Romans, 2

1. So no matter who you are, if you pass judgement you have no excuse. It is yourself that you condemn when you judge others, since you behave in the same way as those you are condemning.

1. Therefore you have no excuse, O man, whoever you are, when you judge another; for in passing judgment upon him you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things.

2. We are well aware that people who behave like that are justly condemned by God.

2. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who do such things.

3. But you -- when you judge those who behave like this while you are doing the same yourself -- do you think you will escape God's condemnation?

3. Do you suppose, O man, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God?

4. Or are you not disregarding his abundant goodness, tolerance and patience, failing to realise that this generosity of God is meant to bring you to repentance?

4. Or do you presume upon the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not know that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

5. Your stubborn refusal to repent is only storing up retribution for yourself on that Day of retribution when God's just verdicts will be made known.

5. But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

6. He will repay everyone as their deeds deserve.

6. For he will render to every man according to his works:

7. For those who aimed for glory and honour and immortality by persevering in doing good, there will be eternal life;

7. to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;

8. but for those who out of jealousy have taken for their guide not truth but injustice, there will be the fury of retribution.

8. but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury.

9. Trouble and distress will come to every human being who does evil -- Jews first, but Greeks as well;

9. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek,

10. glory and honour and peace will come to everyone who does good -- Jews first, but Greeks as well.

10. but glory and honor and peace for every one who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.

11. There is no favouritism with God.

11. For God shows no partiality.

12. All those who have sinned without the Law will perish without the Law; and those under the Law who have sinned will be judged by the Law.

12. All who have sinned 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 the ones that God will justify are not those who have heard the Law but those who have kept the Law.

13. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

14. So, when gentiles, not having the Law, still through their own innate sense behave as the Law commands, then, even though they have no Law, they are a law for themselves.

14. When Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.

15. They can demonstrate the effect of the Law engraved on their hearts, to which their own conscience bears witness; since they are aware of various considerations, some of which accuse them, while others provide them with a defence . . . on the day when,

15. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or perhaps excuse them

16. according to the gospel that I preach, God, through Jesus Christ, judges all human secrets.

16. on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

17. If you can call yourself a Jew, and you really trust in the Law, and are proud of your God,

17. But if you call yourself a Jew and rely upon the law and boast of your relation to God

18. and know his will, and tell right from wrong because you have been taught by the Law;

18. and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed in the law,

19. if you are confident that you are a guide to the blind and a beacon to those in the dark,

19. and if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,

20. that you can teach the ignorant and instruct the unlearned because the Law embodies all knowledge and all truth-

20. a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth --

21. so then, in teaching others, do you teach yourself as well? You preach that there is to be no stealing, but do you steal?

21. you then who teach others, will you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal?

22. You say that adultery is forbidden, but do you commit adultery? You detest the worship of objects, but do you desecrate holy things yourself?

22. You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

23. If, while you are boasting of the Law, you disobey it, then you are bringing God into contempt.

23. You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?

24. As scripture says: It is your fault that the name of God is held in contempt among the nations.

24. For, as it is written, "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."

25. Circumcision has its value if you keep the Law; but if you go on breaking the Law, you are no more circumcised than the uncircumcised.

25. Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law; but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.

26. And if an uncircumcised man keeps the commands of the Law, will not his uncircumcised state count as circumcision?

26. So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?

27. More, the man who, in his native uncircumcised state, keeps the Law, is a condemnation of you, who, by your concentration on the letter and on circumcision, actually break the Law.

27. Then those who are physically uncircumcised but keep the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law.

28. Being a Jew is not only having the outward appearance of a Jew, and circumcision is not only a visible physical operation.

28. For he is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical.

29. The real Jew is the one who is inwardly a Jew, and real circumcision is in the heart, a thing not of the letter but of the spirit. He may not be praised by any human being, but he will be praised by God.

29. He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal. His praise is not from men but from God.