But I have no certain account of him to send to Caesar. So I have sent for him to come before you, and specially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the business has been gone into, I may have something to put in writing.

All the Jews have knowledge of my way of life from my early years, as it was from the start among my nation, and at Jerusalem;

For the effecting of which our twelve tribes have been working and waiting night and day with all their hearts. And in connection with this hope I am attacked by the Jews, O king!

But get up on your feet: for I have come to you for this purpose, to make you a servant and a witness of the things in which you have seen me, and of those in which you will see me;

To make their eyes open, turning them from the dark to the light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may have forgiveness of sins and a heritage among those who are made holy by faith in me.

King Agrippa, have you faith in the prophets? I am certain that you have.

And Agrippa said to Festus, This man might have been made free, if he had not put his cause before Caesar.

And when they had been without food for a long time, Paul got up among them and said, Friends, it would have been better if you had given attention to me and not gone sailing out from Crete, to undergo this damage and loss.

Saying, Have no fear, Paul, for you will come before Caesar, and God has given to you all those who are sailing with you.

And so, O men, be of good heart, for I have faith in God that it will be as he said to me.

And when dawn was near, Paul gave them all orders to take food, saying, This is the fourteenth day you have been waiting and taking no food.

And the brothers, when they had news of us, came out from town as far as Appii Forum and the Three Taverns to have a meeting with us: and Paul, seeing them, gave praise to God and took heart.

And when we came into Rome, they let Paul have a house for himself and the armed man who kept watch over him.

But when the Jews made protest against it, I had to put my cause into Caesar's hands; not because I have anything to say against my nation.

But for this reason I sent for you, to see and have talk with you: for because of the hope of Israel I am in these chains.

And they said to him, We have not had letters from Judaea about you, and no one of the brothers has come to us here to give an account or say any evil about you.

But we have a desire to give hearing to your opinion: for as to this form of religion, we have knowledge that in all places it is attacked.

Among whom you in the same way have been marked out to be disciples of Jesus Christ:

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;

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.

I have a debt to Greeks and to the nations outside; to the wise and to those who have no learning.

For which reason I have the desire, as far as I am able, to give the knowledge of the good news to you who are in Rome.

For I have no feeling of shame about the good news, because it is the power of God giving salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first, and then to the Greek.

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:

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.

So you have no reason, whoever you are, for judging: for in judging another you are judging yourself, for you do the same things.

All those who have done wrong without the law will get destruction without the law: and those who have done wrong under the law will have their punishment by the law;

For when the Gentiles without the law have a natural desire to do the things in the law, they are a law to themselves;

But as for you who have the name of Jew, and are resting on the law, and take pride in God,

And have knowledge of his desires, and are a judge of the things which are different, having the learning of the law,

If those who have not circumcision keep the rules of the law, will it not be credited to them as circumcision?

And they, by their keeping of the law without circumcision, will be judges of you, by whom the law is broken though you have the letter of the law and circumcision.

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

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;

They have all gone out of the way, there is no profit in any of them; there is not one who does good, not so much as one:

Their throat is like an open place of death; with their tongues they have said what is not true: the poison of snakes is under their lips:

And of the way of peace they have no knowledge:

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:

Because by the works of the law no man is able to have righteousness in his eyes, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

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,

For all have done wrong and are far from the glory of God;

And they may have righteousness put to their credit, freely, by his grace, through the salvation which is in Christ Jesus:

If God is one; and he will give righteousness because of faith to those who have circumcision, and through faith to those who have not circumcision.

Happy are those who have forgiveness for their wrongdoing, and whose sins are covered.

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.

How, then, was it judged? when he had circumcision, or when he had it not? Not when he had it, but when he did not have it:

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;

(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.

And not being feeble in faith though his body seemed to him little better than dead (he being about a hundred years old) and Sarah was no longer able to have children:

But for us in addition, to whose account it will be put, if we have faith in him who made Jesus our Lord come back again from the dead,

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

For which reason, because we have righteousness through faith, let us be at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;

Through whom, in the same way, we have been able by faith to come to this grace in which we now are; and let us have joy in hope of the glory of God.

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

Much more, if we now have righteousness by his blood, will salvation from the wrath of God come to us through him.

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;

And not only so, but we have joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we are now at peace with God.

For this reason, as through one man sin came into the world, and death because of sin, and so death came to all men, because all have done evil:

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

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.

For, if we have been made like him in his death, we will, in the same way, be like him in his coming to life again;

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

For sin may not have rule over you: because you are not under law, but under grace.

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;

And being made free from sin you have been made the servants of righteousness.

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?

What then is to be said? is the law sin? in no way. But I would not have had knowledge of sin but for the law: for I would not have been conscious of desire if the law had not said, You may not have a desire for what is another's.

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.

But if I do what I have no mind to do, it is no longer I who do it, but the sin living in me.

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

For if you go in the way of the flesh, death will come on you; but if by the Spirit you put to death the works of the body, you will have life.

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.

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.

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.

For I have a desire to take on myself the curse for my brothers, my family in the flesh:

Who are Israelites: who have the place of sons, and the glory, and the agreements with God, and the giving of the law, and the worship, and the hope offered by God:

For this is the word of God's undertaking, At this time will I come, and Sarah will have a son.

And not only so, but Rebecca being about to have a child by our father Isaac--

For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and pity on whom I will have pity.

And, as Isaiah had said before, If the Lord of armies had not given us a seed, we would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah.

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

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

Because, not having knowledge of God's righteousness, and desiring to give effect to their righteousness, they have not put themselves under the righteousness of God.

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:

And the Jew is not different from the Greek: for there is the same Lord of all, who is good to all who have hope in his name:

But how will they give worship to him in whom they have no faith? and how will they have faith in him of whom they have not had news? and how will they have news without a preacher?

But they have not all given ear to the good news. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has had faith in our word?

But about Israel he says; All the day my hands have been stretched out to a people whose hearts were turned away, and who put themselves against my word.

God has not put away the people of his selection. Or have you no knowledge of what is said about Elijah in the holy Writings? how he says words to God against Israel,

Lord, they have put your prophets to death, and made waste your altars, and now I am the last, and they are searching for me to take away my life.

But what answer does God make to him? I have still seven thousand men whose knees have not been bent to Baal.

As it was said in the holy Writings, God gave them a spirit of sleep, eyes which might not see, and ears which have no hearing, to this day.

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.