I want you to understand, brothers, that I have often intended to come to see you (though thus far I have been prevented) in order to produce some results among you, as well as among the rest of the heathen.

Circumcision will help you only if you observe the Law; but if you are a lawbreaker, you might as well be uncircumcised.

Does this happiness apply to those who are circumcised, or to those who are uncircumcised as well? What we say is, Abraham's faith was credited to him as uprightness.

For to keep you from thinking too well of yourselves, brothers, I do not want you to miss this secret, that only partial insensibility has come upon Israel, to last until all the heathen have come in,

for they are God's agents to do you good. But if you do wrong you may well be afraid, for they do not carry swords for nothing. They are God's servants, to execute his wrath upon wrongdoers.

For my part, as far as you are concerned, my brothers, I am convinced that you are already full of goodness of heart, endowed with perfect knowledge, and well qualified to instruct one another.

Pray that I may escape from those in Judea who are disobedient, and that the help I am taking to Jerusalem may be well received by God's people,