⁴ And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.^(A)

¹⁷ So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?”^{(A) 18} For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.

²¹ For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed,^(A) malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. ²³ All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

²⁹ They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,^(A)

³² Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death,^(A) they not only continue to do these very things but also approve^(B) of those who practice them.

²⁴ Therefore God gave them over^(A) in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.^{(B) 25} They exchanged the truth about God for a lie,^(C) and worshiped and served created things^(D) rather than the Creator—who is forever praised.^(E) Amen.^(F)

²⁶ Because of this, God gave them over^(G) to shameful lusts.^(H) Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.^{(I) 27} In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.^(J)

²⁸ Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over^(K) to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. ²⁹ They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,^{(L) 30} slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;^{(M) 31} they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love,^(N) no mercy. ³² Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death,^(O) they not only continue to do these very things but also approve^(P) of those who practice them.

¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality,^(A) impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.^(B) I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.^(C)