Romans 1

1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, a called apostle, having been separated to the good news of God —

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

2 which He announced before through His prophets in holy writings —

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

3 concerning His Son, (who is come of the seed of David according to the flesh,

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

4 who is marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of sanctification, by the rising again from the dead, ) Jesus Christ our Lord;

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 did receive grace and apostleship, for obedience of faith among all the nations, in behalf 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 also ye, the called of Jesus Christ;

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

7 to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called saints; Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father, and [from] 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, indeed, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is proclaimed in 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 in my spirit in the good news of His Son, how unceasingly 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 beseeching, if by any means now at length I shall have a prosperous journey, by the will of God, to come unto 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 long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, that ye 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 and that is, that I may be comforted together among you, through the faith in one another, both yours and mine.

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

13 And I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, that many times I did purpose to come unto you — and was hindered till the present time — that some fruit I might have also among you, even as also among the other nations.

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 Both to Greeks and to foreigners, both to wise and to thoughtless, I am a debtor,

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

15 so, as much as in me is, I am ready also to you who [are] in Rome to proclaim good news,

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 good news of the Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation to every one who is believing, both to Jew first, and to 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 the righteousness of God in it is revealed from faith to faith, according as it hath been written, 'And the righteous one 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 revealed is the wrath of God from heaven upon all impiety and unrighteousness of men, holding down the truth in unrighteousness.

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 is known of God is manifest among them, for God did manifest [it] 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 the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world, by the things made being understood, are plainly seen, both His eternal power and Godhead — to their being inexcusable; (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, having known God they did not glorify [Him] as God, nor gave thanks, but were made vain in their reasonings, and their unintelligent 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 were made fools,

While boasting of their wisdom they became utter fools,

23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of fowls, and of quadrupeds, and of reptiles.

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

24 Wherefore also God did give them up, in the desires of their hearts, to uncleanness, to dishonour 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 did change the truth of God into a falsehood, and did honour and serve the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed to the ages. 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 Because of this did God give them up to dishonourable affections, for even their females did change the natural use into that 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 having left the natural use of the female, did burn in their longing toward one another; males with males working shame, and the recompense of their error that was fit, in themselves receiving.

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, according as they did not approve of having God in knowledge, God gave them up to a disapproved mind, to do the things not seemly;

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 having been filled with all unrighteousness, whoredom, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil dispositions; whisperers,

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 evil-speakers, God-haters, insulting, 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 unintelligent, faithless, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful;

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

32 who the righteous judgment of God having known — that those practising such things are worthy of death — not only do them, but also have delight with those practising 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.