Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, an Apostle by the selection of God, given authority as a preacher of the good news,

Of which God had given word before by his prophets in the holy Writings,

But was marked out as Son of God in power by the Holy Spirit through the coming to life again of the dead; Jesus Christ our Lord,

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

To all those who are in Rome, loved by God, marked out as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord 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;

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 in it there is the revelation of the righteousness of God from faith to faith: as it is said in the holy Writings, The man who does righteousness will be living by his faith.

For there is a revelation of the wrath of God from heaven against all the wrongdoing and evil thoughts of men who keep down what is true by wrongdoing;

Because the knowledge of God may be seen in them, God having made it clear to them.

Seeming to be wise, they were in fact foolish,

And by them the glory of the eternal God was changed and made into the image of man who is not eternal, and of birds and beasts and things which go on the earth.

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.

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

But by your hard and unchanged heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of the revelation of God's judging in righteousness;

But to those who, from a love of competition, are not guided by what is true, will come the heat of his wrath,

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 it is not the hearers of the law who will be judged as having righteousness before God, but only the doers:

In the day when God will be a judge of the secrets of men, as it says in the good news of which I am a preacher, through Jesus Christ.

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?

You who take pride in the law, are you doing wrong to the honour of God by behaviour which is against 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.

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

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.

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)?

In no way: because if it is so, how is God able to be the judge of all the world?

But if, because I am untrue, God being seen to be true gets more glory, why am I to be judged as a sinner?

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.

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.

But now without the law there is a revelation of the righteousness of God, to which witness is given by the law and the prophets;

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

Whom God has put forward as the sign of his mercy, through faith, by his blood, to make clear his righteousness when, in his pity, God let the sins of earlier times go without punishment;

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

What reason, then, is there for pride? It is shut out. By what sort of law? of works? No, but by a law of faith.

For this reason, then, a man may get righteousness by faith without the works of the law.

For if Abraham got righteousness by works, he has reason for pride; but not before God.

Happy is the man against whom no sin is recorded by the Lord.

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;

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 the outcome of the law is wrath; but where there is no law it will not be broken.

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,

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.

Still, he did not give up faith in the undertaking of God, but was made strong by faith, giving glory to God,

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,

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.

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.

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

Because, till the law came, sin was in existence, but sin is not put to the account of anyone when there is no law to be broken.

But the free giving of God is not like the wrongdoing of man. For if, by the wrongdoing of one man death came to numbers of men, much more did the grace of God, and the free giving by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, come to men.

And the free giving has not the same effect as the sin of one: for the effect of one man's sin was punishment by the decision of God, but the free giving had power to give righteousness to wrongdoers in great number.

For, if by the wrongdoing of one, death was ruling through the one, much more will those to whom has come the wealth of grace and the giving of righteousness, be ruling in life through the one, even Jesus Christ.

Because, as numbers of men became sinners through the wrongdoing of one man, even so will great numbers get righteousness through the keeping of the word of God by one man.

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

In no way. How may we, who are dead to sin, be living in it any longer?

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;

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;

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;

What then? are we to go on in sin because we are not under law but under grace? Let it not be so.

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;

For the woman who has a husband is placed by the law under the power of her husband as long as he is living; but if her husband is dead, she is free from the law of the husband.

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.

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.

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.

For I was tricked and put to death by sin, which took its chance through the law.

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 this cause those who are in Christ Jesus will not be judged as sinners.

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.

Because the mind of the flesh is opposite to God; it is not under the law of God, and is not able to be:

So then, my brothers, we are in debt, not to the flesh to be living in the way of the flesh:

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 all those who are guided by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

For you did not get the spirit of servants again to put you in fear, but the spirit of sons was given to you, by which we say, Abba, Father.

For every living thing was put under the power of change, not by its desire, but by him who made it so, in hope

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 our salvation is by hope: but hope which is seen is not hope: for who is hoping for what he sees?

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:

And those who were marked out by him were named; and those who were named were given righteousness; and to those to whom he gave righteousness, in the same way he gave glory.

Or things on high, or things under the earth, or anything which is made, will be able to come between us and the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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:

Whose are the fathers, and of whom came Christ in the flesh, who is over all, God, to whom be blessing for ever. So be it.

And they are not all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, In Isaac will your seed be named.

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

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,

It was said to her, The older will be the servant of the younger.

What may we say then? is God not upright? let it not be said.

So then, it is not by the desire or by the attempt of man, but by the mercy of God.

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 if God, desiring to let his wrath and his power be seen, for a long time put up with the vessels of wrath which were ready for destruction:

Even us, who were marked out by him, not only from the Jews, but from the Gentiles?

As he says in Hosea, They will be named my people who were not my people, and she will be loved who was not loved.

And in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, there they will be named the sons of the living God.

Why? Because they were not searching for it by faith, but by works. They came up against the stone which was in the way;