Romans, 4

1. What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?

1. Let us consider Abraham, our father in the flesh. What has he found?

2. For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath [whereof] to glory; but not before God.

2. If Abraham attained righteousness because of his deeds, he could be proud. But he cannot be this before God.

3. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

3. Because Scripture says: Abraham believed God who took into account and held him to be a just man.

4. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

4. Now, when someone does a work, salary is not given as a favor, but as a debt that is paid.

5. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

5. Here, on the contrary, someone who has no deeds to show but believes in Him who makes sinners righteous before him: such faith is taken into account and that person is held as righteous.

6. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,

6. David congratulates in this way those who become righteous by the favor of God, and not by their actions:

7. [Saying], Blessed [are] they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.

7. Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven and whose offenses are forgotten;

8. Blessed [is] the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

8. blessed the one whose sin God does not take into account!

9. [Cometh] this blessedness then upon the circumcision [only], or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.

9. Is this blessing only for the circumcised or is it also for the uncircumcised? We have just said that, because of his faith, Abraham was made a just man,

10. How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.

10. but when did this happen? After Abraham was circumcised, or before? Not after, but before.

11. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which [he had yet] being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:

11. He received the rite of circumcision as a sign of the righteousness given him through faith when he was still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those uncircumcised who come to faith and are made just.

12. And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which [he had] being [yet] uncircumcised.

12. And he was to be the father of the Jews, provided that besides being circumcised, they also imitate the faith Abraham showed before being circumcised.

13. For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, [was] not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

13. If God promised Abraham, or rather his descendant, that the world would belong to him, this was not because of his obeying the Law, but because he was just and a friend of God through faith.

14. For if they which are of the law [be] heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:

14. If now the promise is kept for those who rely on the Law, then faith has no power and nothing is left of the promise.

15. Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, [there is] no transgression.

15. For it is proper of the Law to bring punishment: law and condemnation go together.

16. Therefore [it is] of faith, that [it might be] by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

16. For that reason, faith is the way and all is given by grace; and the promises of Abraham are fulfilled for all his descendants, not only for his children according to the Law, but also for all the others who have believed. Abraham is the father of all of us,

17. (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, [even] God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

17. as it is written: I will make you father of many nations. He is our father in the eyes of Him who gives life to the dead, and calls the non-existent as if already existing, for this is the God in whom he believed.

18. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.

18. Abraham believed and hoped against all expectation, thus becoming father of many nations, as he had been told: See how many will be your descendants.

19. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:

19. He did not doubt although his body could no longer give life - he was about a hundred years old - and in spite of his wife Sarah being unable to have children.

20. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

20. He did not doubt nor did he distrust the promise of God, and by being strong in faith, he gave glory to God:

21. And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

21. he was convinced that He who had given the promise had power to fulfill it.

22. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

22. This was taken into account for him to attain righteousness.

23. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;

23. This was taken into account: these words of Scripture are not only for him,

24. But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;

24. but for us, too, because we believe in Him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from among the dead,

25. Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

25. he who was delivered for our sins and raised to life for us to receive true righteousness.