Romans 2
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
2 Therefore you have no excuse or defense or justification, O man, whoever you are who judges and condemns another. For in posing as judge and passing sentence on another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge are habitually practicing the very same things [that you censure and denounce].
2 [But] we know that the judgment (adverse verdict, sentence) of God falls justly and in accordance with truth upon those who practice such things.
3 And do you think or imagine, O man, when you judge and condemn those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape God’s judgment and elude His sentence and adverse verdict?
4 Or are you [so blind as to] trifle with and presume upon and despise and underestimate the wealth of His kindness and forbearance and long-suffering patience? Are you unmindful or actually ignorant [of the fact] that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repent ([a]to change your mind and inner man to accept God’s will)?
5 But by your callous stubbornness and impenitence of heart you are storing up wrath and indignation for yourself on the day of wrath and indignation, when God’s righteous judgment (just doom) will be revealed.
6 For He will render to every man according to his works [justly, as his deeds deserve]:(A)
7 To those who by patient persistence in well-doing [[b]springing from piety] seek [unseen but sure] glory and honor and [[c]the eternal blessedness of] immortality, He will give eternal life.
8 But for those who are self-seeking and self-willed and disobedient to the Truth but responsive to wickedness, there will be indignation and wrath.
9 [And] there will be tribulation and anguish and calamity and constraint for every soul of man who [habitually] does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek (Gentile).
10 But glory and honor and [heart] peace shall be awarded to everyone who [habitually] does good, the Jew first and also the Greek (Gentile).
11 For God shows no partiality [[d]undue favor or unfairness; with Him one man is not different from another].(B)
12 All who have sinned without the Law will also perish without [regard to] the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged and condemned by the Law.
13 For it is not merely hearing the Law [read] that makes one righteous before God, but it is the doers of the Law who will be held guiltless and acquitted and justified.
14 When Gentiles who have not the [divine] Law do instinctively what the Law requires, they are a law to themselves, since they do not have the Law.
15 They show that the essential requirements of the Law are written in their hearts and are operating there, with which their consciences (sense of right and wrong) also bear witness; and their [moral] [e]decisions (their arguments of reason, their condemning or approving [f]thoughts) will accuse or perhaps defend and excuse [them]
16 On that day when, as my Gospel proclaims, God by Jesus Christ will judge men in regard to [g]the things which they conceal (their hidden thoughts).(C)
17 But if you bear the name of Jew and rely upon the Law and pride yourselves in God and your relationship to Him,
18 And know and understand His will and discerningly approve the better things and have a sense of what is vital, because you are instructed by the Law;
19 And if you are confident that you [yourself] are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, and [that
20 You are] a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the childish, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—
21 Well then, you who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you teach against stealing, do you steal (take what does not really belong to you)?
22 You who say not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery [are you unchaste in action or in thought]? You who abhor and loathe idols, do you rob temples [do you appropriate to your own use what is consecrated to God, thus robbing the sanctuary and [h]doing sacrilege]?
23 You who boast in the Law, do you dishonor God by breaking the Law [by stealthily infringing upon or carelessly neglecting or openly breaking it]?
24 For, as it is written, The name of God is maligned and blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you! [The words to this effect are from your own Scriptures.](D)
25 Circumcision does indeed profit if you keep the Law; but if you habitually transgress the Law, your circumcision is made uncircumcision.
26 So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be credited to him as [equivalent to] circumcision?
27 Then those who are physically uncircumcised but keep the Law will condemn you who, although you have the code in writing and have circumcision, break the Law.
28 For he is not a [real] Jew who is only one outwardly and publicly, nor is [true] circumcision something external and physical.
29 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and [true] circumcision is of the heart, a spiritual and not a literal [matter]. His praise is not from men but from God.
Footnotes
- Romans 2:4 Alexander Souter, Pocket Lexicon.
- Romans 2:7 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament.
- Romans 2:7 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament.
- Romans 2:11 James Moulton and George Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament.
- Romans 2:15 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament.
- Romans 2:15 Henry Alford, The Greek New Testament, with Notes.
- Romans 2:16 Henry Alford, The Greek New Testament, with Notes.
- Romans 2:22 James Moulton and George Milligan, The Vocabulary.
Romans 2
Wycliffe Bible
2 Therefore thou art unexcusable, each man that deemest, for in what thing thou deemest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou doest the same things which thou deemest.
2 And we know, that the doom of God is after truth against them, that do such things.
3 But guessest thou, man, that deemest them that do such things, and thou doest those things [and thou doest them], that thou shalt escape the doom of God?
4 Whether thou despisest the riches of his goodness, and the patience, and the long abiding? Knowest thou not, that the benignity of God leadeth thee to repenting? [Whether despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and patience, and long abiding? Unknowest thou, that the benignity, or good will, of God leadeth thee to penance?]
5 But after thine hardness and unrepentant heart, thou treasurest to thee wrath in the day of wrath [Forsooth after thy hardness and unrepentant heart, thou treasurest to thee wrath into the day of wrath] and of showing of the rightful doom of God,
6 that shall yield to each man after his works;
7 soothly to them that be by patience of good work, glory, and honour, and uncorruption, to them that seek everlasting life;
8 but to them that be of strife, and that assent not to truth, but believe to wickedness, wrath and indignation,
9 tribulation and anguish, into each soul of man that worketh evil, to the Jew first, and to the Greek [of Jew first and of the Greek];
10 but glory, and honour, and peace, to each man that worketh good thing, to the Jew first, and to the Greek.
11 For acception of persons [that is, to put one before another without desert,] is not with God.
12 For whoever have sinned without the law, shall perish without the law; and whoever have sinned in the law, they shall be deemed by the law. [For whoever sin without law, shall perish without law; and whoever in the law sin, shall be deemed by the law.]
13 For the hearers of the law be not just with God, but the doers of the law shall be made just.
14 For when heathen men that have not law, do naturally [do by kind] those things that be of the law, they not having such manner [of] law, be law to themselves,
15 that show the work of the law written in their hearts. For the conscience of them yieldeth to them a witnessing betwixt themselves of thoughts that be accusing or defending, [that show the work of law written in their hearts; the conscience of them yielding to them a witnessing and between themselves of thoughts accusing or also defending,]
16 in the day when God shall deem the privy things of men after my gospel, by Jesus Christ.
17 But if thou art named a Jew [Forsooth if thou art named a Jew], and restest in the law, and hast glory in God,
18 and hast known his will, and thou learned by the law approvest [provest] the more profitable things,
19 and trustest thyself to be a leader of blind men, the light of them that be in darknesses,
20 a teacher of unwise men, a master of young children, that hast the form of knowing [having the form of science, or knowing,] and of truth in the law;
21 what then teachest thou another, and teachest not thyself? Thou that preachest that me shall not steal, stealest? [therefore thou that teachest another, teachest not thyself? Thou that preachest to not steal, stealest?]
22 Thou that teachest that me shall not do lechery, doest lechery? Thou that loathest maumets, doest sacrilege?[a]
23 Thou that hast glory in the law, unhonourest God by breaking of the law? [Thou that gloriest in the law, by breaking of the law unworshippest, or despisest, God?]
24 For the name of God is blasphemed by you among heathen men, as [it] is written. [For the name of God by you is blasphemed among heathen men, as it is written.]
25 For circumcision profiteth, if thou keep the law; but if thou be a trespasser against the law [forsooth if thou be a trespasser of the law], thy circumcision is made prepuce.
26 Therefore if prepuce keep the rightwiseness of the law, whether his prepuce shall not be areckoned [shall not be reckoned] into circumcision?
27 And the prepuce of kind that fulfilleth the law, shall deem thee, that by letter and circumcision art a trespasser against the law. [And the prepuce, which is of the kind, fulfilling the law, shall deem thee, that by letter and circumcision art trespasser of the law.]
28 For he that is in open is not a Jew, neither it is circumcision that is openly in the flesh [neither the circumcision that is in the flesh in open];
29 but he that is a Jew in hid, and the circumcision of heart, in spirit, not by the letter [not in letter], whose praising is not of men, but of God.
Footnotes
- Romans 2:22 Thou that sayest to not do lechery, doest lechery? Thou that loathest idols, or maumets, doest sacrilege?
Romans 2
King James Version
2 Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.
2 But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
3 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
8 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:
11 For there is no respect of persons with God.
12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;
13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
17 Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,
18 And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law;
19 And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,
20 An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.
21 Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?
22 Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?
23 Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?
24 For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.
25 For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.
26 Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?
27 And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?
28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
2001 by Terence P. Noble