Romans 1

₁Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, ₂which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, ₃concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh ₄and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, ₅through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, ₆including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

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

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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

₁₆For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ₁₇For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

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

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

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

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