Beginning
1 I am Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ. He called me to be an apostle and to tell God's good news.
2 Through his prophets long ago God promised this good news to people, in the holy writings.
3 The good news was about his Son. He is Jesus Christ our Lord. He was a man born in David's family.
4 He came alive from death. That showed he was God's Son. He had God's power. God's Holy Spirit did all this.
5 This same Jesus Christ was kind to me. And he made me an apostle. I am sent in his name so that people in all nations will obey him.
6 You are some of them. You were called to belong to Jesus Christ.
7 I send greetings to all the Christians who live in the city of Rome. God loves you and has called you to be his people. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you. In their kindness may they give you peace.
8 People in all the world have heard that you believe. I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you.
9 God knows that I always talk to him about you. I worship him in my heart while I tell the good news about his Son.
10 I ask God that in some way now I may be able to visit you, if he wishes me to do it.
11 I want very much to see you. I want to give you some gift from the Holy Spirit to make you stronger.
12 I mean to say that we will both be helped. I will be helped because you believe, and you will be helped because I believe.
13 My brothers, I want you to know that I have often planned to come to you. But something has stopped me until now. I planned to come so that I might see good things happen among you. I have done this in the other nations which are not Jewish.
14 This is something I must do for the Greek people and for all other people. I must do it for people who are wise and for people who are not wise.
15 That is why I want so much to tell the good news to you people in the city of Rome also.
16 I am not ashamed of the good news of Jesus Christ. The good news is the power God uses to save every one who believes. The good news was for the Jews first, but also for those who are not Jews.
17 The good news shows how God puts a person right. God puts a person right when that person believes in his Son and keeps on believing. The holy writings say, `A person who is put right because he believes, will live for ever.'
18 God is angry. He has shown it from heaven. He is angry because of all the bad and wrong things people do. These people hold back God's truth by the wrong things they do.
19 They know about God. God himself has shown them.
20 People cannot see that God has power which lasts for ever. They cannot see that he is really God. But ever since he made the world, he has clearly shown this by the things he made. So they cannot say, `I did not know about God.'
21 Even though they knew he was God, they did not worship him as God. They did not thank him. Their thoughts were no good. Their foolish minds became dark.
22 They said they were wise people, but they were foolish people.
23 They did not worship God who cannot die. But they worshipped things made to look like a man who does die. They worshipped things made to look like birds and animals and snakes.
24 So God left them to do the things their hearts wanted to do. They did the things that are not right to do with their bodies. They did not respect their own bodies.
25 They would not believe what was true about God. They believed a lie. They worshipped and worked for something that was made by God. They did not worship God - God who made all things. He is the one to worship for ever. Amen. May it be so!
26 That is why God left them to do the wrong things they wanted to do. Their women left the right way for women and did things that are wrong for women to do.
27 Their men also left the right way with women. They wanted to have sex with one another. They did wrong things with other men. Their own bodies were punished because of the wrong things they did.
28 They did not want to know God. So he left them to their wrong thoughts and to do things that are not right.
29 They were very bad. They did every kind of wrong thing. They were greedy. They hated people. They were very jealous. They killed many people. They fought. They fooled people. They told lies about people. They carried stories from one person to another.
30 They said wrong things about people. They hated God. They did not respect people. They were proud. They talked big. They even thought of new wrong things to do. They did not obey their parents.
31 .They were foolish. They did not do what they said they would do. They did not love people. They were not kind.
32 They know that God says that people who do such things should die. Even so, they not only do them, but they praise other people who do them.
2 Do you judge another people? You your-selves have done wrong things. So when you judge others, you judge yourselves, because you do the same things. You judge them and yet you do the same things.
2 We know that God judges people who do such things. And he judges them by what is true.
3 Man, you judge people who do such things and yet you do them yourself. Do you think that God will not judge you?
4 Or do you not respect him for being kind, very patient, and for waiting a long time? Do you not know that God is kind, and he wants to lead you away from doing wrong things?
5 But your hearts are hard. You will not stop. That is why God will be angry with you. He will be angry on the day when people will see that he judges in the right way.
6 He will pay every man for what he has done.
7 He will give life for ever to people who keep on doing good. These people want to have glory and honour from God, and to live for ever.
8 But God will be very angry with the people who think of themselves first before others. They do not obey what is right. They do wrong things.
9 Every one who does what is wrong will have much trouble and a hard time. This will happen to the Jews first, then to those who are not Jews.
10 And every one who does what is good, will be made great. He will have honour and peace. This will happen to the Jews first and then to those who are not Jews.
11 God does not love some people more than others.
12 All those who do not know the law [of God given to Moses] and did what was wrong, will die. But they will not be judged by the law. All those who know the law and did what was wrong will be judged by the law.
13 (God does not say people are good because they have heard the law. But people who obey the law will be called good people.
14 Some people do not have the law. But they do what the law says because their own hearts tell them to. They have a law of their own, even though they do not know the law.
15 They show that the law is written in their hearts. They know what is right to do and what is wrong to do. Their own thoughts tell them they have done what is wrong or what is not wrong.)
16 This will be on the day when God judges the things men have kept secret. Jesus Christ will be the judge. That is part of the good news I tell people.
17 But you call yourselves Jews. You believe the law. You are proud of your God.
18 You know what he wants people to do. You know the thoughts that are good because you have been taught the law.
19 You are sure that you can lead people who are like blind men. You are like a light for people who are in the dark.
20 You are sure that you can tell foolish people what is right. You can teach people who are like children. You know what you need to know and you know what is true because you have the law.
21 You teach another person. Do you not teach yourself? You say people must not steal. Do you steal?
22 You say people must not commit adultery. Do you commit adultery? You hate idols. Do you steal things from the houses of idols?
23 You are proud that you have the law. Do you break the law, and in that way show you do not honour God?
24 The holy writings say, `People who are not Jews say wrong things about the name of God. They do it because of what you Jews do.'
25 Circumcision of the body is a good thing if you obey the law. But if you break the law, you are like a man who has not been circumcised with this mark of the Jew.
26 So if a man who has not been circumcised obeys the law, will he not be like a man who has been circumcised?
27 Some people have not been circumcised, but they obey the law. They will show that you should be punished. You have the written law and you have been circumcised, and yet you break the law.
28 If a person is a Jew only on the outside, he is not really a Jew. And true circumcision is not something that is done on the outside of the body.
29 If a person is a Jew inside, he is really a Jew. It is God who praises him, not people. True circumcision is done in the heart. It is in the spirit, not in the body. Such people are not praised; but God praises them.
3 Then what does a Jew have that others do not have? Or what good is it if a person has been circumcised?
2 It is much better in every way. First, God's law was given to the Jews.
3 But some Jews did not keep his law. Does that mean that God cannot be trusted?
4 No, it does not mean that. God must be true, even if every man is not true. The holy writings say this about God: `People will see that you are right in what you say. You will be without fault when you are judged.'
5 When we do wrong things, we show that God is right. What shall we say about that? Does God do wrong when he punishes us? (I speak the way people would think about it.)
6 No, he does not. If he did wrong, how could he judge the world?
7 Maybe I say what is not true. And that makes people praise God more because he is true. Then why does God still judge me and say I have done wrong?
8 Some people say wrong things about us. They say that we say, `Let us do wrong things so that good things will happen.' People who say such things should be punished.
9 So what shall we say? Are we Jews any better than other people? No, we are not! I have already shown that all men, both Jews and people who are not Jews have done wrong things.
10 The holy writings say, `No one is good. No, not one person.
11 No one is wise. No one wants to know God.
12 They all have turned away from the straight road. Together they have gone the wrong way. No one does good, not even one person!
13 Their mouth is like an open grave. They have used their tongues to fool people. The poison of bad snakes is under their lips.
14 Their mouths are full of cursing and saying bad words to people.
15 Their feet run quickly to kill people.
16 Death and trouble are on the ways they go.
17 They do not know the way of peace.
18 They do not fear God.'
19 We know that everything the law says, it says to the people who have the law. Then no one can say a word for themselves. All the people in the world will be brought to God to be judged.
20 No one will be put right with God because he has tried to obey the law. The law only makes people know what they have done wrong.
21 So now God has shown how people can be put right with him without the law. The law and the prophets said he would do it.
22 God puts people right with himself when they believe in Jesus Christ. He does this for all who believe. They are all alike.
23 All have done wrong and all are far from being as good as God.
24 But God is kind and makes them right with himself. It is a gift. He does it because Christ Jesus paid the price to set them free.
25 God gave him as a sacrifice. When people believe in him, his blood pays for the wrong things they have done. This shows that God is good and right. He was right when he forgave the wrong things that people did long ago.
26 God also shows that he is right now. He does this when he makes right any person who believes in Jesus.
27 Then what have we to be proud of? Nothing at all. Why not? Does God put us right with himself because of anything we have done? No. He does it because we believe.
28 We know that if a person believes in Christ, God makes him right again. It is not because that person has obeyed the law.
29 Is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of other people also? Yes, he is. There is only one God of all peoples.
30 He will put right people who have been circumcised [the Jews] because they believe. And he will also put right people who are not circumcised when they believe.
31 When we believe, does that make the law no good to us? No. That is not so. When we believe, we show that the law is right.
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