20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

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20-21 For on that day thorns and thistles, sin, death, and decay[a]—the things that overcame the world against its will at God’s command—will all disappear, and the world around us will share in the glorious freedom from sin which God’s children enjoy.

22 For we know that even the things of nature, like animals and plants, suffer in sickness and death as they await this great event.[b] 23 And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us—bodies that will never be sick again and will never die.

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Footnotes

  1. Romans 8:20 thorns and thistles, sin, death, and decay, implied.
  2. Romans 8:22 even the things of nature . . . await this great event, literally, “the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now.”