeness of his resurrection.

6:6  For this we know, that our old self was crucified with Christ, in order that the slave of sin might be destroyed; so that we should no longer be in slavery to sin -

6:7  for he who is dead is set free from sin.

6:8  Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him;

6:9  knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more; death has no more dominion over him.

6:10  For the death that he died, he died unto sin once for all; but the life that he lives he is living unto God.

6:11  Even so count yourselves also to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus.

6:12  Therefore let not sin rule as king in your mortal body, compelling you to obey its lusts.

6:13  Do not continue to present any part of your body to sin to be used as a weapon of unrighteousness. On the contrary, be presenting yourselves to God, as alive from the dead, and the various parts of your bodies to be used as weapons of righteousness.

6:14  For sin shall not lord it over you; for you are not under the rule of law, but under the rule of grace.

6:15  What then? Shall we commit an act of sin because we are not under law, but under grace? Certainly not.

6:16  Do you not know that when you surrender yourselves as slaves to any one to obey him, you are his slaves whom you obey; whether it be sin, whose end is death, or obedience, whose end is righteousness?

6:17  But God be thanked that you who were once the slaves of sin have obeyed from your hearts that type of teaching to which you were appointed;

6:18  and being set free from sin, you became the slaves of righteousness -

6:19  I speak in these homely figures because of the weakness of your fleshly nature - just as you once surrendered your faculties into slavery to impurity and to all lawlessness, so now you must surrender your faculties into slavery to righteousness, unto deeds of holiness.

6:20  For when you were the slaves of sin, you were under no subjection to righteousness.

6:21  What harvest-fruit then had you at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

6:22  But now that you have been set free from sin and become slaves of God, the harvest-fruit which you are reaping tends to produce holiness, and it ends is life eternal.

6:23  FOR THE POOR WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH, BUT THE FREE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS, OUR MASTER.

Chapter 7

7:1  Surely, brothers, you know (for I am speaking to those who know what law means) that law governs a person only during his lifetime?

7:2  For a married woman who has a husband is bound by law to her husband during his lifetime; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.

7:3  So then, if during her husband lifetime, she unites herself with another man, she will be counted an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the Law, so that she is no adulteress, even if she unites herself with another man.

7:4  So also, my brother, you were made dead to the Law through the body of Christ; that you should be joined to another, even to Him who was raised from the dead that we might bear fruit for God.

7:5  For while we were unspiritual, the sinful passions, aroused by the Law, were ever active in every part of our bodies, leading us to bear fruit unto death.

7:6  But now we have been released from the Law, because we are dead to that in which we were held; so that we are now in thraldom in new and spiritual conditions, and not under the old written code.

7:7  What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? Certainly not. On the contrary I should not have become acquainted with sin had it not been for the Law; for except the Law had repeatedly said, "Thou shalt not lust," I should never have known the sin of lust.

7:8  But when sin had gained a vantage-ground, by means of the commandment, it stirred up within me all manner of lust; for where there is no law, sin is dead.

7:9  Once I lived apart from the Law, myself; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died;

7:10  and the very commandment which should have meant life, this I found to mean death.

7:11  For sin, when it had gained a vantage-ground through the commandment, beguiled me, and through it slew me.

7:12  So then the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

7:13  Did then that which was good become for me death? Never! but sin did; that it might be manifest as sin, by that the unutterable malignity of sin might become plain through the commandment.

7:14  For we know that the Law is spiritual; but as for me, I am a creature of flesh, bought and sold under the dominion of sin.

7:15  For what I perform I know not; what I practise is not what I intend to do, but what I detest, that I habitually do.

7:16  If then I habitually do what I do not intend to do, I am consenting to the Law, that it is right.

7:17  And now it is longer I myself who do the deed, but it is sin which has its home in me.

7:18  For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, no good thing has its home; for while to will is present with me, to carry out that which is right is not.

7:19  For the good that I intend to do, I do not; but the evil which I do not; but the evil which I do not intend to do, that I am ever practising.

7:20  But if I do the very thing I do not intend to do, it is no more I who practise it, but sin which has its home in me.

7:21  I find, then, this law, that when I intend to do good, evil is ever present with me.

7:22  For in my inmost self I delight in the law of God;

7:23  but I find a different law in my bodily faculties, waging war with the law of my will, and taking me prisoner to that law of sin which is in my bodily faculties.

7:24  Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this slave of death?

7:25  Oh, thank God! it is through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I myself in my will am in thraldom to the law of God; yet in my animal nature I am in thraldom to the law of sin.

Chapter 8

8:1  Thus there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus;

8:2  for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and of death.

8:3  For God has done what the Law could not do, weakened as it was by flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and on account of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;

8:4  in order that the Law might be fulfilled in us who order our lives not after the flesh, but after the spirit.

8:5  For they who live after the flesh, give their attention to the things of the flesh; But they who live after the spirit, give their attention to spiritual things.

8:6  To be earthly minded means death; To be spiritually minded means life and peace.

8:7  For to be earthly minded is enmity against God; For such a mind is not subject to the Law of God, Nor can it be;

8:8  And they who are earthly minded cannot please God.

8:9  But you are not earthly, but spiritual, if indeed the Spirit of God is really dwelling in you. If any one does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

8:10  But if Christ is in you, though your bodily self is dead because of sin, your spirit is full of life because of righteousness.

8:11  But if the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from dead is dwelling in you, He who raised up Jesus from the dead is dwelling in you, He who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also make your dying bodily self live by his indwelling Spirit in your lives.

8:12  Therefore, brothers, we are debtors - but not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh;

8:13  for if you go on living according to the flesh, you are on the road to die; but if by the Spirit you keep putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

8:14  For only those are sons of God who are led by God’s Spirit.

8:15  For you have not received a spirit of slavery in order that you should once more be afraid; but you have received a spirit of adoption, in which we cry out, "My Father, my dear Father!"

8:16  For his Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God;

8:17  and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; but to share his glory, we must now be sharing his sufferings.

8:18  For I count as nothing what we now suffer, in comparison with the glory which will soon be unveiled to us.

8:19  All nature even is waiting with eager longing for the unveiling of the vision of God’s sons.

8:20  For nature was subjected to imperfection, not by its own will, but by the will of Him who thus made it subject -

8:21  yet not without the hope that some day nature itself also will be freed from the thraldom of decay, into the freedom which belongs to the glory of the children of God.

8:22  For we know that all nature has been groaning and travailing together until this hour.

8:23  And not only that, we ourselves, although we are grasping the first- fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves are inwardly groaning, while we are waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body.

8:24  For by hope we are saved; but hope which is clearly seen is no longer hope.

8:25  Who hopes for what he clearly sees? But if we hope for something that we do not see, we then patiently wait for it.

8:26  In the same way the Spirit also takes hold with us in our weakness; for we know knot how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

8:27  And the Searcher of Hearts knows what the Sprit’s meaning is, because his intercessions for the saints are according to the will of God.

8:28  Now we know that all things continually work together for good to to those who love God, to those who have been the called according to his purpose.

8:29  For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, so that he might be the eldest of a great brotherhood;

8:30  and whom he foreordained, those he also called; and whom he called, those he also justified; and whom he justified, those he also glorified.

8:31  What shall we say then, to these things? If God be for us, Who can be against us?

8:32  He that spared not his own Son, But freely delivered him up for us all, How shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

8:33  Who shall accuse God’s elect? God acquits them;

8:34  Who is there to condemn them? Will Christ who died? Yes, and who rose from the dead, The Christ who is also at the right hand of God, And is interceding for us?

8:35  What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall anguish, or calamity, or persecution, or famine? Shall nakedness, or peril, or sword?

8:36  Even as it is written. For thy sake we are killed all the day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors Through Him who loved us.

8:38  For I am fully persuaded that neither death nor life, Neither angels nor principalities, nor powers, Neither the present world nor the world to come, Nor the powers of Nature,

8:39  Nor height, nor depth, Nor any other created thing, Shall be able to separate us from the love of God Which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Chapter 9

9:1  I am speaking the truth in Christ, it is no lie. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have deep sorrow

9:2  and incessant anguish in my heart.

9:3  For I was on the point of praying to be accursed from Christ on behalf of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

9:4  For they are Israelites; to them belong the sonship, the Shekinah glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law; the service of the temple, and the promises;

9:5  theirs are the patriarchs, and of them, as concerning the flesh, is Christ, who is over all, God, blessed forever, Amen.

9:6  It is not, however, as though God’s word had failed! For they are not all Israel who have sprung from Israel;

9:7  they are not all children of Abraham because they are Abraham’s descendants. The promise was, In Isaac shall thy posterity be called.

9:8  That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as his posterity.

9:9  For thus is the word of promise, According to this season I will come, and Sarah shall bear a son.

9:10  And not only so, but when Rebecca was pregnant by our forefather Isaac, though one man was the father of both children,

9:11  and even though they were still unborn, and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that the purpose of God might stand according to election, not of works, but of Him who called,

9:12  it was said to her, The elder shall serve the younger.

9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

9:14  What shall we say then? that there is injustice with God? No indeed.

9:15  His words to Moses are. I will have mercy on whom I choose to have mercy; I will have compassion on whom I choose to have compassion.

9:16  So then it is not a question of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy.

9:17  For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, It is for this very purpose that I have raised you up, To show in you my power, And to proclaim my name far and wide, in all the earth.

9:18  So then he has mercy on whom he will, and whom he will, he hardens.

9:19  Then you will say to me. "Why does he still go on finding fault? Who can withstand his will?"

9:20  "Nay, but who are you, O man, that replies to God? Shall the thing formed say unto him who formed it, "Why did you do me like this?"

9:21  Or has not the potter power over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for noble, and another for ignoble uses?

9:22  But what if God, while intending to show forth his wrath, and to make known his power, yet endured, with much long-suffering, vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction?

9:23  And what if he thus purposed to make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he had before prepared for glory?

9:24  Now such are we whom he has called, not only from among the Jews, but also from among the Gentiles.

9:25  As he also said in Hosea. Those who were not my people I will call "my people," And her "beloved" who was not beloved;

9:26  And in that very spot where it was told them, "You are not my people," There they shall be called "Sons of the living God."

9:27  And in regard to Israel, Isaiah exclaims. Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sands of the sea, it is but a remnant of those who shall be saved;

9:28  for the Lord will execute his word upon the earth, finishing it and cutting it short.

9:29  Even as in an earlier passage, Isaiah says, Except the Lord of Sabbath had us some few descendants, we should have become like Sodom, and should have fared like Gomorrah.

9:30  What then shall we say? That Gentiles who never pursed righteousness have overtaken it, even the righteousness of faith?

9:31  But that the descendants of Israel, who were in pursuit of a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law?

9:32  And why? Because they sought it not by faith, but thought to gain it by works. They stumbled at the stone of stumbling;

9:33  even as it is written. Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense; but he that believes on Him shall not be put to shame.

Chapter 10

10:1  Brothers, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for my countrymen, that they may be saved.

10:2  For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, only it is a zeal without knowledge.

10:3  For because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness, and sought to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit themselves to the righteousness of God.

10:4  For to every believer Christ is an end of law as a means of righteousness.

10:5  For Moses writes concerning the righteousness of the Law, saying, The man that doeth it shall live by it.

10:6  But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way. Say not in thine heart, "Who shall ascend to heaven?" - that is, to bring Christ down;

10:7  Nor,"who shall descend into the abyss?" - that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.

10:8  But what does it say? The word is near thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the very word of faith which we preach;

10:9  Confess with your mouth "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God actually raised him from the dead, and you will be saved.

10:10  For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

10:11  The Scriptures say, Whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.

10:12  For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, because the same Lord Jesus is all over, and is rich unto all who call upon Him;

10:13  for Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

10:14  How then shall thy call upon Him in whom they do not believe? And how are they to believe in One of whom they have never heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

10:15  And how can men preach unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who bring a glad gospel.

10:16  And yet they did not all hearken to the good news; for Isaiah said, Lord, who hath believed our message?

10:17  So faith comes from a message heard, and the message comes from the teaching of Christ.

10:18  But I ask, Did they fail to hear? Yes, truly, Their sound has gone out unto all the earth, And their words unto the ends of the world.

10:19  But I say, Did Israel not know? First Moses says. I will provoke you to jealousy with that which is no nation; Against a Gentile nation, void of understanding, will I anger you.

10:20  But Isaiah speaks very boldly, I was found of those who were not seeking me, I was made manifest to those who were not asking for me.

10:21  But to Israel he says, All day long I have been spreading out my hands unto a disobedient and contrary people.

Chapter 11

11:1  Then I ask, Did God cast off his people? No indeed. For I also am an Israelite, a son of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.

11:2  God did not cast off his people whom he foreknew. For do you not know what is said in the Scripture about Elijah? how he pleaded with God against Israel, saying,

11:3  Lord, they have killed thy prophets, they have overthrown thine altars; And now I alone am left, and they seek my life.

11:4  But what was the answer of God to him? I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

11:5  In the same way also at this time there is a remnant chosen by gift of grace.

11:6  But if it is by grace, it is no longer of works; or else grace is no more grace.

11:7  What then? that which Israel has been seeking for, that he has not obtained; but the chosen have obtained it, and the rest have been hardened.

11:8  According as it is written, God has given them a spirit of slumber, Eyes that they should not see, Ears that they should not hear, unto this day.

11:9  As David says. Let their table be made a snare and a trap, And a stumbling-block and a recompense unto them;

11:10  Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, And bow thou down their backs forever.

11:11  I ask then, "Have they stumbled so as to fall?" No indeed; but by their lapse salvation has come unto Gentiles, "to provoke Israel to jealousy."

11:12  Now if their stumbling enriches the world, and their loss enriches the Gentiles, how much more must their fulness do!

11:13  For to you who are Gentiles I say that since I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I glorify my ministry,

11:14  if by any means I might "provoke to jealousy" my kinsmen, and save some among them.

11:15  For if their casting out is the reconciliation of the world to God, what will their restoration be but life out of death?

11:16  Now if the first-fruits of the dough Abraham and the Patriarchs are holy, so also is the whole mass their descendants. And if the root of a tree Abraham is holy, so also are the branches his descendants.

11:17  Supposing that some of the branches have been broken off, and you, although you were but a wild olive, have been grafted in among the branches and have become a partaker with them of the fatness of the olive tree, do not glory over the branches;

11:18  or if you are glorying, remember that it is not you who uphold the root, but the root which upholds you.

11:19  "Branches have been broken off," you say, "that I might be grafted in."

11:20  True, through their unbelief they were broken off, and by your faith you stand. Do not be puffed up, but fear;

11:21  for if God spared not the natural branches, neither will he spare you.

11:22  Fix your gaze, therefore, on the goodness and the severity of God; towards those who fell, severity, but towards you, God’s goodness, if you continue stedfast in his goodness; otherwise you, too, will be cut off.

11:23  And they also those Jews, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in again; for God is able to graft them in again.

11:24  For if you were cut out of that which is by nature a mere wild olive tree, and have been grafted, contrary to nature, into a fruitful olive tree, how much more shall these, the natural branches, be regrafted into their own olive tree?

11:25  For I would not, my brothers, have you ignorant of this hidden truth, for fear that you become wise in your own conceits. that a hardening in part has befallen Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles is come in.

11:26  And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written. The deliver will come from Zion, He will banish all ungodliness from Jacob;

11:27  This is my covenant with them, When I shall take away their sins.

11:28  In relation to the gospel, the Jews are God’s enemies for your sake; but in relation to the election, they are dearly loved for their forefather’s sake.

11:29  For no change of purpose can annul God’s free gift and call.

11:30  And as in times past you were yourselves disobedient to God, but now, thanks to their disobedience, have obtained mercy;

11:31  even so they also have now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they also may now obtain mercy.

11:32  For God has locked up all in the prison of disobedience, that upon all he may have mercy.

11:33  Oh, the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unfathomable are his judgments, and how unsearchable his paths!

11:34  Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor?

11:35  Who has first given to Him, So as to receive payment in return?

11:36  For of him and through him, and for him, are all things. All glory to him forever and ever! Amen.

Chapter 12

12:1  I entreat you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies to Him as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This is your reasonable service of worship.

12:2  And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

12:3  For, through the grace that was given to me, I tell every man among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but so to think, as to think soberly, according to the measure of faith which God has given him.

12:4  For even as we have many members in one body, and not all members have the same function;

12:5  so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and we are severally members of one another.

12:6  But we have gifts differing according to the grace which was given to us. He that has the gift of prophecy, let him prophesy according to the proportion of his faith.

12:7  If it is the gift of administration, let us give ourselves to our service.

12:8  Let the teacher give himself to his teaching; and he who exhorts others to his exhortation. He who gives, let him do it in singleness of mind. He who rules, let him rule with diligence; and he who shows mercy must be cheerful.

12:9  Let love be without insincerity. Abhor what is evil; wed yourselves to what is good.

12:10  As for brotherly love, be tenderly affectionate one to another, in honor preferring one another.

12:11  In your diligence be free from sloth. Be glowing in spirit. Slave for the master.

12:12  Rejoice in hope; be patient under affliction; continue stedfast in prayer.

12:13  Be liberal to needy saints. Practise hospitality.

12:14  Bless your persecutors, bless, and curse not.

12:15  Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.

12:16  Have full sympathy with one another. Set not your minds on high affairs, but associate with lowly folk. Do not be wise in your own conceits.

12:17  Do not pay back evil for evil. Aim to do what is honorable in the eyes of all.

12:18  If it be possible, so far as it lies with you, be at peace with all men.

12:19  Never revenge yourself, beloved, but leave the field clear for God’s wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay," says the Lord.

12:20  On the contrary, therefore, If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will be heaping burning coals on his head.

12:21  Do not be overcome by evil, but be overcoming evil with good.

Chapter 13

13:1  Every one should be in the higher authorities; for there is no authority apart from God. The authorities that now exist have been appointed by God.

13:2  Therefore the man who rebels against authority is opposing the divine ordinances; and those who withstand will bring judgment on themselves.

13:3  For rulers are no terror to good deeds, but to evil. Would you be fearless of the ruler’s authority? Do what is good, and you will have his praise.

13:4  For the ruler is God’s minister appointed for your good. But if you are a wrong-doer, be afraid; he does not carry the sword to no purpose; he is God’s servant, appointed to vengeance upon the guilty.

13:5  Wherefore you must needs be in subjection, not only because of fear, but also for conscience sake.

13:6  This too, is the reason why you pay taxes; because the authorities are ministers of God’s service, attending continually upon this very thing.

13:7  Render to all their dues; taxes to whom taxes, customs to whom customs, respect to whom respect, and homage to whom homage is due.

13:8  Never owe any one anything save the debt of brotherly love; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the Law.

13:9  For the Law which says, Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet, and whatever other commandment there be - is all summed up in this one saying, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

13:10  Love never wrongs his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilment of the Law.

13:11  Carry out these injunctions because you know the crisis that we are in, that now it is high time for you to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed.

13:12  The night is far spent; The day is at hand. Let is therefore take off the deeds of darkness, Let us put on the armor of light.

13:13  Let us live honestly, as in the day, Not in reveling and drunkenness, Not in lust and licentiousness, Not is strife and jealousy;

13:14  But clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, And make no provisions for your earthly nature And the gratification of its lusts.

Chapter 14

14:1  Welcome a man of weak faith, but not for the purpose of deciding doubtful points.

14:2  One man has faith to eat anything; but he whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.

14:3  He who eats meat must not despise the man who abstains; and let not the man who abstains judge him who eats; for God has received him.

14:4  Who are you just that judges the household-servant of another? To his own lord he stands or falls. And stand he will, for his Master has power to make him stand.

14:5  There are some who esteem one day above another; there are others who esteem all days alike; let each other be fully persuaded in his own mind.

14:6  He who regards the day, regards it unto his Lord; and he who regards it not, disregards it unto his Lord. He who eats meat, eats unto his Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who abstains, abstains unto his Lord, since he, too, gives God thanks.

14:7  For not one of us lives unto himself, and not one dies unto himself.

14:8  If we live, we live unto our Lord; if we die, we die unto our Lord. So then, whether we live or die, we belong to our Lord.

14:9  For this purpose Christ died and became alive again, that he might be the Lord both of the dead and of the living.

14:10  But you the abstainer, why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you again the non-abstainer, why do you despise yours? For we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of God.

14:11  For it is written, "As I live," says the Lord, "to me every knee shall bow, And to God shall every tongue confess."

14:12  So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God.

14:13  So let us no longer pass judgment on one another; rather let this be your judgment, that no one put a stumbling-block in his brother’s way, nor any cause of falling.

14:14  I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is in itself unclean; but any food is "unclean" for one who considers it "unclean."

14:15  If your brother is continually pained because of your food, you are not conducting yourself any longer in love. Do not, by what you eat, persist in destroying a man for whom Christ died.

14:16  Therefore do not let what is right, so far as you are concerned, be evil spoken of.

14:17  For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

14:18  Those who are slaving for Christ devotedly in these ways, are well pleasing to God and highly commended by man.

14:19  So then let is eagerly pursue the things that make for peace and the upbuilding of each other.

14:20  Do not, for the sake of food, be tearing down God’s work. All food indeed is ceremonially clean, but a man is in the wrong if his food proves a stumbling-block.

14:21  The right course is not to eat meat, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything through which your brother is made to stumble.

14:22  Have you faith? Keep it to yourself as in the presence of God. He is a happy man who does not condemn himself in that which he approves.

14:23  But he who has misgivings, and yet eats meat, is condemned already, because his action is not based on faith; and whatever is not based on faith is sin.

Chapter 15

15:1  Now we who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to seek our own pleasure.

15:2  Let each one of us try to make his neighbor happy for his good, unto his upbuilding.

15:3  For even Christ pleased not himself; but as it is written, The reproaches of those who were reproaching thee fell upon me.

15:4  For everything that was written of old has been written for our instruction, that through patience, and through the comfort of the Scriptures, we might have hope.

15:5  Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be in full sympathy with one another, in accordance with the example of Jesus Christ;

15:6  so that with one heart and with one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

15:7  Wherefore always receive one another into fellowship, to the glory of God, even as Christ also received you.

15:8  For I say that Christ has been made a minister of the Circumcision the people of Israel, in vindication of God’s truth, so that he may confirm the promises given to our forefathers;

15:9  and so that the Gentiles also should praise God for his mercy, as it is written, Therefore I will offer praise to thee among the Gentiles, And sing to thy name.

15:10  Or again, Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.

15:11  Or again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles, And let all the people extol him.

15:12  Or again, as Isaiah says. There shall be the root of Jesse, And he that arises to rule over the Gentiles; On him shall the Gentiles hope.

15:13  Now the God of all hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may be overflowing with hope in the power of the Holy Spirit.

15:14  And I myself also am confident regarding you, my brothers, that you yourselves are already full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and well able to give advice to one another.

15:15  Still I have written unto you the more boldly, in part, by way of reminding you, because of that gift of grace which God bestowed upon me, in making me a priest of Jesus Christ unto the Gentiles.

15:16  I act as priest of the gospel of God; so that the Gentiles, when offered before him, may be an acceptable sacrifice, because consecrated by the Holy Spirit.

15:17  I have then my boast in Christ Jesus concerning the things of God.

15:18  For I will not dare to speak of any thing except that which Christ has done through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed,

15:19  through the might of signs and wonders, in the power of the Holy Spirit. So that beginning at Jerusalem and its environs, I have proclaimed without reserve the gospel of Christ, even as far as Illyricum.

15:20  My ambition has been, however, to preach the gospel where Christ’s name was not already known, so that I might not build upon another man’s foundation.

15:21  But, as Scripture says, He shall be seen by those to whom no news about him ever came, And those who have never heard of him shall understand.

15:22  This is why I have been so hindered from coming to you.

15:23  But now, since I have no more any "opening" in these parts, and since I have longed for many years to come to you

15:24  whenever I go to Spain, I am hoping to see you on my way there, and to be set forward by you on my way there, and to be set forward by you on my journey thither, after I have enjoyed your company for a little while.

15:25  Just now I am going to Jerusalem to serve the saints.

15:26  For it has been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make an offering for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem.

15:27  Yes, it has been made their good pleasure, and their debt, too. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual riches, they owe it to them also to minister to them the Jews in worldly goods.

15:28  When, therefore, I have settled this, and have secured to them the poor at Jerusalem the fruit of this collection, I shall come on by you into Spain.

15:29  And I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of Christ.

15:30  Brothers, I beseech you, by Jesus Christ our Lord, and by the love which the Spirit gives, to help me in my struggle by your prayers to God on my behalf,

15:31  that I may be delivered from the disobedient in Judea; that my mission to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the saints;

15:32  and that I may come to you in joy, by the will of God, and find rest together with you.

15:33  The God of peace be with you all! Amen.

Chapter 16

16:1  I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a minister of the church at Cenchrae.

16:2  I beg you to give her a Christian welcome, as the saints should; and to assist her in any matter in which she may have need of you. For she herself has been made an overseer to many people, including myself.

16:3  Salute Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow laborers in the cause of Jesus Christ,

16:4  who risked their own lives to save mine; who are thanked not only by me,

16:5  but by all the churches among the Gentiles. Salute likewise the church that meets in their home. Salute Epaenetus, my dearly beloved, the first man in Roman Asia to believe in Christ.

16:6  Salute Mary, who toiled terribly for you;

16:7  and Andronicus and Junia, my kinsfolk and fellow prisoners, who are notable among the apostles, and who became Christians before I did.

16:8  Salute Amplias, my beloved in the Lord;

16:9  and Urbanus, my fellow toiler in Christ; and Stachys, my dear, dear friend.

16:10  Salute Apellas, tested and tried in Christ, and the household of Aristobulus,

16:11  and Herodion, my kinsman. Salute the believing members of the household of Narcissus.

16:12  Salute Trypheana and Tryphosa, who are ever toiling in the Lord. Salute dear Persis, who has toiled terribly in the Lord’s service.

16:13  Salute Rufus, the chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.

16:14  Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are associated with them.

16:15  Salute Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, Olympas, and all the saints associated with them.

16:16  Salute one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ salute you.

16:17  I exhort you, brothers, to keep watch of those who are causing the divisions among you, and occasions of stumbling, contrary to the teaching which you have learned.

16:18  Turn away from them. For men of that stamp are not the slaves of Christ, but are slaves to their own appetites. By their smooth and fair speech they beguile the hearts of the innocent.

16:19  I say this, for the tidings of your obedience have been told throughout the world. On your own behalf, then, I rejoice; but I want you to be wise unto the good, but innocents in evil.

16:20  The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

16:21  Timothy, my fellow worker, salutes you; so do my fellow countrymen Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater.

16:22  I, Tertius, who write this letter, salute you in the Lord.

16:23  Gaius, my host, and the host of the church, salutes you. Erastus, the treasurer of the city, salutes you, and so does brother Quartus.

16:24  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all!

16:25  Now I commend you to Him who is able to keep you stedfast, according to my gospel, and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, whereby is unveiled the secret truth which was kept secret through immemorial ages,

16:26  but now has been brought to light, and by command of the eternal God made known to the Gentiles by the scriptures of the Prophets, so that the Gentiles might hold obedience of the faith.

16:27  Unto Him, the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be glory forever. Amen.