| King James Bible | New International Version |
| 1What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? | 1What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? |
| 2Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. | 2Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God. |
| 3For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? | 3What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God's faithfulness? |
| 4God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. | 4Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: "So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge." |
| 5But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man) | 5But if our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) |
| 6God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world? | 6Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? |
| 7For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner? | 7Someone might argue, "If my falsehood enhances God's truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?" |
| 8And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just. | 8Why not say--as some slanderously claim that we say--"Let us do evil that good may result"? Their condemnation is just! |
| 9What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; | 9What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. |
| 10As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: | 10As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; |
| 11There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. | 11there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. |
| 12They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. | 12All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." |
| 13Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: | 13"Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit." "The poison of vipers is on their lips." |
| 14Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: | 14"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." |
| 15Their feet are swift to shed blood: | 15"Their feet are swift to shed blood; |
| 16Destruction and misery are in their ways: | 16ruin and misery mark their ways, |
| 17And the way of peace have they not known: | 17and the way of peace they do not know." |
| 18There is no fear of God before their eyes. | 18"There is no fear of God before their eyes." |
| 19Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. | 19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. |
| 20Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. | 20Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. |
| 21But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; | 21But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. |
| 22Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: | 22This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, |
| 23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; | 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, |
| 24Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: | 24and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. |
| 25Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; | 25God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood--to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-- |
| 26To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. | 26he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. |
| 27Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. | 27Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. |
| 28Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. | 28For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. |
| 29Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: | 29Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, |
| 30Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. | 30since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. |
| 31Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. | 31Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law. |
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