For God is my witness, whose servant I am in spirit in the good news of his Son, that you are at all times in my memory and in my prayers,

And that I am ever making prayers that God will give me a good journey to you.

For I have a strong desire to see you, and to give you some grace of the spirit, so that you may be made strong;

That is to say, that all of us may be comforted together by the faith which is in you and in me.

You may be certain, my brothers, that it has frequently been in my mind to come to you (but till now I was kept from it), so that I might have some fruit from you in the same way as I have had it from the other nations.

For from the first making of the world, those things of God which the eye is unable to see, that is, his eternal power and existence, are fully made clear, he having given the knowledge of them through the things which he has made, so that men have no reason for wrongdoing:

Because by them the true word of God was changed into that which is false, and they gave worship and honour to the thing which is made, and not to him who made it, to whom be blessing for ever. So be it.

Who, though they have knowledge of the law of God, that the fate of those who do these things is death, not only go on doing these things themselves, but give approval to those who do them.

And we are conscious that God is a true judge against those who do such things.

But you who are judging another for doing what you do yourself, are you hoping that God's decision will not take effect against you?

Or is it nothing to you that God had pity on you, waiting and putting up with you for so long, not seeing that in his pity God's desire is to give you a change of heart?

In the belief that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those in the dark,

You who give teaching to others, do you give it to yourself? you who say that a man may not take what is not his, do you take what is not yours?

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?

It is true that circumcision is of use if you keep the law, but if you go against the law it is as if you had it not.

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

And if some have no faith, will that make the faith of God without effect?

In no way: but let God be true, though every man is seen to be untrue; as it is said in the Writings, That your words may be seen to be true, and you may be seen to be right when you are judged.

Let us not do evil so that good may come (a statement which we are falsely said by some to have made), because such behaviour will have its right punishment.

What then? are we worse off than they? In no way: because we have before made it clear that Jews as well as Greeks are all under the power of sin;

Now, we have knowledge that what the law says is for those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and all men may be judged by God:

That is, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, to all those who have faith; and one man is not different from another,

And to make clear his righteousness now, so that he might himself be upright, and give righteousness to him who has faith in Jesus.

Do we, then, through faith make the law of no effect? in no way: but we make it clear that the law is important.

What, then, may we say that Abraham, our father after the flesh, has got?

As David says that there is a blessing on the man to whose account God puts righteousness without works, saying,

Is this blessing, then, for the circumcision only, or in the same way for those who have not circumcision? for we say that the faith of Abraham was put to his account as righteousness.

And he was given the sign of circumcision as a witness of the faith which he had before he underwent circumcision: so that he might be the father of all those who have faith, though they have not circumcision, and so that righteousness might be put to their account;

And the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who keep to the way of that faith which our father Abraham had before he underwent circumcision.

For God's word, that the earth would be his heritage, was given to Abraham, not through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

For this reason it is of faith, so that it may be through grace; and so that the word of God may be certain to all the seed; not only to that which is of the law, but to that which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,

(As it is said in the holy Writings, I have made you a father of a number of nations) before him in whom he had faith, that is, God, who gives life to the dead, and to whom the things which are not are as if they were.

Who without reason for hope, in faith went on hoping, so that he became the father of a number of nations, as it had been said, So will your seed be.

And being certain that God was able to keep his word.

Now, it was not because of him only that this was said,

Who was put to death for our evil-doing, and came to life again so that we might have righteousness.

And not only so, but let us have joy in our troubles: in the knowledge that trouble gives us the power of waiting;

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 has made clear his love to us, in that, when we were still sinners, Christ gave his life for us.

For if, when we were haters of God, the death of his Son made us at peace with him, much more, now that we are his friends, will we have salvation through his life;

So then, as the effect of one act of wrongdoing was that punishment came on all men, even so the effect of one act of righteousness was righteousness of life for all men.

That, as sin had power in death, so grace might have power through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

What may we say, then? are we to go on in sin so that there may be more grace?

Or are you without the knowledge that all we who had baptism into Christ Jesus, had baptism into his death?

We have been placed with him among the dead through baptism into death: so that as Christ came again from the dead by the glory of the Father, we, in the same way, might be living in new life.

Being conscious that our old man was put to death on the cross with him, so that the body of sin might be put away, and we might no longer be servants to sin.

But if we are dead with Christ, we have faith that we will be living with him;

Having knowledge that because Christ has come back from the dead, he will never again go down to the dead; death has no more power over him.

For this cause do not let sin be ruling in your body which is under the power of death, so that you give way to its desires;

Are you not conscious that you are the servants of him to whom you give yourselves to do his desire? if to sin, the end being death, or if to do the desire of God, the end being righteousness.

But praise be to God that though you were the servants of sin, you have now given yourselves freely to that form of teaching under which you were placed;

What fruit had you at that time in the things which are now a shame to you? for the end of such things is death.

But now, being free from sin, and having been made servants to God, you have your fruit in that which is holy, and the end is eternal life.

Is it not clear, my brothers (I am using an argument to those who have knowledge of the law), that the law has power over a man as long as he is living?

So if, while the husband is living, she is joined to another man, she will get the name of one who is untrue to her husband: but if the husband is dead, she is free from the law, so that she is not untrue, even if she takes another man.

In the same way, my brothers, you were made dead to the law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, even to him who came again from the dead, so that we might give fruit to God.

But now we are free from the law, having been made dead to that which had power over us; so that we are servants in the new way of the spirit, not in the old way of the letter.

But sin, taking its chance through that which was ordered by the law, was working in me every form of desire: because without the law sin is dead.

And I made the discovery that the law whose purpose was to give life had become a cause of death:

Was then that which is good, death to me? In no way. But the purpose was that sin might be seen to be sin by working death to me through that which is good; so that through the orders of the law sin might seem much more evil.

For we are conscious that the law is of the spirit; but I am of the flesh, given into the power of sin.

And I have no clear knowledge of what I am doing, for that which I have a mind to do, I do not, but what I have hate for, that I do.

But, if I do that which I have no mind to do, I am in agreement with the law that the law is good.

For I am conscious that in me, that is, in my flesh, there is nothing good: I have the mind but not the power to do what is right.

For the good which I have a mind to do, I do not: but the evil which I have no mind to do, that I do.

So I see a law that, though I have a mind to do good, evil is present in me.

So that what was ordered by the law might be done in us, who are living, not in the way of the flesh, but in the way of the Spirit.

So that those who are in the flesh are not able to give pleasure to God.

The Spirit is witness with our spirit that we are children of God:

And if we are children, we have a right to a part in the heritage; a part in the things of God, together with Christ; so that if we have a part in his pain, we will in the same way have a part in his glory.

I am of the opinion that there is no comparison between the pain of this present time and the glory which we will see in the future.

That all living things will be made free from the power of death and will have a part with the free children of God in glory.

For we are conscious that all living things are weeping and sorrowing in pain together till now.

And not only so, but we who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we have sorrow in our minds, waiting for the time when we will take our place as sons, that is, the salvation of our bodies.

But if we have hope for that which we see not, then we will be able to go on waiting for it.

And we are conscious that all things are working together for good to those who have love for God, and have been marked out by his purpose.

Because those of whom he had knowledge before they came into existence, were marked out by him to be made like his Son, so that he might be the first among a band of brothers:

For I am certain that not death, or life, or angels, or rulers, or things present, or things to come, or powers,

That I am full of sorrow and pain without end.

That is, it is not the children of the flesh, but the children of God's undertaking, who are named as the seed.

Before the children had come into existence, or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose and his selection might be effected, not by works, but by him whose purpose it is,

For the holy Writings say to Pharaoh, For this same purpose did I put you on high, so that I might make my power seen in you, and that there might be knowledge of my name through all the earth.

What then may we say? That the nations who did not go after righteousness have got righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith:

Brothers, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is, that they may get salvation.

For I give witness of them that they have a strong desire for God, but not with knowledge.

For Moses says that the man who does the righteousness which is of the law will get life by it.

But the righteousness which is of faith says these words, Say not in your heart, Who will go up to heaven? (that is, to make Christ come down:)

Or, Who will go down into the deep? (that is, to make Christ come again from the dead:)

But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart: that is, the word of faith of which we are the preachers:

Because, if you say with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and have faith in your heart that God has made him come back from the dead, you will have salvation:

For with the heart man has faith to get righteousness, and with the mouth he says that Jesus is Lord to get salvation.

But I say, Had Israel no knowledge? First Moses says, You will be moved to envy by that which is not a nation, and by a foolish people I will make you angry.

What then? That which Israel was searching for he did not get, but those of the selection got it and the rest were made hard.

Let their eyes be made dark so that they may not see, and let their back be bent down at all times.

So I say, Were their steps made hard in order that they might have a fall? In no way: but by their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, so that they might be moved to envy.

If in any way those who are of my flesh may be moved to envy, so that some of them may get salvation by me.

Do not be uplifted in pride over the branches: because it is not you who are the support of the root, but it is by the root that you are supported.

You will say, Branches were broken off so that I might be put in.

See then that God is good but his rules are fixed: to those who were put away he was hard, but to you he has been good, on the condition that you keep in his mercy; if not, you will be cut off as they were.

For it is my desire, brothers, that this secret may be clear to you, so that you may not have pride in your knowledge, that Israel has been made hard in part, till all the Gentiles have come in;