²² For we know that up to the present time all of creation groans with pain, like the pain of childbirth. ^23 (A)But it is not just creation alone which groans; we who have the Spirit as the first of God's gifts also groan within ourselves as we wait for God to make us his children and^[a] set our whole being free. ²⁴ For it was by hope that we were saved; but if we see what we hope for, then it is not really hope. For who of us hopes for something we see? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

²⁶ In the same way the Spirit also comes to help us, weak as we are. For we do not know how we ought to pray; the Spirit himself pleads with God for us in groans that words cannot express. ²⁷ And God, who sees into our hearts, knows what the thought of the Spirit is; because the Spirit pleads with God on behalf of his people and in accordance with his will.