Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,

(Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)

Concerning his Son, - who came to be of the seed of David, according to flesh,

And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:

among whom are ye also called to be Jesus Christ's:

To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

First, I return thanks to my God by Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is announced in the whole world.

I call God to witness--to whom I render priestly and spiritual service by telling the Good News about His Son-- how unceasingly I make mention of you in His presence,

Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.

For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;

That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.

But I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, that I often proposed to come to you, (and have been hindered until the present time,) that I might have some fruit among you too, even as among the other nations also.

I have a duty to perform and a debt to pay both to Greeks and to barbarians [the cultured and the uncultured], both to the wise and to the foolish.

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth,

Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

so that they are inexcusable; because having thus known God they glorified Him not as God, neither were they thankful; but were infatuated by their own reasonings, and their heart being void of understanding was darkened.

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

and exchanged the glory and majesty and excellence of the immortal God for an image [worthless idols] in the shape of mortal man and birds and four-footed animals and reptiles.

Wherefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts unto uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves:

because [by choice] they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

While the men, disregarding that for which women were intended by nature, were consumed with passion for one another. Men indulged in vile practices with men, and incurred in their own persons the inevitable penalty for their perverseness.

And just as they had refused to continue to have a full knowledge of God, so it was to utterly worthless minds that God gave them up, for them to do things which should not be done.

Hated by God, full of pride, without respect, full of loud talk, given to evil inventions, not honouring father or mother,

So, whoever you are, you people do not have any excuse for judging people [Note: At this point Paul begins addressing the Jews. See verse 17]. For in a matter where you judge someone else [to be wrong] you [actually] condemn yourselves, because you are practicing the same things [you condemn them for doing].

But because of your callous stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are [deliberately] storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

who "will pay back to everyone according to their works:"

To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:

but unto them that are factious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness,'shall be wrath and indignation,

There will be tribulation and anguish [torturing confinement] for every human soul who does [or permits] evil, to the Jew first and also to the Greek,

but glory and honor and inner peace [will be given] to everyone who habitually does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

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;

(For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

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:

For when the Gentiles, who have not a law, do, by nature, the things of the law, these who have not a law, are a law to themselves,

In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

and [if you claim to] know His will and approve the things that are essential or have a sense of what is excellent, based on your instruction from the Law,

and persuading yourselves to be a guide of the blind, a light to those in darkness;

an informer of them which lack discretion, a teacher of the unlearned, which hast the example of that which ought to be known, and of the truth in the law.

You who say that a man may not be untrue to his wife, are you true to yours? you who are a hater of images, do you do wrong to the house of God?

thou who boastest in law, dost thou by transgression of the law dishonour God?

For the name of God is blasphemed by you among the Gentiles, as has been written.

For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.

Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?

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?

The true Jew is not one who is only so publicly, and circumcision is not that which may be seen in the flesh:

But the Jew {is one inwardly}, and circumcision [is] of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter, whose praise [is] not from people but from God.

What special privilege, then, has a Jew? Or what benefit is to be derived from circumcision?

Much, by every way! Chiefly, indeed, because they were entrusted with the oracles of God.

God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

But if the righteousness of God is supported by our wrongdoing what is to be said? is it wrong for God to be angry (as men may say)?

Far be the thought: since how shall God judge the world?

But if by my lying, the truth of God abounded to his glory, why am I also still condemned as a sinner?

And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.

Well then, are we [Jews] better off than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks (Gentiles) are under the control of sin and subject to its power.

Their pathways are strewn with ruin and misery [i.e., caused by them].

Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Or can it be that God is the God only of the Jews? Is not he also the God of the Gentiles?

Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.

Do we then make void law by faith? Far be the thought: no, but we establish law.

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather humanly speaking, has found? [Has he obtained a favored standing?]

For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.

For what are the words of Scripture? 'Abraham had faith in God, and his faith was regarded by God as righteousness.'

Now to the one who works, his pay is not credited according to grace, but according to his due.

But to the one who does not work [that is, the one who does not try to earn his salvation by doing good], but believes and completely trusts in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited to him as righteousness (right standing with God).

Even King David also spoke of the blessing experienced by the person who was considered righteous by God apart from doing good deeds.

“Blessed and happy and favored are those whose lawless acts have been forgiven,
And whose sins have been covered up and completely buried.

“Blessed and happy and favored is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account nor charge against him.”

Is this blessing experienced by the circumcised ones [i.e., the Jews only] or by the uncircumcised ones [i.e., the Gentiles] also? We are saying, "Abraham's faith was credited to him for righteousness."

And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:

and [that he would be] the [spiritual] father of those circumcised who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had before he was circumcised.

For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:

For the Law inflicts punishment; but where no Law exists, there can be no violation of Law.

Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.

He considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about 100 years old) and also considered the deadness of Sarah’s womb, without weakening in the faith.

But he did not doubt or waver in unbelief concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong and empowered by faith, giving glory to God,

and being absolutely certain that whatever promise He is bound by He is able also to make good.

Now the words "considered righteous [by God]" were not written for his sake only,

But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;

who has been delivered for our offences and has been raised for our justification, it will be reckoned.

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

And not only this, but [with joy] let us exult in our sufferings and rejoice in our hardships, knowing that hardship (distress, pressure, trouble) produces patient endurance;

And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Now it is hard for anyone to give his life even for an upright man, though it might be that for a good man someone would give his life.

But God clearly shows and proves His own love for us, by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.