| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 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. | 1Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, and set apart for the gospel of God— |
| 2God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. | 2the gospel He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, |
| 3The Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line, | 3regarding His Son, who was a descendant of David according to the flesh, |
| 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. | 4and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. |
| 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. | 5Through Him and on behalf of His name, we received grace and apostleship to call all those among the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. |
| 6And you are included among those Gentiles who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ. | 6And you also are among those who are called to belong to 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 | 7To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. |
| 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. | 8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being proclaimed all over the world. |
| 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. | 9God, whom I serve with my spirit in preaching the gospel of His Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you |
| 10One of the things I always pray for is the opportunity, God willing, to come at last to see you. | 10in my prayers at all times, asking that now at last by God’s will I may succeed in coming to you. |
| 11For I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord. | 11For I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, |
| 12When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours. | 12that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. |
| 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. | 13I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, how often I planned to come to you (but have been prevented from visiting until now), in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles. |
| 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. | 14I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. |
| 15So I am eager to come to you in Rome, too, to preach the Good News. | 15That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. |
| 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. | 16I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Greek. |
| 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 | 17For the gospel reveals the righteousness of God that comes by faith from start to finish, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” |
| 18But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. | 18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. |
| 19They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. | 19For what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. |
| 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. | 20For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse. |
| 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. | 21For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts. |
| 22Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. | 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools, |
| 23And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. | 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. |
| 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. | 24Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies with one another. |
| 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. | 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever worthy of praise! Amen. |
| 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. | 26For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. |
| 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. | 27Likewise, the men abandoned natural relations with women and burned with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. |
| 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. | 28Furthermore, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. |
| 29Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. | 29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, |
| 30They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. | 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful. They invent new forms of evil; they disobey their parents. |
| 31They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. | 31They are senseless, faithless, heartless, merciless. |
| 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. | 32Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but also approve of those who practice them. |
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