^22 (A)Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and ^(B)exchanged the glory of ^(C)the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

²⁴ Therefore ^(D)God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to ^(E)the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵ because they exchanged the truth about God for ^(F)a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, ^(G)who is blessed forever! Amen.

²⁶ For this reason ^(H)God gave them up to ^(I)dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; ²⁷ and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, ^(J)men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

²⁸ And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, ^(K)God gave them up to ^(L)a debased mind to do ^(M)what ought not to be done. ²⁹ They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, ³¹ foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. ³² Though they know ^(N)God's righteous decree that those who practice such things ^(O)deserve to die, they not only do them but ^(P)give approval to those who practice them.

¹³ And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are ^(A)all his wonderful deeds ^(B)that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

^17 (A)But we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to ^(B)the queen of heaven ^(C)and pour out drink offerings to her, ^(D)as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no disaster. ¹⁸ But since we left off making offerings to ^(E)the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything ^(F)and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.” ¹⁹ And the women said,^[a] “When we made offerings to the queen of heaven ^(G)and poured out drink offerings to her, was it ^(H)without our husbands' approval that we made cakes for her bearing her image and poured out drink offerings to her?”

Israel's Sin and the Servant's Obedience

¹¹ Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. ¹² And God ^(A)saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, ^(B)for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

No One Is Righteous

⁹ What then? Are we Jews^[a] any better off?^[b] No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both ^(A)Jews and ^(B)Greeks, are ^(C)under sin, ¹⁰ as it is written:

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever ^(L)the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, ^(M)so that every mouth may be stopped, and ^(N)the whole world may be held accountable to God.