Israel's Disobedience

2 Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to ^(A)Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ^(B)‘I will never break my covenant with you, ^2 (C)and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; ^(D)you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? ³ So now I say, ^(E)I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become ^(F)thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.” ⁴ As soon as the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. ⁵ And they called the name of that place Bochim.^[a] And they sacrificed there to the Lord.

The Death of Joshua

⁶ When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. ^7 (G)And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel. ⁸ And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. ⁹ And they buried him within the boundaries of ^(H)his inheritance in Timnath-heres, ^(I)in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. ¹⁰ And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.

Israel's Unfaithfulness

^11 (J)And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. ^12 (K)And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. ^(L)They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and ^(M)bowed down to them. ^(N)And they provoked the Lord to anger. ¹³ They abandoned the Lord ^(O)and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. ^14 (P)So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he ^(Q)gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. ^(R)And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, ^(S)so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. ¹⁵ Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, ^(T)and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.

The Lord Raises Up Judges

^16 (U)Then the Lord raised up judges, ^(V)who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. ¹⁷ Yet they did not listen to their judges, for ^(W)they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. ^(X)They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. ¹⁸ Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, ^(Y)the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. ^(Z)For the Lord was moved to pity by ^(AA)their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. ¹⁹ But ^(AB)whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. ^20 (AC)So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people ^(AD)have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice, ^21 (AE)I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, ²² in order ^(AF)to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.” ²³ So the Lord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.

3 ^(AG)Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. ² It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before. ³ These are the nations: ^(AH)the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. ⁴ They were for ^(AI)the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. ⁵ So the people of Israel lived ^(AJ)among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ^6 (AK)And their daughters they took to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they served their gods.

Othniel

^7 (AL)And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and ^(AM)the Asheroth. ⁸ Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, ^(AN)and he sold them into the hand of ^(AO)Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia. And the people of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. ⁹ But when the people of Israel ^(AP)cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a ^(AQ)deliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, ^(AR)Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. ^10 (AS)The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. ^11 (AT)So the land had rest forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

Greeting

1 Paul, ^(A)a servant^[a] of Christ Jesus, ^(B)called to be an apostle, ^(C)set apart for the gospel of God, ² which ^(D)he promised beforehand ^(E)through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, ³ concerning his Son, ^(F)who was descended from David^{[b] (G)}according to the flesh ⁴ and ^(H)was declared to be the Son of God ^(I)in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, ⁵ through whom ^(J)we have received grace and ^(K)apostleship ^(L)to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name ^(M)among all the nations, ⁶ including you who are ^(N)called to belong to Jesus Christ,

⁷ To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:

^(O)Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Longing to Go to Rome

⁸ First, ^(P)I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, ^(Q)because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. ^9 (R)For God is my witness, ^(S)whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, ^(T)that without ceasing I mention you ¹⁰ always in my prayers, asking that somehow ^(U)by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. ¹¹ For ^(V)I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— ¹² that is, that we may be mutually encouraged ^(W)by each other's faith, both yours and mine. ¹³ I do not want you to be unaware, brothers,^[c] that ^(X)I have often intended to come to you (but ^(Y)thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some ^(Z)harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. ^14 (AA)I am under obligation both to Greeks and to ^(AB)barbarians,^[d] both to the wise and to the foolish. ¹⁵ So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

¹⁶ For ^(AC)I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is ^(AD)the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew ^(AE)first and also to ^(AF)the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it ^(AG)the righteousness of God is revealed ^(AH)from faith for faith,^{[e] (AI)}as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”^[f]

God's Wrath on Unrighteousness

¹⁸ For ^(AJ)the wrath of God ^(AK)is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. ¹⁹ For what can be ^(AL)known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, ^(AM)have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,^[g] in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they ^(AN)became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ^22 (AO)Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and ^(AP)exchanged the glory of ^(AQ)the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

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

²⁶ For this reason ^(AV)God gave them up to ^(AW)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, ^(AX)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, ^(AY)God gave them up to ^(AZ)a debased mind to do ^(BA)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 ^(BB)God's righteous decree that those who practice such things ^(BC)deserve to die, they not only do them but ^(BD)give approval to those who practice them.

God's Righteous Judgment

2 Therefore you have ^(BE)no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For ^(BF)in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. ² We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. ³ Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴ Or do you presume on ^(BG)the riches of his kindness and ^(BH)forbearance and ^(BI)patience, ^(BJ)not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? ⁵ But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are ^(BK)storing up ^(BL)wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

^6 (BM)He will render to each one according to his works: ⁷ to those who ^(BN)by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; ⁸ but for those who are self-seeking^[h] and ^(BO)do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. ⁹ There will be tribulation and distress ^(BP)for every human being who does evil, the Jew ^(BQ)first and also the Greek, ¹⁰ but glory and honor and ^(BR)peace for everyone who does good, ^(BS)the Jew first and also the Greek. ¹¹ For ^(BT)God shows no partiality.

God's Judgment and the Law

¹² For all who have sinned ^(BU)without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. ¹³ For ^(BV)it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. ¹⁴ For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, ^(BW)by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. ¹⁵ They show that the work of the law is ^(BX)written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them ^16 (BY)on that day when, ^(BZ)according to my gospel, God judges ^(CA)the secrets of men ^(CB)by Christ Jesus.

¹⁷ But if you call yourself a Jew and ^(CC)rely on the law and boast in God ¹⁸ and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; ¹⁹ and if you are sure that you yourself are ^(CD)a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰ an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law ^(CE)the embodiment of ^(CF)knowledge and truth— ^21 (CG)you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? ²² You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you ^(CH)rob temples? ²³ You who ^(CI)boast in the law ^(CJ)dishonor God by breaking the law. ²⁴ For, ^(CK)as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed ^(CL)among the Gentiles because of you.”

²⁵ For circumcision indeed is of value ^(CM)if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. ²⁶ So, if ^(CN)a man who is uncircumcised keeps ^(CO)the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded^[i] as circumcision? ²⁷ Then he who is physically^[j] uncircumcised but keeps the law ^(CP)will condemn you who have ^(CQ)the written code^[k] and circumcision but break the law. ²⁸ For ^(CR)no one is a Jew ^(CS)who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. ²⁹ But a Jew is one ^(CT)inwardly, and ^(CU)circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. ^(CV)His praise is not from man but from God.

God's Righteousness Upheld

3 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? ² Much in every way. To begin with, ^(CW)the Jews were entrusted with ^(CX)the oracles of God. ^3 (CY)What if some were unfaithful? ^(CZ)Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? ⁴ By no means! ^(DA)Let God be true though ^(DB)every one were a liar, as it is written,

⁵ But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict ^(DE)wrath on us? (^(DF)I speak in a human way.) ⁶ By no means! For then how could ^(DG)God judge the world? ⁷ But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, ^(DH)why am I still being condemned as a sinner? ⁸ And why not ^(DI)do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.

No One Is Righteous

⁹ What then? Are we Jews^[l] any better off?^[m] No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both ^(DJ)Jews and ^(DK)Greeks, are ^(DL)under sin, ¹⁰ as it is written:

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever ^(DU)the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, ^(DV)so that every mouth may be stopped, and ^(DW)the whole world may be held accountable to God. ²⁰ For ^(DX)by works of the law no human being^[n] will be justified in his sight, since ^(DY)through the law comes knowledge of sin.

The Righteousness of God Through Faith

²¹ But now ^(DZ)the righteousness of God ^(EA)has been manifested apart from the law, although ^(EB)the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— ²² the righteousness of God ^(EC)through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. ^(ED)For there is no distinction: ²³ for ^(EE)all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ^24 (EF)and are justified ^(EG)by his grace as a gift, ^(EH)through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God ^(EI)put forward as ^(EJ)a propitiation ^(EK)by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in ^(EL)his divine forbearance he had passed over ^(EM)former sins. ²⁶ It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

^27 (EN)Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. ²⁸ For we hold that one is justified by faith ^(EO)apart from works of the law. ²⁹ Or ^(EP)is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, ³⁰ since ^(EQ)God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and ^(ER)the uncircumcised through faith. ³¹ Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.