The Creation of the World

1 In the ^(A)beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. ² The earth was ^(B)without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

³ And God said, ^(C)“Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

⁶ And God said, ^(D)“Let there be an expanse^[a] in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” ⁷ And God made^[b] the expanse and ^(E)separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were ^(F)above the expanse. And it was so. ⁸ And God called the expanse Heaven.^[c] And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

⁹ And God said, ^(G)“Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry land Earth,^[d] and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

¹¹ And God said, ^(H)“Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants^[e] yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. ¹² The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

¹⁴ And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for ^(I)signs and for ^(J)seasons,^[f] and for days and years, ¹⁵ and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶ And God ^(K)made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. ¹⁷ And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ to ^(L)rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

²⁰ And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds^[g] fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” ²¹ So ^(M)God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² And God blessed them, saying, ^(N)“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” ²³ And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

²⁴ And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. ²⁵ And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶ Then God said, ^(O)“Let us make man^[h] in our image, ^(P)after our likeness. And ^(Q)let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

²⁸ And God blessed them. And God said to them, ^(S)“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” ²⁹ And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. ^(T)You shall have them for food. ³⁰ And ^(U)to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. ^31 (V)And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

The Seventh Day, God Rests

2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and ^(W)all the host of them. ² And ^(X)on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. ³ So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

The Creation of Man and Woman

⁵ When no ^(Z)bush of the field^[i] was yet in the land^[j] and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man ^(AA)to work the ground, ⁶ and a mist^[k] was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— ⁷ then the Lord God formed the man of ^(AB)dust from the ground and ^(AC)breathed into his ^(AD)nostrils the breath of life, and ^(AE)the man became a living creature. ⁸ And the Lord God planted a ^(AF)garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. ⁹ And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. ^(AG)The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, ^(AH)and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰ A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. ¹¹ The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of ^(AI)Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. ¹³ The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴ And the name of the third river is the ^(AJ)Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵ The Lord God took the man ^(AK)and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ^(AL)you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat^[l] of it you ^(AM)shall surely die.”

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; ^(AN)I will make him a helper fit for^[m] him.” ^19 (AO)Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed^[n] every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and ^(AP)brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam^[o] there was not found a helper fit for him. ²¹ So the Lord God caused a ^(AQ)deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. ²² And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made^[p] into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³ Then the man said,

^24 (AT)Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. ²⁵ And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

The Fall

3 Now ^(AU)the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You^[r] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³ but God said, ^(AV)‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” ^4 (AW)But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,^[s] she took of its fruit ^(AX)and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, ^(AY)and he ate. ^7 (AZ)Then the eyes of both were opened, ^(BA)and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

⁸ And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool^[t] of the day, and the man and his wife ^(BB)hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”^{[u] 10} And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, ^(BC)because I was naked, and I hid myself.” ¹¹ He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹² The man said, ^(BD)“The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” ¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, ^(BE)“The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴ The Lord God said to the serpent,

¹⁶ To the woman he said,

¹⁷ And to Adam he said,

²⁰ The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.^{[x] 21} And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

²² Then the Lord God said, ^(BQ)“Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand ^(BR)and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” ²³ therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden ^(BS)to work the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the ^(BT)cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Greeting

1 Paul, ^(A)a servant^[a] of Christ Jesus, ^(B)called to be an apostle, ^(C)set apart for the gospel of God, ² which ^(D)he promised beforehand ^(E)through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, ³ concerning his Son, ^(F)who was descended from David^{[b] (G)}according to the flesh ⁴ and ^(H)was declared to be the Son of God ^(I)in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, ⁵ through whom ^(J)we have received grace and ^(K)apostleship ^(L)to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name ^(M)among all the nations, ⁶ including you who are ^(N)called to belong to Jesus Christ,

⁷ To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:

^(O)Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Longing to Go to Rome

⁸ First, ^(P)I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, ^(Q)because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. ^9 (R)For God is my witness, ^(S)whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, ^(T)that without ceasing I mention you ¹⁰ always in my prayers, asking that somehow ^(U)by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. ¹¹ For ^(V)I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— ¹² that is, that we may be mutually encouraged ^(W)by each other's faith, both yours and mine. ¹³ I do not want you to be unaware, brothers,^[c] that ^(X)I have often intended to come to you (but ^(Y)thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some ^(Z)harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. ^14 (AA)I am under obligation both to Greeks and to ^(AB)barbarians,^[d] both to the wise and to the foolish. ¹⁵ So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

¹⁶ For ^(AC)I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is ^(AD)the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew ^(AE)first and also to ^(AF)the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it ^(AG)the righteousness of God is revealed ^(AH)from faith for faith,^{[e] (AI)}as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”^[f]

God's Wrath on Unrighteousness

¹⁸ For ^(AJ)the wrath of God ^(AK)is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. ¹⁹ For what can be ^(AL)known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, ^(AM)have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,^[g] in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they ^(AN)became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ^22 (AO)Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and ^(AP)exchanged the glory of ^(AQ)the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

²⁴ Therefore ^(AR)God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to ^(AS)the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵ because they exchanged the truth about God for ^(AT)a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, ^(AU)who is blessed forever! Amen.

²⁶ For this reason ^(AV)God gave them up to ^(AW)dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; ²⁷ and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, ^(AX)men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

²⁸ And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, ^(AY)God gave them up to ^(AZ)a debased mind to do ^(BA)what ought not to be done. ²⁹ They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, ³¹ foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. ³² Though they know ^(BB)God's righteous decree that those who practice such things ^(BC)deserve to die, they not only do them but ^(BD)give approval to those who practice them.

God's Righteous Judgment

2 Therefore you have ^(BE)no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For ^(BF)in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. ² We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. ³ Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴ Or do you presume on ^(BG)the riches of his kindness and ^(BH)forbearance and ^(BI)patience, ^(BJ)not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? ⁵ But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are ^(BK)storing up ^(BL)wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

^6 (BM)He will render to each one according to his works: ⁷ to those who ^(BN)by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; ⁸ but for those who are self-seeking^[h] and ^(BO)do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. ⁹ There will be tribulation and distress ^(BP)for every human being who does evil, the Jew ^(BQ)first and also the Greek, ¹⁰ but glory and honor and ^(BR)peace for everyone who does good, ^(BS)the Jew first and also the Greek. ¹¹ For ^(BT)God shows no partiality.

God's Judgment and the Law

¹² For all who have sinned ^(BU)without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. ¹³ For ^(BV)it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. ¹⁴ For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, ^(BW)by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. ¹⁵ They show that the work of the law is ^(BX)written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them ^16 (BY)on that day when, ^(BZ)according to my gospel, God judges ^(CA)the secrets of men ^(CB)by Christ Jesus.

¹⁷ But if you call yourself a Jew and ^(CC)rely on the law and boast in God ¹⁸ and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; ¹⁹ and if you are sure that you yourself are ^(CD)a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰ an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law ^(CE)the embodiment of ^(CF)knowledge and truth— ^21 (CG)you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? ²² You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you ^(CH)rob temples? ²³ You who ^(CI)boast in the law ^(CJ)dishonor God by breaking the law. ²⁴ For, ^(CK)as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed ^(CL)among the Gentiles because of you.”

²⁵ For circumcision indeed is of value ^(CM)if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. ²⁶ So, if ^(CN)a man who is uncircumcised keeps ^(CO)the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded^[i] as circumcision? ²⁷ Then he who is physically^[j] uncircumcised but keeps the law ^(CP)will condemn you who have ^(CQ)the written code^[k] and circumcision but break the law. ²⁸ For ^(CR)no one is a Jew ^(CS)who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. ²⁹ But a Jew is one ^(CT)inwardly, and ^(CU)circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. ^(CV)His praise is not from man but from God.

God's Righteousness Upheld

3 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? ² Much in every way. To begin with, ^(CW)the Jews were entrusted with ^(CX)the oracles of God. ^3 (CY)What if some were unfaithful? ^(CZ)Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? ⁴ By no means! ^(DA)Let God be true though ^(DB)every one were a liar, as it is written,

⁵ But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict ^(DE)wrath on us? (^(DF)I speak in a human way.) ⁶ By no means! For then how could ^(DG)God judge the world? ⁷ But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, ^(DH)why am I still being condemned as a sinner? ⁸ And why not ^(DI)do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.

No One Is Righteous

⁹ What then? Are we Jews^[l] any better off?^[m] No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both ^(DJ)Jews and ^(DK)Greeks, are ^(DL)under sin, ¹⁰ as it is written:

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever ^(DU)the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, ^(DV)so that every mouth may be stopped, and ^(DW)the whole world may be held accountable to God. ²⁰ For ^(DX)by works of the law no human being^[n] will be justified in his sight, since ^(DY)through the law comes knowledge of sin.

The Righteousness of God Through Faith

²¹ But now ^(DZ)the righteousness of God ^(EA)has been manifested apart from the law, although ^(EB)the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— ²² the righteousness of God ^(EC)through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. ^(ED)For there is no distinction: ²³ for ^(EE)all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ^24 (EF)and are justified ^(EG)by his grace as a gift, ^(EH)through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God ^(EI)put forward as ^(EJ)a propitiation ^(EK)by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in ^(EL)his divine forbearance he had passed over ^(EM)former sins. ²⁶ It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

^27 (EN)Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. ²⁸ For we hold that one is justified by faith ^(EO)apart from works of the law. ²⁹ Or ^(EP)is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, ³⁰ since ^(EQ)God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and ^(ER)the uncircumcised through faith. ³¹ Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.