Holman Christian Standard Bible

New Living Translation

1Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle and singled out for God's good news--

1This letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News.

2which He promised long ago through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures--

2God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures.

3concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was a descendant of David according to the flesh

3The Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line,

4and who has been declared to be the powerful Son of God by the resurrection from the dead according to the Spirit of holiness.

4and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord.

5We have received grace and apostleship through Him to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations, on behalf of His name,

5Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.

6including yourselves who also belong to Jesus Christ by calling:

6And you are included among those Gentiles who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ.

7To all who are in Rome, loved by God, called as saints. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

7I am writing to all of you in Rome who are loved by God and are called to be his own holy people. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. God’s Good News

8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because the news of your faith is being reported in all the world.

8Let me say first that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith in him is being talked about all over the world.

9For God, whom I serve with my spirit in telling the good news about His Son, is my witness that I constantly mention you,

9God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve with all my heart by spreading the Good News about his Son.

10always asking in my prayers that if it is somehow in God's will, I may now at last succeed in coming to you.

10One of the things I always pray for is the opportunity, God willing, to come at last to see you.

11For I want very much to see you, so I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you,

11For I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord.

12that is, to be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.

12When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.

13Now I want you to know, brothers, that I often planned to come to you (but was prevented until now) in order that I might have a fruitful ministry among you, just as among the rest of the Gentiles.

13I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to visit you, but I was prevented until now. I want to work among you and see spiritual fruit, just as I have seen among other Gentiles.

14I am obligated both to Greeks and barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish.

14For I have a great sense of obligation to people in both the civilized world and the rest of the world, to the educated and uneducated alike.

15So I am eager to preach the good news to you also who are in Rome.

15So I am eager to come to you in Rome, too, to preach the Good News.

16For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.

16For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile.

17For in it God's righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.

17This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” God’s Anger at Sin

18For God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth,

18But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

19since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them.

19They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them.

20For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse.

20For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

21For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened.

21Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.

22Claiming to be wise, they became fools

22Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.

23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.

23And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.

24Therefore God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves.

24So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies.

25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen.

25They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.

26This is why God delivered them over to degrading passions. For even their females exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.

26That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other.

27The males in the same way also left natural relations with females and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Males committed shameless acts with males and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error.

27And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.

28And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong.

28Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done.

29They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips,

29Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip.

30slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,

30They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents.

31undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful.

31They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy.

32Although they know full well God's just sentence--that those who practice such things deserve to die--they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.

32They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.

Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.