Now after three months we put out to sea in a ship that had wintered at the island, an Alexandrian [one] {with the twin gods Castor and Pollux as its insignia}.

Now it happened that after three days, he called together those who were the most prominent of the Jews. And [when] they had assembled, he said to them, "Men [and] brothers, [although] I had done nothing against [our] people or the customs of our fathers, from Jerusalem I was delivered [as] a prisoner into the hands of the Romans,

But we would like to hear from you what you think, for concerning this sect it is known to us that it is spoken against everywhere."

Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles. They also will listen!"

For I desire to see you, in order that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, in order to strengthen you,

that is, to be encouraged together with you through {our mutual faith}, both yours and mine.

Now I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, that often I intended to come to you, and was prevented until now, in order that I might have some fruit among you also, just as also among the rest of the Gentiles.

For from the creation of the world, his invisible [attributes], both his eternal power and deity, are discerned clearly, being understood in the things created, so that they are without excuse.

Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to immorality, [that] their bodies would be dishonored among themselves,

and likewise also the males, abandoning the natural relations with the female, were inflamed in their desire toward one another, males with males committing the shameless deed, and receiving in themselves the penalty that was necessary for their error.

And just as they did not see fit {to recognize God}, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do the things [that are] not proper,

who, [although they] know the requirements of God, that those who do such things are worthy of death, not only do they do the same [things], but also they approve of those who do [them].

Therefore you are without excuse, O man, every one [of you] who passes judgment. For in that which you pass judgment on someone else, you condemn yourself, for you who are passing judgment are doing the same [things].

Now we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who do such things.

But do you think this, O man who passes judgment on those who do such things, and who does the same [things], that you will escape the judgment of God?

Or do you despise the wealth of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

and know his will and approve the things that are superior, [because you] are instructed by the law,

and are confident [that] you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light of those in darkness,

Much in every way. For first, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.

May it never be! But let God be true but every human being a liar, just as it is written, "In order that you may be justified in your words, and may prevail when you are judged."

And [why] not (as we are slandered, and as some affirm that we say), "Let us do evil, in order that good may come [of it]? Their condemnation is just!

Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those under the law, in order that every mouth may be closed and the whole world may become accountable to God.

that is, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. For [there] is no distinction,

in the forbearance of God, for the demonstration of his righteousness in the present time, so that he should be just and the one who justifies the [person] by faith in Jesus.

What then shall we say [that] Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh, has found?

And he received the sign of circumcision [as] a seal of the righteousness by faith which [he had] {while uncircumcised}, so that he could be the father of all who believe {although they are uncircumcised}, so that righteousness could be credited to them,

For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants, [that] he would be heir of the world, [was] not through the law, but through the righteousness by faith.

Because of this, [it is] by faith, in order that [it may be] according to grace, so that the promise may be secure to all the descendants, not only to those of the law, but also to those of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all

(just as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations") before God, in whom he believed, the one who makes the dead alive and who calls the things that are not as [though] they are,

who against hope believed in hope, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was said, "so will your descendants be."

and being fully convinced that what he had promised, he was also able to do.

But it was not written for the sake of him alone that it was credited to him,

And not only [this], but we also boast in our afflictions, [because we] know that affliction produces patient endurance,

but God demonstrates his own love for us, [in] that [while] we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Now the law came in as a side issue, in order that the trespass could increase, but where sin increased, grace was present in greater abundance,

so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

What therefore shall we say? Shall we continue in sin, in order that grace may increase?

Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we may live {a new way of life}.

knowing this, that our old man was crucified together with [him], in order that the body of sin may be done away with, [that] we may no longer be enslaved to sin.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him,

knowing that Christ, [because he] has been raised from the dead, is going to die no more, death no longer being master over him.

For that [death] he died, he died to sin once and never again, but that [life] he lives, he lives to God.

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that [you] obey its desires,

Do you not know that to whomever you present yourselves [as] slaves for obedience, you are slaves to whomever you obey, whether sin, [leading] to death, or obedience, [leading] to righteousness?

But thanks [be] to God that you were slaves of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted,

Or do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is master of a person for as long a time [as] he lives?

Therefore as a result, if she belongs to another man [while] her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress [if she] belongs to another man.

So then, my brothers, you also were brought to death with respect to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

But now we have been released from the law, [because we] have died [to that] by which we were bound, so that we may serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter [of the law].

Therefore, [did that which is] good become death to me? May it never be! Rather [it was] sin, in order that it might be recognized [as] sin, producing death through [what is] good for me, in order that sin might become sinful to an extraordinary degree through the commandment.

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, {sold into slavery to sin}.

But if what I do not want [to do], this I do, I agree with the law that [it is] good.

But now I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that lives in me.

For I know that good does not live in me, that is, in my flesh. For the willing is present in me, but the doing [of] the good [is] not.

For the good that I want [to do], I do not do, but the evil that I do not want [to do], this I do.

But if what I do not want [to do], this I am doing, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that lives in me.

Consequently, I find the principle with me, the one who wants to do good, that evil is present with me.

but I observe another law in my members, at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that exists in my members.

Wretched man [that] I [am]! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

For what [was] impossible for the law, in that it was weak through the flesh, God [did]. [By] sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

in order that the requirement of the law would be fulfilled in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

The Spirit himself confirms to our spirit that we are children of God,

and if children, also heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer together [with him] so that we may also be glorified together [with him].

For I consider that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy [to be compared] with the glory that is about to be revealed to us.

that the creation itself also will be set free from its servility to decay, into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

For we know that the whole creation groans together and suffers agony together until now.

For in hope we were saved, but hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he sees?

And we know that all [things] work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to [his] purpose,

because [those] whom he foreknew, he also predestined [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, so that he should be the firstborn among many brothers.

Who [is] the one who condemns? Christ [is] the one who died, and more than that, who was raised, who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,

nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

that my grief is great and [there is] constant distress in my heart.

That is, [it is] not the children {by human descent} [who are] children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as descendants.

for [although they] had not yet been born, or done anything good or evil, in order that the purpose of God according to election might remain,

For the scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very [reason] I have raised you up, so that I may demonstrate my power in you, and so that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."

Or does the potter not have authority over the clay, to make from the same lump a vessel that [is] for {honorable use} and [one] that [is] for {ordinary use}?

And [he did so] in order that he could make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy that he prepared beforehand for glory,

What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness--even the righteousness [that is] by faith.

Why that? Because [they did] not [pursue it] by faith, but as [if] by works. They stumbled over the {stone that causes people to stumble},

just as it is written, "Behold, I am laying in Zion {a stone that causes people to stumble}, and {a rock that causes them to fall}, and the one who believes in him will not be put to shame."

For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

For Moses writes about the righteousness [that is] from the law: "The person who does [this] will live by it."

But the righteousness from faith speaks like this: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down),

or "Who will descend into the abyss?" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).

But what does it say? "The word is near to you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim),

that if you confess with your mouth "Jesus [is] Lord" and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

just as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear, until this very day."

let their eyes be darkened so that they do not see, and cause their backs to bend {continually}."

I say then, they did not stumble so that they fell, [did they]? May it never be! But by their trespass, salvation [has come] to the Gentiles, in order to provoke them [to jealousy].

Then you will say, "Branches were broken off in order that I could be grafted in."

For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you will not be wise {in your own sight}, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in,

so also these have now been disobedient for your mercy, in order that they also may now be shown mercy.

For God confined them all in disobedience, in order that he could have mercy on them all.

And do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may approve what [is] the good and well-pleasing and perfect will of God.

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for [there] is no authority except by God, and those that exist are put in place by God.

And [do] this [because you] know the time, that [it is] already the hour for you to wake up from sleep. For our salvation [is] nearer now than when we believed.

For Christ died and became alive again for this [reason], in order that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing [is] unclean of itself, except to the one who considers something to be unclean; to that person [it is] unclean.