The Bible

436 verses

Romans Chapter 1

¹Paul, a servant of Jesus AnointedOne, called to be an ambassador, set apart for the Good News of God, ²which he promised before through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, ³concerning his Son, who was born of the offspring of David according to the flesh, ⁴who was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus AnointedOne our Lord, ⁵through whom we received grace and ambassadorship for obedience of faith among all the nations for his name's sake; ⁶among whom you are also called to belong to Jesus AnointedOne; ⁷to all who are in Rome, dear-ones of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus AnointedOne.

⁸First, I thank my God through Jesus AnointedOne for all of you, that your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world. ⁹For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the Good News of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my prayers, ¹⁰requesting, if by any means now at last I may be prospered by the will of God to come to you. ¹¹For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, to the end that you may be established; ¹²that is, that I with you may be encouraged in you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine.

¹³Now I don't desire to have you unaware, brothers, that I often planned to come to you (and was hindered so far), that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. ¹⁴I am debtor both to Greeks and to [other] foreigners, both to the wise and to the foolish. ¹⁵So as much as is in me, I am eager to preach the Good News to you also who are in Rome.

¹⁶For I am not ashamed of the Good News [*of AnointedOne], because it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew [*first], and also for the Gentile. ¹⁷For in it is revealed God's righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, "But the righteous shall live by faith."

¹⁸For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, ¹⁹because what is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them. ²⁰For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity, that they may be without excuse. ²¹Because knowing God, they didn't glorify him as God, and didn't give thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened.

²²Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, ²³and traded the glory of the permanent God for the likeness of an image of temporary human, and of birds, four-footed animals, and creeping things. ²⁴Therefore God also gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves; ²⁵who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever praiseworthy. Absolutely.

²⁶For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For their women changed the natural function into what is against nature. ²⁷Likewise also the men, leaving the natural function of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another, men doing what is inappropriate with men, and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error. ²⁸Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting; ²⁹being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil habits, secret slanderers, ³⁰backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, ³¹without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful; ³²who, knowing the righteous-requirement of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.

Romans Chapter 2

¹Therefore you are without excuse, O human, whoever you are who judge. For in what you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things. ²We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. ³Do you think this, O human who judges those who practice such things, and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? ⁵But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God, ⁶who "will pay back to everyone according to their actions:" ⁷to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life; ⁸but to those who are self-seeking and don't obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath, indignation, ⁹oppression, and anguish on every human soul who does evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.

¹⁰But glory, honor, and peace go to every man who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. ¹¹For there is no partiality with God. ¹²For as many as have fallen-short without-the-law will also perish without-the-law. As many as have fallen-short under the law will be judged by the law. ¹³For it isn't the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified ¹⁴(for when Gentiles who don't have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law for themselves, ¹⁵in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them) ¹⁶in the day when God judges the secrets of humans, according to my Good News, by Jesus AnointedOne.

¹⁷If you bear the name 'Jew', rest on the law, boast in God, ¹⁸know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, [being] instructed from the law, ¹⁹and are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babies, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth. ²¹So you who teach another, don't you teach yourself? You [who] preach not to steal, do you steal? ²²You who say a man shouldn't commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³You who boast in the law dishonor God by disobeying the law! ²⁴For "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you," just as it is written. ²⁵For circumcision indeed profits, if you are a doer of the law, but if you are a lawbreaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. ²⁶So if the uncircumcised keep the righteous-requirements of the law, won't his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? ²⁷Won't those who are physically uncircumcised, but fulfill the law, judge you, who with the letter and circumcision are a lawbreaker of the law? ²⁸For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; ²⁹but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from people, but from God.

Romans Chapter 3

¹Then what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the profit of circumcision? ²Much in every way! Because first of all, they were entrusted with the revelations of God. ³For what if some were without faith? Will their lack of faith nullify the faithfulness of God? ⁴Not at all! Yes, let God be found true, but every person a liar. As it is written,
"that you might be justified in your words,
and might prevail when you come into judgment."

⁵But if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, what will we say? Is God unrighteous who inflicts wrath? I speak like men do. ⁶Not at all! For then how will God judge the world? ⁷For if the truth of God through my lie exceeded towards his glory, why am I also still judged as a shortcomer? ⁸Why not (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say), "Let's do evil, that good may come?" Those who say so are justly condemned.

⁹What then? Are we better than they? No, in no way. For we previously warned both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under shortcoming. ¹⁰As it is written,
"There is no one righteous;
no, not one.
¹¹There is no one who understands.
There is no one who seeks after God.
¹²They have all turned away.
They have together become unprofitable.
There is no one who does good,
no, not so much as one."
¹³"Their throat is an open tomb.
With their tongues they have used deceit."
"The poison of vipers is under their lips."
¹⁴"Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness."
¹⁵"Their feet are swift to shed blood.
¹⁶Destruction and misery are in their ways.
¹⁷The way of peace, they haven't known."
¹⁸"There is no fear of God before their eyes."

¹⁹Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God. ²⁰Because by the actions of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of shortcoming.

²¹But now apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been revealed, being testified by the law and the prophets; ²²even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus AnointedOne to all and on all those who believe. For there is no distinction, ²³for all have fallen-short, and lack God's glory; ²⁴being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in AnointedOne Jesus, ²⁵whom God sent to be an atoning sacrifice through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior shortcomings, in God's forbearance; ²⁶to demonstrate his righteousness at this present time, that he might himself be just and the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus.

²⁷Where then is the boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of actions? No, but by a law of faith. ²⁸We maintain that a person is justified [solely] by faith apart from the actions of the law. ²⁹Or is God only the God of Jews? Isn't he the God of Gentiles too? Yes, Gentiles too, ³⁰since indeed there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

³¹Do we then nullify the law through faith? Not at all! No, we establish the law.

Romans Chapter 4

¹What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh? ²For if Abraham was justified by actions, he has something to boast about, but not toward God. ³For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." ⁴Now to him who works, the reward is not counted as grace, but as something owed. ⁵But to him who doesn't work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. ⁶Even as David also pronounces blessing on the person to whom God counts righteousness apart from actions:
⁷"Happier are they whose iniquities are forgiven,
whose shortcomings are covered.
⁸Happier is the man whom ForeverOne will in no way charge with shortcoming."

⁹Is this blessing then [bestowed only] on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised as well? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. ¹⁰Then how was it counted? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. ¹¹He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they might be in uncircumcision, that righteousness might also be counted to them. ¹²He is the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had in uncircumcision.

¹³For the promise to Abraham and to his offspring that he would be heir of the world wasn't through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of no effect. ¹⁵For the law produces wrath; for where there is no law, neither is there disobedience.

¹⁶For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace, to the end that the promise may be sure to all the offspring, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. ¹⁷As it is written, "I have made you a father of many nations." This is in the presence of him whom he believed: God, who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not, as though they were. ¹⁸Against hope, Abraham in hope believed, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to what had been spoken, "So will your offspring be." ¹⁹Without being weakened in faith, he didn't consider his own body, already having been worn out, (aged about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb. ²⁰Yet, looking to the promise of God, he didn't waver through unbelief, but grew strong through faith, giving glory to God, ²¹and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was also able to perform. ²²So it also was "counted as righteousness for him." ²³Now it was not written that it was counted to him for his sake alone, ²⁴but for our sake also, to whom it will be counted, who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.

Romans Chapter 5

¹So, [because we're] justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus AnointedOne; ²through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; ⁵and hope doesn't disappoint us, because God's selfless-love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

⁶For while we were yet weak, at the right time AnointedOne died for the ungodly. ⁷For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a good person someone would even dare to die. ⁸But God commends his own selfless-love toward us, in that while we were yet shortcomers, AnointedOne died for us.

⁹Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God's wrath through him. ¹⁰For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life.

¹¹Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus AnointedOne, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. ¹²Therefore, as shortcoming entered into the world through one human, and death through shortcoming, so death passed to all people because all [of us] have fallen-short. ¹³For [even] before the law, shortcoming was in the world; but shortcoming is disregarded [when there] is no law. ¹⁴Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose falling-short wasn't like Adam's disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come.

¹⁵But the free gift isn't like the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one human, Jesus AnointedOne, abound to the many. ¹⁶The gift is not as through one who fell-short; for the judgment came by one to condemnation, but the free gift followed many trespasses to justification. ¹⁷For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus AnointedOne.

¹⁸So then as through one trespass, all people were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all people were justified to life. ¹⁹For as through the one human's disobedience many were made shortcomers, even so through the obedience of the one, many will be made righteous. ²⁰The law came in to increase the trespass; but where shortcoming increased, grace [increased even] more, ²¹that as shortcoming reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus AnointedOne our Lord.

Romans Chapter 6

¹What shall we say then? Should we continue in shortcoming, that grace might increase? ²Not at all! How could we who died to shortcoming, still live in it? ³Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into AnointedOne Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴So we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as AnointedOne was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

⁵For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection; ⁶knowing this, that our old human was crucified with him, that the body of shortcoming might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in slavery to shortcoming. ⁷For whoever has died has been freed from shortcoming. ⁸But if we died with AnointedOne, we believe that we will also live with him, ⁹knowing that AnointedOne, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer dominates him! ¹⁰For the death that he died, he died to shortcoming one time; but the life that he lives, he lives to God. ¹¹Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to shortcoming, but alive to God in AnointedOne Jesus our Lord.

¹²Therefore don't let shortcoming reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. ¹³Also, do not present your members to shortcoming as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. ¹⁴For shortcoming can't dominate you, for you are not under law, but under grace.

¹⁵What then? Should we [deliberately] fall-short, because we are not under law but under grace? Not at all! ¹⁶Don't you know that when you present yourselves as servants and obey someone, you are the servants of whomever you obey, whether of shortcoming to death, or of obedience to righteousness? ¹⁷But thanks be to God that, whereas you were bondservants of shortcoming, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were delivered. ¹⁸Being made free from shortcoming, you became bondservants of righteousness.

¹⁹I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh; for as you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to wickedness upon wickedness, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness for sanctification. ²⁰For when you were servants of shortcoming, you were free from righteousness. ²¹So what fruit were you getting at that time from the things which you are now ashamed of? For the outcome of those things is death. ²²But now, being made free from shortcoming and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification and the result of eternal life. ²³For the wages of shortcoming is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in AnointedOne Jesus our Lord.

Romans Chapter 7

¹Or don't you know, brothers (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law dominates a person for as long as they live? ²For the woman [that has a husband] is bound by law to the husband while he lives, but if the husband dies, she is discharged from the law of the husband. ³So then if, while the husband lives, she is joined to another man, she would be called an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she is joined to another man. ⁴So, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of AnointedOne, that you would be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might produce fruit of God. ⁵For when we were in the flesh, the shortcoming passions which were through the law worked in our members to bear fruit to death. ⁶But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.

⁷What shall we say then? Is the law shortcoming? Not at all! However, I wouldn't have known sin except through the law. For I wouldn't have known coveting unless the law had said, "Don't covet." ⁸But shortcoming, finding occasion through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For without the law, sin is dead. ⁹I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, shortcoming revived and I died. ¹⁰The commandment which was for life, this I found to be for death; ¹¹for shortcoming, finding occasion through the commandment, deceived me, and killed me through it. ¹²So the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, righteous, and good.

¹³Did then what is good become death to me? Not at all! But shortcoming, that it might be shown to be shortcoming, was producing death in me through what is good; that through the commandment shortcoming might become an excessive shortcomer. ¹⁴For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold under shortcoming. ¹⁵For I don't understand what I am doing. For I don't practice what I desire to do; but what I hate, that I do. ¹⁶But if what I don't desire, that I do, I consent to the law that it is good. ¹⁷[So] now [it is no] longer I doing it, but shortcoming which lives in me! ¹⁸For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, no good thing lives. For the will is present with me, but I can't [seem to] do good. ¹⁹For the good which I desire, I don't do; but the evil which I don't desire, [that's] what I do. ²⁰But if what I don't desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but shortcoming which lives in me. ²¹So I find [there's this] law that, while I desire to do good, evil is right there! ²²For I delight in God's law after the inward person, ²³but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of shortcoming which is in my members. ²⁴What a wretched person I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death? ²⁵I thank God through Jesus AnointedOne, our Lord! So then with the mind, I myself serve God's law, but with the flesh, shortcoming's law.

Romans Chapter 8

¹So [there is] now no condemnation for those who are in AnointedOne Jesus, [*who don't walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.] ²For the law of the Spirit of life in AnointedOne Jesus freed us from the law of shortcoming and death. ³For what the law couldn't do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, by sending his own Son with the very likeness of shortcoming flesh [as an offering for] shortcoming he condemned shortcoming in the flesh, ⁴that the righteous-requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who don't walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. ⁵For those who live in accordance with the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live in accordance with the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. ⁶For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace; ⁷because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God, for it is not subject to God's law, nor indeed can it be. ⁸Those who are in the flesh can't please God.

⁹But you-all are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you-all. But if anyone doesn't have the Spirit of AnointedOne, he is not his. ¹⁰If AnointedOne is in you-all, the body is dead because of shortcoming, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness. ¹¹But if the Spirit [that] raised Jesus from the dead lives in you-all, he who raised AnointedOne [*Jesus] from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you-all.

¹²So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. ¹³For if you-all live according to the flesh, you-all must die; but if by the Spirit you-all put to death the deeds of the body, you-all will live. ¹⁴For those led by the Spirit of God, are sons of God. ¹⁵For you-all didn't receive the spirit of slavery again to fear, but you-all received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, "Daddy! Father!"

¹⁶The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God; ¹⁷and if children, then heirs- heirs of God and joint heirs with AnointedOne, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.

¹⁸For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us. ¹⁹For creation earnestly-waits, eagerly-expecting the sons of God to be revealed. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself also will be delivered from the slavery of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. ²²For we know that all creation groans-together and strains-together-in-birthing until now. ²³Not only creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan within, eagerly-expecting our adoption, the redemption of our body. ²⁴For we were saved in hope. But hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what they [already] see? ²⁵But if we hope for what we don't [yet] see, we eagerly-expect it with patience.

²⁶In the same way, the Spirit helps our weaknesses, for we don't know what we need to pray. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with inexpressible groanings. ²⁷And the one who searches hearts knows what the Spirit's purpose is, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.

²⁸And we know that all things work together for the good of those who selflessly-love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.

³¹What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²He who didn't spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things? ³³Who could bring a charge against God's chosen ones? It is God who justifies. ³⁴Who is he who condemns? It is AnointedOne who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

³⁵Who [can] separate us from the selfless-love of AnointedOne? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁶Even as it is written,
"For your sake we are killed all day long.
We were counted as sheep for the slaughter."

³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who selflessly-loved us. ³⁸For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from God's selfless-love which is in AnointedOne Jesus our Lord.

Romans Chapter 9

¹I tell the truth in AnointedOne. I am not lying, my conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit ²that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. ³For I could wish that I myself were accursed from AnointedOne for my brothers' sake, my relatives according to the flesh ⁴who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises; ⁵of whom are the fathers, and from [whom comes] AnointedOne (according to the flesh), who is God over all, forever praiseworthy. Absolutely.

⁶But it is not as though the word of God has come to nothing. For they are not all Israel that are of Israel. ⁷Neither, because they are Abraham's offspring, are they all children. But, "your offspring will be counted as from Isaac." ⁸That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as heirs. ⁹For this is a word of promise: "At the appointed time I will come, and Sarah will have a son." ¹⁰Not only so, but Rebekah also conceived by one, by our father Isaac. ¹¹For being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of actions, but of him who calls, ¹²it was said to her, "The elder will serve the younger." ¹³Even as it is written, "Jacob I selflessly-loved, but Esau I hated."

¹⁴What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Not at all! ¹⁵For he said to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." ¹⁶So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy. ¹⁷For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." ¹⁸So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.

¹⁹Then, [perhaps, you'll] say to me, "Why [does he] still find fault? For who [can] resist his will?" ²⁰But indeed, O human, who are you to answer back to God? Will what's been formed ask him who formed it, "Why did you make me like this?" ²¹Or doesn't the potter have authority over the clay, to make one vessel for honor, and another for dishonor from the same lump [of clay]?

²²What if God, choosing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience objects of wrath prepared for destruction, ²³in order to make-known the riches of his glory on objects of mercy, which he prepared-beforehand for glory- ²⁴[even] us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles? ²⁵As he says also in Hosea,
"I will call them 'my people,' who weren't my people;
and [call] her 'loved,' who was not loved."
²⁶"It will be that in the place where it was said to them, 'You-all are not my people,'
there they will be called 'sons of the living God.'"

²⁷Isaiah cries concerning Israel,
"If the number of the sons of Israel are as the sand of the sea,
it is the remnant who will be saved;
²⁸for he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,
because ForeverOne will make a short work upon the earth."

²⁹As Isaiah has said before,
"Unless ForeverOne of Armies had left us a seed,
we would have become like Sodom,
and would have been made like Gomorrah."

³⁰What are we to say then? That the Gentiles, who didn't pursue righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith; ³¹but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, didn't arrive at that law. ³²Why? Because they didn't seek it by faith, but as it were by actions of the law. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, ³³even as it is written,
"See, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense;
and no one who believes in him will be disappointed."

Romans Chapter 10

¹Brothers, my heart's desire and my prayer to God is for Israel, that they may be saved. ²For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. ³For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they didn't subject themselves to the righteousness of God. ⁴For AnointedOne is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

⁵For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, "The person who does them will live by them." ⁶But the righteousness which is of faith says this, "Don't say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?' (that is, to bring AnointedOne down); ⁷or, 'Who will descend into the abyss?' (that is, to bring AnointedOne up from the dead.)" ⁸But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart;" that is, the word of faith which we preach: ⁹that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For with the heart one believes resulting in righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made resulting in salvation. ¹¹For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed."

¹²For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile for he is Lord of all, making all who call on him rich. ¹³For, "All who call on the name of ForeverOne will be saved." ¹⁴So how will they call on [someone] they don't trust? And how will they trust [someone] they've never heard of? How will they hear without someone preaching [to them]? ¹⁵And how will they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:
"How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Good News of peace,
who bring glad tidings of good things!"

¹⁶But they didn't all listen to the glad news. For Isaiah says, "ForeverOne, who has believed our report?" ¹⁷So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. ¹⁸But I say, didn't they hear? Yes, most certainly,
"Their sound went out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world."

¹⁹But I ask, didn't Israel know? First Moses says,
"I will provoke you-all to jealousy of what is no nation.
I will make you-all angry with a nation void of understanding."

²⁰Isaiah is very bold and says,
"I was found by those who didn't seek me.
I was revealed to those who didn't ask for me."

²¹But about Israel he says, "All day long I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people."

Romans Chapter 11

¹I ask then, did God reject his people? Not at all! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. ²God didn't reject his people, whom he foreknew. Or don't you-all know what the Scripture says about Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel: ³"ForeverOne, they have killed your prophets. They have broken down your altars. I am left alone, and they seek my life." ⁴But how does God answer him? "I have reserved for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." ⁵Even so too at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. ⁶And if by grace, then it is no longer of actions; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of actions, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.

⁷What then? What Israel seeks for, that he didn't obtain, but the chosen ones obtained it, and the rest were hardened. ⁸According as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this very day."

⁹David says,
"Let their table be made a snare, a trap,
a stumbling block, and a retribution to them.
¹⁰Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see.
Always keep their backs bent."

¹¹I ask then, did they stumble that they might fall? Not at all! But by their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy. ¹²Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!

¹³For I speak to you-all who are Gentiles. Since I am an ambassador to Gentiles, I glorify my ministry, ¹⁴if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh, and may save some of them. ¹⁵For if the rejection of them is the reconciling of the world, what would their acceptance be, but life from the dead?

¹⁶If the first fruit is holy, so is the lump. If the root is holy, so are the branches. ¹⁷But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree, ¹⁸don't boast over the branches. But if you boast, [remember that] it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you. ¹⁹You will say then, "Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in." ²⁰True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don't be conceited, but fear; ²¹for if God didn't spare the natural branches, nor will he spare you. ²²See then the goodness and severity of God. Toward those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness; otherwise you also will be cut off. ²³They also, if they don't continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. ²⁴For if you were cut out of what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more will these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

²⁵For I don't desire you-all to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you-all won't be wise in your own conceits, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, ²⁶and so all Israel will be saved. Even as it is written,
"There will come out of Zion the Deliverer,
and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
²⁷This is my covenant with them,
when I will take away their shortcomings."

²⁸Concerning the Good News, they are enemies for the sake of you-all. But concerning the election, they are dear-ones for the fathers' sake. ²⁹For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. ³⁰For as you-all previously were disobedient to God, but you-all now have obtained mercy by their disobedience, ³¹even so these also have now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you-all they may also obtain mercy. ³²For God has bound all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all.

³³Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!
³⁴"For who has known the mind of ForeverOne?
Or who has been his counselor?"
³⁵"Or who has first given to him,
and it will be repaid to him again?"

³⁶For of him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Absolutely.

Romans Chapter 12

¹So I urge you-all, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present all-of-your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is the spiritual service of you-all. ²Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of all-of-your minds, so that you-all may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.

³For I say through the grace that was given me, to everyone who is among you-all, not to think of yourself more highly than you-all ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith. ⁴For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members don't have the same function, ⁵so we, who are many, are one body in AnointedOne, and individually members of one another, ⁶having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us: if prophecy, let's prophesy according to the proportion of our faith; ⁷or service, let's give ourselves to service; or he who teaches, to his teaching; ⁸or he who exhorts, to his exhorting; he who gives, let him do it with generosity; he who rules, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

⁹Let selfless-love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. ¹⁰In love of the brothers be tenderly affectionate to one another; in honor prefer one another, ¹¹not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, ¹²rejoicing in hope, enduring in troubles, continuing steadfastly in prayer, ¹³contributing to the needs of the saints, and given to hospitality.

¹⁴Praise those who persecute you-all; praise, and don't curse. ¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. ¹⁶Be of the same mind one toward another. Don't set all-of-your minds on high things, but associate with the humble. Don't be wise in all-of-your own conceits. ¹⁷Repay no one evil for evil. Respect what is honorable in the sight of all people. ¹⁸If it is possible, as much as it is up to you-all, be at peace with all people. ¹⁹Don't seek revenge yourselves, dear-ones, but give place to God's wrath. For it is written, "Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says ForeverOne." ²⁰So "If your enemy is hungry, feed him.
If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
for in doing so, you will heap coals of fire on his head."

²¹Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans Chapter 13

¹Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are ordained by God. ²So he who resists the authority withstands the ordinance of God; and those who withstand will receive to themselves judgment. ³For rulers are not a terror to good actions, but to evil. Do you desire to have no fear of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the authority, ⁴for he is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid, for he doesn't bear the sword in vain; for he is a servant of God, an avenger for wrath to him who does evil. ⁵So you need to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience' sake. ⁶For this reason you also pay taxes, for they are servants of God's service, continually doing this very thing. ⁷So give everyone what you owe: if you owe taxes, pay taxes; if customs, then customs; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

⁸Owe no one anything, except to selflessly-love one another; for he who selflessly-loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. ⁹For [the commandments], "Don't commit adultery," "Don't murder," "Don't steal," [*"Don't give false testimony,"] "Don't covet," and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "Selflessly-love your neighbor as yourself." ¹⁰Selfless-love doesn't harm a neighbor. So selfless-love is the fulfillment of the law.

¹¹Do this, knowing the time, that it is already time for you to awaken out of sleep, for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first believed. ¹²The night is far gone, and the day is near. So let's throw off the actions of darkness, and let's put on the armor of light. ¹³Let's walk properly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not in strife and jealousy. ¹⁴But put on the Lord Jesus AnointedOne, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts.

Romans Chapter 14

¹Now accept one who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions. ²One has faith to eat all things, but the weak one eats only vegetables. ³Don't let him who eats despise him who doesn't eat. Don't let him who doesn't eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him. ⁴Who are you who judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has power to make him stand.

⁵One man esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. ⁶He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks. He who doesn't eat, to the Lord he doesn't eat, and gives God thanks. ⁷For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself. ⁸For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. So if we live or die, we are the Lord's. ⁹For to this end AnointedOne died, rose, and lived again, that he might dominate both the dead and the living.

¹⁰But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of AnointedOne. ¹¹For it is written,
"'As I live,' says ForeverOne, 'to me every knee will bow.
Every tongue will confess to God.'"

¹²So then each one of us will give account of himself to God.

¹³So let's not judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block in his brother's way, or an occasion for falling. ¹⁴I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean of itself; except that to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. ¹⁵Yet if because of food your brother is grieved, you walk no longer in selfless-love. Don't destroy with your food him for whom AnointedOne died. ¹⁶Then don't let your good be slandered, ¹⁷for God's Kingdom is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸For he who serves AnointedOne in these things is acceptable to God and approved by people. ¹⁹So then, let's follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may build one another up. ²⁰Don't overthrow God's work for food's sake. All things indeed are clean, however it is evil for that person who creates a stumbling block by eating. ²¹It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak.

²²Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happier is he who doesn't judge himself in what he approves. ²³But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because it isn't of faith; and whatever is not of faith is shortcoming.

²⁴[Some texts place this in Romans 16:25]Now to him who is able to establish you according to my Good News and the preaching of Jesus AnointedOne, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret through long ages, ²⁵[Some texts place this in Romans 16:26]but now is revealed, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the order of the eternal God, is made known for obedience of faith to all the nations; ²⁶[Some texts place this in Romans 16:27]to the only wise God, through Jesus AnointedOne, to whom be the glory forever! Absolutely.

Romans Chapter 15

¹Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of the weak, and not to please ourselves. ²Let each one of us please his neighbor for what is good, to be building him up. ³For even AnointedOne didn't please himself. But, as it is written, "The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me." ⁴For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that through perseverance and through encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. ⁵Now the God of perseverance and of encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to AnointedOne Jesus, ⁶that with one accord you may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus AnointedOne.

⁷So accept one another, even as AnointedOne also accepted you, to the glory of God. ⁸Now I say that AnointedOne has been made a servant of the circumcision for the truth of God, that he might confirm the promises given to the fathers, ⁹and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
"Therefore I will give praise to you among the Gentiles
and sing to your name."

¹⁰Again he says,
"Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people."

¹¹Again,
"Praise ForeverOne, all you Gentiles!
Let all the peoples praise him."

¹²Again, Isaiah says,
"There will be the root of Jesse,
he who arises to rule over the Gentiles;
in him the Gentiles will hope."

¹³Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope in the power of the Holy Spirit.

¹⁴I myself am also persuaded about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish others. ¹⁵But I write the more boldly to you in part as reminding you, because of the grace that was given to me by God, ¹⁶that I should be a servant of AnointedOne Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of the Good News of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be made acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. ¹⁷So I have my boasting in AnointedOne Jesus in things pertaining to God. ¹⁸For I will not dare to speak of any things except those which AnointedOne worked through me for the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed, ¹⁹in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of God's Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and around as far as to Illyricum, I have fully preached the Good News of AnointedOne; ²⁰yes, making it my aim to preach the Good News, not where AnointedOne was already named, that I might not build on another's foundation. ²¹But, as it is written,
"They will see, to whom no news of him came.
They who haven't heard will understand."

²²So I was also hindered many times from coming to you, ²³but now, no longer having any place in these regions, and having these many years a longing to come to you, ²⁴whenever I travel to Spain, I will come to you. For I hope to see you on my journey, and to be helped on my way there by you, if first I may enjoy your company for a while. ²⁵But now, I say, I am going to Jerusalem, serving the saints. ²⁶For it has been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are at Jerusalem. ²⁷Yes, it has been their good pleasure, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, they owe it to them also to serve them in fleshly things. ²⁸So when I have accomplished this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will go on by way of you to Spain. ²⁹I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the praise of the Good News of AnointedOne.

³⁰Now I beg you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus AnointedOne and by the selfless-love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, ³¹that I may be delivered from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, ³²that I may come to you in joy through the will of God, and together with you, find rest. ³³Now the God of peace be with you all. Absolutely.

Romans Chapter 16

¹I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the assembly that is at Cenchreae, ²that you receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and that you assist her in whatever matter she may need from you, for she herself also has been a helper of many, and of my own self.

³Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in AnointedOne Jesus, ⁴who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the assemblies of the Gentiles. ⁵Greet the assembly that is in their house. Greet Epaenetus, my loved-one, who is the first fruits of Achaia to AnointedOne. ⁶Greet Mary, who labored much for us. ⁷Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives and my fellow prisoners, who are notable among the ambassadors, who were also in AnointedOne before me. ⁸Greet Amplias, my loved-one in the Lord. ⁹Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in AnointedOne, and Stachys, my loved-one. ¹⁰Greet Apelles, the approved in AnointedOne. Greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus. ¹¹Greet Herodion, my kinsman. Greet them of the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord. ¹²Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord. Greet Persis, the loved-one, who labored much in the Lord. ¹³Greet Rufus, the chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. ¹⁴Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are with them. ¹⁵Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. ¹⁶Greet one another with a holy kiss. The assemblies of AnointedOne greet you.

¹⁷Now I beg you, brothers, look out for those who are causing the divisions and occasions of stumbling, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and turn away from them. ¹⁸For those who are such don't serve our Lord Jesus AnointedOne, but their own belly; and by their smooth praise they deceive the hearts of the innocent. ¹⁹For your obedience has become known to all. So I rejoice over you. But I desire to have you wise in what is good, but innocent in what is evil. ²⁰And the God of peace will quickly crush Satan under your feet.

The grace of our Lord Jesus AnointedOne be with you.

²¹Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you, as do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my relatives. ²²I, Tertius, who write the letter, greet you in the Lord. ²³Gaius, my host and host of the whole assembly, greets you. Erastus, the treasurer of the city, greets you, as does Quartus, the brother. ²⁴[*The grace of our Lord Jesus AnointedOne be with you all! Absolutely.] ²⁵[this verse is placed in Romans 14:24] ²⁶[this verse is placed in Romans 14:25] ²⁷[this verse is placed in Romans 14:26]