Romans 2

1 Therefore you have nothing to say in your own defence, whoever you are who set yourself up as a judge. In judging others you condemn yourself, for you who set yourself up as a judge do the very same things.

You are therefore inexcusable, O man, whoever you are, that sits in judgment; for in judging another you are condemning yourself. You, the judge, are habitually practising the very same things.

2 And we know that God’s judgment falls unerringly on those who do them.

"We know that God’s judgment against those who practise such vices is in accord with the truth," you say?

3 You who judge those that do such things and yet are yourself guilty of them – do you suppose that you of all people will escape God’s judgment?

Very well; and do you suppose, you who judge those that practise such vices, and are doing the very same, that you will elude the judgment of God?

4 Or do you think lightly of his abundant kindness, patience, and forbearance, not realising that his kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and long patience? Do you not know that the kindness of God is leading you to repentance?

5 Hard-hearted and impenitent as you are, you are storing up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath, when God’s justice as a judge will be revealed;

In your hardness and impenitence of heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath on the Day of Wrath, when the righteous judgment of God is revealed.

6 for he will give to everyone what their actions deserve.

For He will render to every man according to his works;

7 To those who, by perseverance in doing good, aim at glory, honour, and all that is imperishable, he will give immortal life; (aiōnios g166)

eternal life to those who by patience in well-doing strive for glory and honor and immortality; (aiōnios g166)

8 while as to those who are factious, and disobedient to truth but obedient to evil, wrath and anger, distress and despair,

but anger and wrath upon those who are self-willed and disobey the truth, but obey unrighteousness.

9 will fall on every human being who persists in wrongdoing – on the Jew first, but also on the Greek.

Anguish and calamity will be upon every soul of man who practises evil, upon the Jew first, and also upon the Gentile;

10 But there will be glory, honour, and peace for everyone who does right – for the Jew first, but also for the Greek,

but glory and honor and peace to every man who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.

11 since God shows no partiality.

For there is no partiality with God.

12 All who, when they sin, are without Law will also perish without Law; while all who, when they sin, are under Law, will be judged as being under Law.

For all who have sinned without law will also perish without law; and all who have sinned under law will be judged by law.

13 It is not those who hear the words of a Law that are righteous before God, but it is those who obey it that will be pronounced righteous.

For it is not the hearers of law who are righteous in the eyes of God; nay, it is the doers of law who will be accounted righteous.

14 When Gentiles, who have no Law, do instinctively what the Law requires, they, though they have no Law, are a Law to themselves;

For when Gentiles, who have no law, obey by natural instinct the commands of the Law, they even though they have no law, are a law to themselves.

15 for they show the demands of the Law written on their hearts; their consciences corroborating it, while in their thoughts they argue either in self-accusation or, it may be, in self-defence –

For they show that the work of the Law is written in their hearts, while their conscience bears them witness, as their reasonings accuse, or it may be defend, them,

16 on the day when God passes judgment on people’s inmost lives, as the good news that I tell declares that he will do through Christ Jesus.

in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.

17 But, perhaps, you bear the name of “Jew,” and are relying on Law, and boast of belonging to God, and understand his will,

Now if you bear the name of a Jew, and rely upon law, and boast yourself in God,

18 and, having been carefully instructed from the Law, have learned to appreciate the finer moral distinctions.

and know his will, and can test the things that differ; if you are instructed out of the Law,

19 Perhaps you are confident that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in the dark, an instructor of the unintelligent,

and are confident that you yourself are a darkness,

20 and a teacher of the childish, because in the Law you possess the outline of all knowledge and truth.

an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of the young, because you have in the Law the form of knowledge and of the truth - well then, you who are teaching others, do you ever teach yourself?

21 Why, then, you teacher of others, don’t you teach yourself? Do you preach against stealing, and yet steal?

You who are preaching that a man should not steal, do you practise theft?

22 Do you forbid adultery, and yet commit adultery? Do you loathe idols, and yet plunder temples?

You who keep saying that a man should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who hold idols in abhorrence, are you plundering their temples?

23 Boasting, as you do, of your Law, do you dishonour God by breaking the Law?

You who are making your boast in the Law, do you habitually dishonor God through your transgressions of the Law?

24 For, as scripture says – “The Gentiles insult God’s name because of you”!

For the name of God is continually blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, even as the Scripture itself says.

25 Circumcision has its value, if you are obeying the Law. But, if you are a breaker of the Law, your circumcision is no better than uncircumcision.

Circumcision does indeed profit, if you are obedient to the Law; but if you habitually break the Law, your circumcision is become uncircumcision.

26 If, then, an uncircumcised man pays regard to the requirements of the Law, won’t he, although not circumcised, be regarded by God as if he were?

So if the uncircumcised keeps the ordinance of the Law, shall not his uncircumcision be reckoned equivalent to circumcision.

27 Indeed, the person who, owing to his birth, remains uncircumcised, and yet scrupulously obeys the Law, will condemn you, who, for all your written Law and your circumcision, are yet a breaker of the Law.

And shall not those who are physically uncircumcised, but who keep the Law, condemn you who are a breaker of the Law, although you have a written law and circumcision?

28 For a man who is only a Jew outwardly is not a real Jew; nor is outward bodily circumcision real circumcision. The real Jew is the person who is a Jew in soul;

For the real Jew is not the man who is one outwardly, and the real circumcision is not outward in the flesh;

29 and the real circumcision is the circumcision of the heart, a spiritual and not a literal thing. Such a person wins praise from God, though not from people.

but the real Jew is one inwardly, and real circumcision is heart- circumcision, spiritual, not literal, praised not by men, but by God.