Romans 1

1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, a called apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,

Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an Apostle, set apart to proclaim God's Good News,

2 which he formerly promised through his prophets in the holy scriptures,

which God had already promised through His Prophets in Holy Writ, concerning His Son,

3 concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the posterity of David according to the flesh,

who, as regards His human descent, belonged to the posterity of David,

4 but declared to be the Son of God with power, according to his holy spiritual nature, by his resurrection from the dead,

but as regards the holiness of His Spirit was decisively proved by His Resurrection to be the Son of God--I mean concerning Jesus Christ our Lord,

5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship, in order to the obedience of faith among all nations, for the honor of his name,

through whom we have received grace and Apostleship in His service in order to win men to obedience to the faith, among all Gentile peoples,

6 among whom are you also the called of Jesus Christ,

among whom you also, called, as you have been, to belong to Jesus Christ, are numbered:

7 to all that are in Rome, beloved of God, called saints: Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

To all God's loved ones who are in Rome, called to be saints. May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

8 First, I thank my God, through Jesus Christ, on account of you all, because your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.

First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for what He has done for all of you; for the report of your faith is spreading through the whole world.

9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that, without ceasing, I make mention of you,

I call God to witness--to whom I render priestly and spiritual service by telling the Good News about His Son-- how unceasingly I make mention of you in His presence,

10 always in my prayers making request, that, if possible, I may at length have a prosperous journey, by the will of God to come to you.

always in my prayers entreating that now, at length, if such be His will, the way may by some means be made clear for me to come to you.

11 For I greatly desire to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, in order that you may be established;

For I am longing to see you, in order to convey to you some spiritual help, so that you may be strengthened;

12 that is, that I may both give and receive comfort, while I am among you, through our common faith.

in other words that while I am among you we may be mutually encouraged by one another's faith, yours and mine.

13 But, brethren, I do not wish you to be ignorant that I often purposed to come to you, though I have been hindered to the present time, that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.

And I desire you to know, brethren, that I have many a time intended to come to you--though until now I have been disappointed--in order that among you also I might gather some fruit from my labours, as I have already done among the rest of the Gentile nations.

14 I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians; both to the wise and to the unwise.

I am already under obligations alike to Greek-speaking races and to others, to cultured and to uncultured people:

15 So that, as far as I am able, I am ready to preach the gospel to you also, who are in Rome.

so that for my part I am willing and eager to proclaim the Good News to you also who are in Rome.

16 For I am not ashamed of the Gospel: for it is the power of God in order to salvation, to every one that believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

For I am not ashamed of the Good News. It is God's power which is at work for the salvation of every one who believes--the Jew first, and then the Gentile.

17 For in it the righteousness of God by faith is revealed, in order to faith: as it is written, He that is justified by faith, shall live.

For in the Good News a righteousness which comes from God is being revealed, depending on faith and tending to produce faith; as the Scripture has it, "The righteous man shall live by faith."

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who, by unrighteousness, restrain the truth.

For God's anger is being revealed from Heaven against all impiety and against the iniquity of men who through iniquity suppress the truth. God is angry:

19 Because that which may be known of God, is manifest among them; for God has made it manifest to them,

because what may be known about Him is plain to their inmost consciousness; for He Himself has made it plain to them.

20 (for, since the creation of the world, his attributes, which are invisible, are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, both his eternal power and divinity, ) that they may be without excuse; (aïdios g126)

For, from the very creation of the world, His invisible perfections--namely His eternal power and divine nature--have been rendered intelligible and clearly visible by His works, so that these men are without excuse. (aïdios g126)

21 because, when they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were they thankful; but they became perverse in their reasonings, and their wicked heart was darkened;

For when they had come to know God, they did not give Him glory as God nor render Him thanks, but they became absorbed in useless discussions, and their senseless minds were darkened.

22 professing to be wise, they became foolish,

While boasting of their wisdom they became utter fools,

23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image like corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.

and, instead of worshipping the imperishable God, they worshipped images resembling perishable man or resembling birds or beasts or reptiles.

24 For which reason God delivered them up, in the desires of their hearts, to uncleanness, that they might dishonor their bodies among themselves;

For this reason, in accordance with their own depraved cravings, God gave them up to uncleanness, allowing them to dishonour their bodies among themselves with impurity.

25 who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. (aiōn g165)

For they had bartered the reality of God for what is unreal, and had offered divine honours and religious service to created things, rather than to the Creator--He who is for ever blessed. Amen. (aiōn g165)

26 For this reason, God delivered them over to vile passions: for their females exchanged their natural use for that which is against nature:

This then is the reason why God gave them up to vile passions. For not only did the women among them exchange the natural use of their bodies for one which is contrary to nature, but the men also,

27 and in like manner also the males, leaving the natural use of the females, burned in their lusts one toward another, males with males practicing infamous lewdness, and receiving in themselves the due reward of their error.

in just the same way--neglecting that for which nature intends women--burned with passion towards one another, men practising shameful vice with men, and receiving in their own selves the reward which necessarily followed their misconduct.

28 And as they refused to acknowledge God, God delivered them up to an undiscerning mind, to do detestable things;

And just as they had refused to continue to have a full knowledge of God, so it was to utterly worthless minds that God gave them up, for them to do things which should not be done.

29 as they were filled with all unrighteousness, lewdness, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, contention, deceit, malignity;

Their hearts overflowed with all sorts of dishonesty, mischief, greed, malice. They were full of envy and murder, and were quarrelsome, crafty, and spiteful.

30 whisperers, evil-speakers, haters of God, insolent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents;

They were secret backbiters, open slanderers; hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful; inventors of new forms of sin, disobedient to parents, destitute of common sense,

31 without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful;

faithless to their promises, without natural affection, without human pity.

32 who, acknowledging the judgment of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do them, but approve those who practice them.

In short, though knowing full well the sentence which God pronounces against actions such as theirs, as things which deserve death, they not only practise them, but even encourage and applaud others who do them.