1 S o you can say nothing because you are guilty when you say someone else is guilty. While you say someone is guilty, you are doing the same things he does.

Therefore you have no excuse or defense or justification, O man, whoever you are who judges and condemns another. For in posing as judge and passing sentence on another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge are habitually practicing the very same things.

2 W e know that God will say those who do such things are guilty.

we know that the judgment (adverse verdict, sentence) of God falls justly and in accordance with truth upon those who practice such things.

3 D o you think God will punish others for doing wrong and let you keep sinning?

And do you think or imagine, O man, when you judge and condemn those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape God’s judgment and elude His sentence and adverse verdict?

4 D o you forget about His loving-kindness to you? Do you forget how long He is waiting for you? You know that God is kind. He is trying to get you to be sorry for your sins and turn from them.

Or are you trifle with and presume upon and despise and underestimate the wealth of His kindness and forbearance and long-suffering patience? Are you unmindful or actually ignorant that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repent ( to change your mind and inner man to accept God’s will)?

5 B ecause you are not sorry for your sins and will not turn from them, you will be punished even more on the day of God’s anger. God will be right in saying you are guilty.

But by your callous stubbornness and impenitence of heart you are storing up wrath and indignation for yourself on the day of wrath and indignation, when God’s righteous judgment (just doom) will be revealed.

6 H e will give to every man what he should get for the things he has done.

For He will render to every man according to his works:

7 T hose who keep on doing good and are looking for His greatness and honor will receive life that lasts forever.

To those who by patient persistence in well-doing '> springing from piety] seek glory and honor and '> the eternal blessedness of] immortality, He will give eternal life.

8 T hose who love only themselves and do not obey the truth, but do what is wrong, will be punished by God. His anger will be on them.

But for those who are self-seeking and self-willed and disobedient to the Truth but responsive to wickedness, there will be indignation and wrath.

9 E very Jew and every person who is not a Jew who sins will suffer and have great sorrow.

there will be tribulation and anguish and calamity and constraint for every soul of man who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek (Gentile).

10 B ut God will give His greatness and honor and peace to all those who obey the truth. Both Jews and those who are not Jews will receive this.

But glory and honor and peace shall be awarded to everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek (Gentile).

11 G od does not show favor to one man more than to another.

For God shows no partiality '> undue favor or unfairness; with Him one man is not different from another].

12 T hose who have sinned without having the Law will be lost without the Law being used. Those who have the Law and have sinned will be judged by the Law.

All who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged and condemned by the Law.

13 J ust to hear the Law does not make a man right with God. The man right with God is the one who obeys the Law.

For it is not merely hearing the Law that makes one righteous before God, but it is the doers of the Law who will be held guiltless and acquitted and justified.

14 T he people who are not Jews do not have the Law. When they do what the Law tells them to do, even if they do not have the Law, it shows they know what they should do.

When Gentiles who have not the Law do instinctively what the Law requires, they are a law to themselves, since they do not have the Law.

15 T hey show that what the Law wants them to do is written in their hearts. Their own hearts tell them if they are guilty.

They show that the essential requirements of the Law are written in their hearts and are operating there, with which their consciences (sense of right and wrong) also bear witness; and their decisions (their arguments of reason, their condemning or approving thoughts) will accuse or perhaps defend and excuse

16 T here will be a day when God will judge because He knows the secret thoughts of men. He will do this through Jesus Christ. This is part of the Good News I preach.

On that day when, as my Gospel proclaims, God by Jesus Christ will judge men in regard to the things which they conceal (their hidden thoughts).

17 Y ou are a Jew and think you are safe because of the Law. You tell others about how you know God.

But if you bear the name of Jew and rely upon the Law and pride yourselves in God and your relationship to Him,

18 Y ou know what He wants you to do. You understand how the Law works. You know right from wrong.

And know and understand His will and discerningly approve the better things and have a sense of what is vital, because you are instructed by the Law;

19 Y ou think you can lead a blind man. You think you can give light to those in darkness.

And if you are confident that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, and [that

20 Y ou think you can teach foolish people and children about God. You have in the Law the plan of truth and wisdom.

You are] a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the childish, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—

21 Y ou teach others. Why do you not teach yourselves? You tell others not to steal. Do you steal?

Well then, you who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you teach against stealing, do you steal (take what does not really belong to you)?

22 Y ou say that no one should do sex sins. Do you do sex sins? You hate false gods. Do you rob the houses where they are kept?

You who say not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery ? You who abhor and loathe idols, do you rob temples '> doing sacrilege]?

23 Y ou are proud of the Law. Do you take honor away from God when you do not obey the Law?

You who boast in the Law, do you dishonor God by breaking the Law ?

24 T he Holy Writings say, “God’s name is hated by the people who are not Jews because of you.”

For, as it is written, The name of God is maligned and blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you!

25 G oing through the religious act of becoming a Jew is worth something if you obey the Law. If you do not obey the Law, it is worth nothing to you.

Circumcision does indeed profit if you keep the Law; but if you habitually transgress the Law, your circumcision is made uncircumcision.

26 I f a person who is not a Jew and has not gone through the act of becoming a Jew, obeys the Law, God will think of him as a Jew.

So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be credited to him as circumcision?

27 Y ou Jews have the Law but do not obey it. You have gone through the religious act also. At the same time those who are not Jews obey the Law even if they have not gone through the religious act of becoming a Jew. In this way, these people show you are guilty.

Then those who are physically uncircumcised but keep the Law will condemn you who, although you have the code in writing and have circumcision, break the Law.

28 A man is not a Jew just because he goes through the religious act of becoming a Jew.

For he is not a Jew who is only one outwardly and publicly, nor is circumcision something external and physical.

29 T he true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. The religious act of becoming a Jew must be done in the heart. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Law does not do that kind of work. The true Jew gets his thanks from God, not from men.

But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, a spiritual and not a literal. His praise is not from men but from God.