49 Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world,

² both low and high, rich and poor together.

³ My mouth shall speak of wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.

⁴ I will incline mine ear to a parable; I will open my dark saying upon the harp.

⁵ Why should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity at my heels shall compass me about?

⁶ They that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches,

⁷ none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him

⁸ (for the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever),

⁹ that they should still live for ever, and not see corruption.

¹⁰ For he seeth that wise men die; likewise the fool and the brutish person perish and leave their wealth to others.

¹¹ Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names.

¹² Nevertheless man, though he be in honor, abideth not; he is like the beasts that perish.

¹³ This their way is their folly, yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah

¹⁴ Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them, and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, and their beauty shall be consumed in the grave away from their dwelling.

¹⁵ But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for He shall receive me. Selah

¹⁶ Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased.

¹⁷ For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not descend after him.

¹⁸ Though while he lived he blessed his soul (and men will praise thee when thou doest well for thyself),

¹⁹ he shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.

²⁰ Man, though he is in honor but understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.

50 The Mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.

² Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.

³ Our God shall come and shall not keep silence; a devouring fire shall go before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him.

⁴ He shall call to the heavens from above and to the earth, that He may judge His people:

⁵ “Gather My saints together unto Me, those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”

⁶ And the heavens shall declare His righteousness, for God Himself is judge. Selah

⁷ “Hear, O My people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.

⁸ I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before Me.

⁹ I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor hegoats out of thy folds.

¹⁰ For every beast of the forest is Mine and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

¹¹ I know all the fowls of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field are Mine.

¹² If I were hungry I would not tell thee, for the world is Mine and the fullness thereof.

¹³ Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?

¹⁴ “Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the Most High,

¹⁵ and call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.”

¹⁶ But unto the wicked God saith: “What hast thou to do to declare My statutes, or that thou shouldest take My covenant in thy mouth,

¹⁷ seeing thou hatest instruction and castest My words behind thee?

¹⁸ When thou sawest a thief, then thou consented with him, and thou hast been partaker with adulterers.

¹⁹ Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.

²⁰ Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son.

²¹ These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself. But I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes.

²² “Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver:

²³ Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me; and to him that ordereth his manner of living aright, I will show the salvation of God.”

1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle and separated unto the Gospel of God,

² which He had promised before by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,

³ concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh,

⁴ and was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead,

⁵ by whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name,

⁶ among whom ye also are the called of Jesus Christ.

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

⁸ First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.

⁹ For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers,

¹⁰ making request that now at length and by any means I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.

¹¹ For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift to the end that ye may be established:

¹² that is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith of both you and me.

¹³ Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I have purposed to come unto you (but was prevented hitherto), that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.

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

¹⁵ so, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the Gospel to you also who are at Rome.

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one who believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

¹⁷ For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written: “The just shall live by faith.”

¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness,

¹⁹ because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath shown it unto them.

²⁰ For from the creation of the world the invisible things of Him are clearly seen, being understood through the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

²¹ For when they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God, nor were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

²² Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

²³ and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and to birds and fourfooted beasts and creeping things.

²⁴ Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies among themselves.

²⁵ They changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

²⁶ For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women changed the natural use into that which is against nature.

²⁷ And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another, men with men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense for their error which was meet.

²⁸ And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not fitting,

²⁹ being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity. They are whisperers,

³⁰ backbiters, haters of God, spiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

³¹ without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affections, implacable, unmerciful.

³² And knowing the judgment of God, that those who commit such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but have pleasure in those who do them.