Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

1 Then what should we say Avraham, our forefather, obtained by his own efforts?

2 For if Avraham came to be considered righteous by God because of legalistic observances, then he has something to boast about. But this is not how it is before God!

3 For what does theTanakhsay? “Avraham put his trust in God, and it was credited to his account as righteousness.”

4 Now the account of someone who is working is credited not on the ground of grace but on the ground of what is owed him.

5 However, in the case of one who is not working but rather is trusting in him who makes ungodly people righteous, his trust is credited to him as righteousness.

6 In the same way, the blessing which David pronounces is on those whom God credits with righteousness apart from legalistic observances:

7 “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven,

whose sins are covered over;

8 Blessed is the man whose sinAdonai

will not reckon against his account.”

9 Now is this blessing for the circumcised only? Or is it also for the uncircumcised? For we say that Avraham’s trust was credited to his account as righteousness;

10 but what state was he in when it was so credited — circumcision or uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision!

11 In fact, he received circumcision as a sign, as a seal of the righteousness he had been credited with on the ground of the trust he had while he was still uncircumcised. This happened so that he could be the father of every uncircumcised person who trusts and thus has righteousness credited to him,

12 and at the same time be the father of every circumcised person who not only has had ab’rit-milah, but also follows in the footsteps of the trust whichAvraham avinuhad when he was still uncircumcised.

13 For the promise to Avraham and his seed that he would inherit the world did not come through legalism but through the righteousness that trust produces.

14 For if the heirs are produced by legalism, then trust is pointless and the promise worthless.

15 For what law brings is punishment. But where there is no law, there is also no violation.

16 The reason the promise is based on trusting is so that it may come as God’s free gift, a promise that can be relied on by all the seed, not only those who live within the framework of theTorah, but also those with the kind of trust Avraham had— Avraham avinufor all of us.

17 This accords with theTanakh, where it says, “I have appointed you to be a father to many nations.” Avraham is our father in God’s sight because he trusted God as the one who gives life to the dead and calls nonexistent things into existence.

18 For he was past hope, yet in hope he trusted that he would indeed become a father to many nations, in keeping with what he had been told, “So many will your seed be.”

19 His trust did not waver when he considered his own body — which was as good as dead, since he was about a hundred years old — or when he considered that Sarah’s womb was dead too.

20 He did not by lack of trust decide against God’s promises. On the contrary, by trust he was given power as he gave glory to God,

21 for he was fully convinced that what God had promised he could also accomplish.

22 This is why it was credited to his account as righteousness.

23 But the words, “it was credited to his account . . . ,” were not written for him only.

24 They were written also for us, who will certainly have our account credited too, because we have trusted in him who raised Yeshua our Lord from the dead —

25 Yeshua, who was delivered over to death because of our offences and raised to life in order to make us righteous.

1 So, since we have come to be considered righteous by God because of our trust, let us continue to haveshalomwith God through our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah.

2 Also through him and on the ground of our trust, we have gained access to this grace in which we stand; so let us boast about the hope of experiencing God’s glory.

3 But not only that, let us also boast in our troubles; because we know that trouble produces endurance,

4 endurance produces character, and character produces hope;

5 and this hope does not let us down, because God’s love for us has already been poured out in our hearts through theRuach HaKodeshwho has been given to us.

6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time, the Messiah died on behalf of ungodly people.

7 Now it is a rare event when someone gives up his life even for the sake of somebody righteous, although possibly for a truly good person one might have the courage to die.

8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in that the Messiah died on our behalf while we were still sinners.

9 Therefore, since we have now come to be considered righteous by means of his bloody sacrificial death, how much more will we be delivered through him from the anger of God’s judgment!

10 For if we were reconciled with God through his Son’s death when we were enemies, how much more will we be delivered by his life, now that we are reconciled!

11 And not only will we be delivered in the future, but we are boasting about God right now, because he has acted through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, through whom we have already received that reconciliation.

12 Here is how it works: it was through one individual that sin entered the world, and through sin, death; and in this way death passed through to the whole human race, inasmuch as everyone sinned.

13 Sin was indeed present in the world beforeTorahwas given, but sin is not counted as such when there is noTorah.

14 Nevertheless death ruled from Adam until Moshe, even over those whose sinning was not exactly like Adam’s violation of a direct command. In this, Adam prefigured the one who was to come.

15 But the free gift is not like the offence. For if, because of one man’s offence, many died, then how much more has God’s grace, that is, the gracious gift of one man, Yeshua the Messiah, overflowed to many!

16 No, the free gift is not like what resulted from one man’s sinning; for from one sinner came judgment that brought condemnation; but the free gift came after many offences and brought acquittal.

17 For if, because of the offence of one man, death ruled through that one man; how much more will those receiving the overflowing grace, that is, the gift of being considered righteous, rule in life through the one man Yeshua the Messiah!

18 In other words, just as it was through one offence that all people came under condemnation, so also it is through one righteous act that all people come to be considered righteous.

19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man, many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the other man, many will be made righteous.

20 And theTorahcame into the picture so that the offence would proliferate; but where sin proliferated, grace proliferated even more.

21 All this happened so that just as sin ruled by means of death, so also grace might rule through causing people to be considered righteous, so that they might have eternal life, through Yeshua the Messiah, our Lord.

1 So then, are we to say, “Let’s keep on sinning, so that there can be more grace”?

2 Heaven forbid! How can we, who have died to sin, still live in it?

3 Don’t you know that those of us who have been immersed into the Messiah Yeshua have been immersed into his death?

4 Through immersion into his death we were buried with him; so that just as, through the glory of the Father, the Messiah was raised from the dead, likewise we too might live a new life.

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will also be united with him in a resurrection like his.

6 We know that our old self was put to death on the execution-stake with him, so that the entire body of our sinful propensities might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.

7 For someone who has died has been cleared from sin.

8 Now since we died with the Messiah, we trust that we will also live with him.

9 We know that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, never to die again; death has no authority over him.

10 For his death was a unique event that need not be repeated; but his life, he keeps on living for God.

11 In the same way, consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive for God, by your union with the Messiah Yeshua.

12 Therefore, do not let sin rule in your mortal bodies, so that it makes you obey its desires;

13 and do not offer any part of yourselves to sin as an instrument for wickedness. On the contrary, offer yourselves to God as people alive from the dead, and your various parts to God as instruments for righteousness.

14 For sin will not have authority over you; because you are not under legalism but under grace.

15 Therefore, what conclusion should we reach? “Let’s go on sinning, because we’re not under legalism but under grace”? Heaven forbid!

16 Don’t you know that if you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, then, of the one whom you are obeying, you are slaves — whether of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to being made righteous?

17 By God’s grace, you, who were once slaves to sin, obeyed from your heart the pattern of teaching to which you were exposed;

18 and after you had been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.

19 (I am using popular language because your human nature is so weak.) For just as you used to offer your various parts as slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led to more lawlessness; so now offer your various parts as slaves to righteousness, which leads to being made holy, set apart for God.

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in relationship to righteousness;

21 but what benefit did you derive from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end result of those things was death.

22 However, now, freed from sin and enslaved to God, you do get the benefit — it consists in being made holy, set apart for God, and its end result is eternal life.

23 For what one earns from sin is death; but eternal life is what one receives as a free gift from God, in union with the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord.

1 Surely you know, brothers — for I am speaking to those who understandTorah— that theTorahhas authority over a person only so long as he lives?

2 For example, a married woman is bound byTorahto her husband while he is alive; but if the husband dies, she is released from the part of theTorahthat deals with husbands.

3 Therefore, while the husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress if she marries another man; but if the husband dies, she is free from that part of theTorah; so that if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress.

4 Thus, my brothers, you have been made dead with regard to theTorahthrough the Messiah’s body, so that you may belong to someone else, namely, the one who has been raised from the dead, in order for us to bear fruit for God.

5 For when we were living according to our old nature, the passions connected with sins worked through theTorahin our various parts, with the result that we bore fruit for death.

6 But now we have been released from this aspect of theTorah, because we have died to that which had us in its clutches, so that we are serving in the new way provided by the Spirit and not in the old way of outwardly following the letter of the law.

7 Therefore, what are we to say? That theTorahis sinful? Heaven forbid! Rather, the function of theTorahwas that without it, I would not have known what sin is. For example, I would not have become conscious of what greed is if theTorahhad not said, “Thou shalt not covet.”

8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, worked in me all kinds of evil desires — for apart fromTorah, sin is dead.

9 I was once alive outside the framework ofTorah. But when the commandment really encountered me, sin sprang to life,

10 and I died. The commandment that was intended to bring me life was found to be bringing me death!

11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me; and through the commandment, sin killed me.

12 So theTorahis holy; that is, the commandment is holy, just and good.

13 Then did something good become for me the source of death? Heaven forbid! Rather, it was sin working death in me through something good, so that sin might be clearly exposed as sin, so that sin through the commandment might come to be experienced as sinful beyond measure.

14 For we know that theTorahis of the Spirit; but as for me, I am bound to the old nature, sold to sin as a slave.

15 I don’t understand my own behavior — I don’t do what I want to do; instead, I do the very thing I hate!

16 Now if I am doing what I don’t want to do, I am agreeing that theTorahis good.

17 But now it is no longer “the real me” doing it, but the sin housed inside me.

18 For I know that there is nothing good housed inside me — that is, inside my old nature. I can want what is good, but I can’t do it!

19 For I don’t do the good I want; instead, the evil that I don’t want is what I do!

20 But if I am doing what “the real me” doesn’t want, it is no longer “the real me” doing it but the sin housed inside me.

21 So I find it to be the rule, a kind of perverse “torah,” that although I want to do what is good, evil is right there with me!

22 For in my inner self I completely agree with God’sTorah;

23 but in my various parts, I see a different “torah,” one that battles with theTorahin my mind and makes me a prisoner of sin’s “torah,” which is operating in my various parts.

24 What a miserable creature I am! Who will rescue me from this body bound for death?

25 Thanks be to God [, he will]! — through Yeshua the Messiah, our Lord!

To sum up: with my mind, I am a slave of God’sTorah; but with my old nature, I am a slave of sin’s “Torah.”

1 Therefore, there is no longer any condemnation awaiting those who are in union with the Messiah Yeshua.

2 Why? Because theTorahof the Spirit, which produces this life in union with Messiah Yeshua, has set me free from the “Torah” of sin and death.

3 For what theTorahcould not do by itself, because it lacked the power to make the old nature cooperate, God did by sending his own Son as a human being with a nature like our own sinful one [but without sin]. God did this in order to deal with sin, and in so doing he executed the punishment against sin in human nature,

4 so that the just requirement of theTorahmight be fulfilled in us who do not run our lives according to what our old nature wants but according to what the Spirit wants.

5 For those who identify with their old nature set their minds on the things of the old nature, but those who identify with the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

6 Having one’s mind controlled by the old nature is death, but having one’s mind controlled by the Spirit is life andshalom.

7 For the mind controlled by the old nature is hostile to God, because it does not submit itself to God’sTorah— indeed, it cannot.

8 Thus, those who identify with their old nature cannot please God.

9 But you, you do not identify with your old nature but with the Spirit — provided the Spirit of God is living inside you, for anyone who doesn’t have the Spirit of the Messiah doesn’t belong to him.

10 However, if the Messiah is in you, then, on the one hand, the body is dead because of sin; but, on the other hand, the Spirit is giving life because God considers you righteous.

11 And if the Spirit of the One who raised Yeshua from the dead is living in you, then the One who raised the Messiah Yeshua from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.

12 So then, brothers, we don’t owe a thing to our old nature that would require us to live according to our old nature.

13 For if you live according to your old nature, you will certainly die; but if, by the Spirit, you keep putting to death the practices of the body, you will live.

14 All who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons.

15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to bring you back again into fear; on the contrary, you received the Spirit, who makes us sons and by whose power we cry out, “Abba!” (that is, “Dear Father!”).

16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our own spirits that we are children of God;

17 and if we are children, then we are also heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with the Messiah — provided we are suffering with him in order also to be glorified with him.

18 I don’t think the sufferings we are going through now are even worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us in the future.

19 The creation waits eagerly for the sons of God to be revealed;

20 for the creation was made subject to frustration — not willingly, but because of the one who subjected it. But it was given a reliable hope

21 that it too would be set free from its bondage to decay and would enjoy the freedom accompanying the glory that God’s children will have.

22 We know that until now, the whole creation has been groaning as with the pains of childbirth;

23 and not only it, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we continue waiting eagerly to be made sons — that is, to have our whole bodies redeemed and set free.

24 It was in this hope that we were saved. But if we see what we hope for, it isn’t hope — after all, who hopes for what he already sees?

25 But if we continue hoping for something we don’t see, then we still wait eagerly for it, with perseverance.

26 Similarly, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we don’t know how to pray the way we should. But the Spirit himself pleads on our behalf with groanings too deep for words;

27 and the one who searches hearts knows exactly what the Spirit is thinking, because his pleadings for God’s people accord with God’s will.

28 Furthermore, we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called in accordance with his purpose;

29 because those whom he knew in advance, he also determined in advance would be conformed to the pattern of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers;

30 and those whom he thus determined in advance, he also called; and those whom he called, he also caused to be considered righteous; and those whom he caused to be considered righteous he also glorified!

31 What, then, are we to say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

32 He who did not spare even his own Son, but gave him up on behalf of us all — is it possible that, having given us his Son, he would not give us everything else too?

33 So who will bring a charge against God’s chosen people? Certainly not God — he is the one who causes them to be considered righteous!

34 Who punishes them? Certainly not the Messiah Yeshua, who died and — more than that — has been raised, is at the right hand of God and is actually pleading on our behalf!

35 Who will separate us from the love of the Messiah? Trouble? Hardship? Persecution? Hunger? Poverty? Danger? War?

36 As theTanakhputs it,

“For your sake we are being put to death all day long,

we are considered sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are superconquerors, through the one who has loved us.

38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers, neither what exists nor what is coming,

39 neither powers above nor powers below, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which comes to us through the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord.

1 I am speaking the truth — as one who belongs to the Messiah, I do not lie; and also bearing witness is my conscience, governed by theRuach HaKodesh:

2 my grief is so great, the pain in my heart so constant,

3 that I could wish myself actually under God’s curse and separated from the Messiah, if it would help my brothers, my own flesh and blood,

4 the people of Isra’el! They were made God’s children, theSh’khinahhas been with them, the covenants are theirs, likewise the giving of theTorah, the Temple service and the promises;

5 the Patriarchs are theirs; and from them, as far as his physical descent is concerned, came the Messiah, who is over all. Praised beAdonaifor ever!Amen.

6 But the present condition of Isra’el does not mean that the Word of God has failed.

For not everyone from Isra’el is truly part of Isra’el;

7 indeed, not all the descendants are seed of Avraham; rather, “What is to be called your ‘seed’ will be in Yitz’chak.”

8 In other words, it is not the physical children who are children of God, but the children the promise refers to who are considered seed.

9 For this is what the promise said: “At the time set, I will come; and Sarah will have a son.”

10 And even more to the point is the case of Rivkah; for both her children were conceived in a single act with Yitz’chak, our father;

11 and before they were born, before they had done anything at all, either good or bad (so that God’s plan might remain a matter of his sovereign choice, not dependent on what they did, but on God, who does the calling),

12 it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.”

13 This accords with where it is written, “Ya‘akov I loved, but Esav I hated.”

14 So are we to say, “It is unjust for God to do this”? Heaven forbid!

15 For to Moshe he says, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will pity whom I pity.”

16 Thus it doesn’t depend on human desires or efforts, but on God, who has mercy.

17 For theTanakhsays to Pharaoh, “It is for this very reason that I raised you up, so that in connection with you I might demonstrate my power, so that my name might be known throughout the world.”

18 So then, he has mercy on whom he wants, and he hardens whom he wants.

19 But you will say to me, “Then why does he still find fault with us? After all, who resists his will?”

20 Who are you, a mere human being, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to him who formed it, “Why did you make me this way?”

21 Or has the potter no right to make from a given lump of clay this pot for honorable use and that one for dishonorable?

22 Now what if God, even though he was quite willing to demonstrate his anger and make known his power, patiently put up with people who deserved punishment and were ripe for destruction?

23 What if he did this in order to make known the riches of his glory to those who are the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory —

24 that is, to us, whom he called not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles?

25 As indeed he says in Hoshea,

“Those who were not my people I will call my people;

her who was not loved I will call loved;

26 and in the very place where they were told,

‘You are not my people,’

there they will be called sons of the living God!”

27 But Yesha‘yahu, referring to Isra’el, cries out,

“Even if the number of people in Isra’el is as large

as the number of grains of sand by the sea,

only a remnant will be saved.

28 ForAdonaiwill fulfill his word on the earth

with certainty and without delay.”

29 Also, as Yesha‘yahu said earlier,

“IfAdonai-Tzva’othad not left us a seed,

we would have become like S’dom,

we would have resembled ‘Amora.”

30 So, what are we to say? This: that Gentiles, even though they were not striving for righteousness, have obtained righteousness; but it is a righteousness grounded in trusting!

31 However, Isra’el, even though they kept pursuing aTorahthat offers righteousness, did not reach what theTorahoffers.

32 Why? Because they did not pursue righteousness as being grounded in trusting but as if it were grounded in doing legalistic works. They stumbled over the stone that makes people stumble.

33 As theTanakhputs it,

“Look, I am laying in Tziyon

a stone that will make people stumble,

a rock that will trip them up.

But he who rests his trust on it

will not be humiliated.”

1 Brothers, my heart’s deepest desire and my prayer to God for Isra’el is for their salvation;

2 for I can testify to their zeal for God. But it is not based on correct understanding;

3 for, since they are unaware of God’s way of making people righteous and instead seek to set up their own, they have not submitted themselves to God’s way of making people righteous.

4 For the goal at which theTorahaims is the Messiah, who offers righteousness to everyone who trusts.

5 For Moshe writes about the righteousness grounded in theTorahthat the person who does these things will attain life through them.

6 Moreover, the righteousness grounded in trusting says:

“Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend to heaven?’” —

that is, to bring the Messiah down —

7 or,

“‘Who will descend into Sh’ol?’” —

that is, to bring the Messiah up from the dead.

8 What, then, does it say?

“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.”—

that is, the word about trust which we proclaim, namely,

9 that if you acknowledge publicly with your mouth that Yeshua is Lord and trust in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be delivered.

10 For with the heart one goes on trusting and thus continues toward righteousness, while with the mouth one keeps on making public acknowledgement and thus continues toward deliverance.

11 For the passage quoted says thateveryonewho rests his trust on him will not be humiliated.

12 That means that there is no difference between Jew and Gentile— Adonaiisthe same for everyone, rich toward everyone who calls on him,

13 sinceeveryonewho calls on the name ofAdonaiwill be delivered.

14 But how can they call on someone if they haven’t trusted in him? And how can they trust in someone if they haven’t heard about him? And how can they hear about someone if no one is proclaiming him?

15 And how can people proclaim him unless God sends them? — as theTanakhputs it, “How beautiful are the feet of those announcing good news about good things!”

16 The problem is that they haven’t all paid attention to the Good News and obeyed it. For Yesha‘yahu says,

“Adonai, who has trusted what he has heard from us?”

17 So trust comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through a word proclaimed about the Messiah.

18 “But, I say, isn’t it rather that they didn’t hear?” No, they did hear —

“Their voice has gone out throughout the whole world

and their words to the ends of the earth.”

19 “But, I say, isn’t it rather that Isra’el didn’t understand?”

“I will provoke you to jealousy over a non-nation,

over a nation void of understanding I will make you angry.”

20 Moreover, Yesha‘yahu boldly says,

“I was found by those who were not looking for me,

I became known to those who did not ask for me”;

21 but to Isra’el he says,

“All day long I held out my hands

to a people who kept disobeying and contradicting.”

1 “In that case, I say, isn’t it that God has repudiated his people?” Heaven forbid! For I myself am a son of Isra’el, from the seed of Avraham, of the tribe of Binyamin.

2 God has not repudiated his people, whom he chose in advance. Or don’t you know what theTanakhsays about Eliyahu? He pleads with God against Isra’el,

3 “Adonai, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars, and I’m the only one left, and now they want to kill me too!”

4 But what is God’s answer to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not knelt down to Ba‘al.”

5 It’s the same way in the present age: there is a remnant, chosen by grace.

6 (Now if it is by grace, it is accordingly not based on legalistic works; if it were otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.)

7 What follows is that Isra’el has not attained the goal for which she is striving. The ones chosen have obtained it, but the rest have been made stonelike,

8 just as theTanakhsays,

“God has given them a spirit of dullness —

eyes that do not see

and ears that do not hear,

right down to the present day.”

9 And David says,

“Let their dining table become for them

a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a punishment.

10 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can’t see,

with their backs bent continually.”

11 “In that case, I say, isn’t it that they have stumbled with the result that they have permanently fallen away?” Heaven forbid! Quite the contrary, it is by means of their stumbling that the deliverance has come to the Gentiles, in order to provoke them to jealousy.

12 Moreover, if their stumbling is bringing riches to the world — that is, if Isra’el’s being placed temporarily in a condition less favored than that of the Gentiles is bringing riches to the latter — how much greater riches will Isra’el in its fullness bring them!

13 However, to those of you who are Gentiles I say this: since I myself am an emissary sent to the Gentiles, I make known the importance of my work

14 in the hope that somehow I may provoke some of my own people to jealousy and save some of them!

15 For if their casting Yeshua aside means reconciliation for the world, what will their accepting him mean? It will be life from the dead!

16 Now if thehallahoffered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole loaf. And if the root is holy, so are the branches.

17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you — a wild olive — were grafted in among them and have become equal sharers in the rich root of the olive tree,

18 then don’t boast as if you were better than the branches! However, if you do boast, remember that you are not supporting the root, the root is supporting you.

19 So you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”

20 True, but so what? They were broken off because of their lack of trust. However, you keep your place only because of your trust. So don’t be arrogant; on the contrary, be terrified!

21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he certainly won’t spare you!

22 So take a good look at God’s kindness and his severity: on the one hand, severity toward those who fell off; but, on the other hand, God’s kindness toward you — provided you maintain yourself in that kindness! Otherwise, you too will be cut off!

23 Moreover, the others, if they do not persist in their lack of trust, will be grafted in; because God is able to graft them back in.

24 For if you were cut out of what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree!

25 For, brothers, I want you to understand this truth which God formerly concealed but has now revealed, so that you won’t imagine you know more than you actually do. It is that stoniness, to a degree, has come upon Isra’el, until the Gentile world enters in its fullness;

26 and that it is in this way that all Isra’el will be saved. As theTanakhsays,

“Out of Tziyon will come the Redeemer;

he will turn away ungodliness from Ya‘akov

27 and this will be my covenant with them, . . .

when I take away their sins.”

28 With respect to the Good News they are hated for your sake. But with respect to being chosen they are loved for the Patriarchs’ sake,

29 for God’s free gifts and his calling are irrevocable.

30 Just as you yourselves were disobedient to God before but have received mercy now because of Isra’el’s disobedience;

31 so also Isra’el has been disobedient now, so that by your showing them the same mercy that God has shown you, they too may now receive God’s mercy.

32 For God has shut up all mankind together in disobedience, in order that he might show mercy to all.

33 O the depth of the riches

and the wisdom and knowledge of God!

How inscrutable are his judgments!

How unsearchable are his ways!

34 For, ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord?

Who has been his counselor?’

35 Or, ‘Who has given him anything

and made him pay it back?’

36 For from him and through him

and to him are all things.

To him be the glory forever!

Amen.

1 I exhort you, therefore, brothers, in view of God’s mercies, to offer yourselves as a sacrifice, living and set apart for God. This will please him; it is the logical “Temple worship” for you.

2 In other words, do not let yourselves be conformed to the standards of the‘olam hazeh. Instead, keep letting yourselves be transformed by the renewing of your minds; so that you will know what God wants and will agree that what he wants is good, satisfying and able to succeed.

3 For I am telling every single one of you, through the grace that has been given to me, not to have exaggerated ideas about your own importance. Instead, develop a sober estimate of yourself based on the standard which God has given to each of you, namely, trust.

4 For just as there are many parts that compose one body, but the parts don’t all have the same function;

5 so there are many of us, and in union with the Messiah we comprise one body, with each of us belonging to the others.

6 But we have gifts that differ and which are meant to be used according to the grace that has been given to us. If your gift is prophecy, use it to the extent of your trust;

7 if it is serving, use it to serve; if you are a teacher, use your gift in teaching;

8 if you are a counselor, use your gift to comfort and exhort; if you are someone who gives, do it simply and generously; if you are in a position of leadership, lead with diligence and zeal; if you are one who does acts of mercy, do them cheerfully.

9 Don’t let love be a mere outward show. Recoil from what is evil, and cling to what is good.

10 Love each other devotedly and with brotherly love; and set examples for each other in showing respect.

11 Don’t be lazy when hard work is needed, but serve the Lord with spiritual fervor.

12 Rejoice in your hope, be patient in your troubles, and continue steadfastly in prayer.

13 Share what you have with God’s people, and practice hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you — bless them, don’t curse them!

15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.

16 Be sensitive to each other’s needs — don’t think yourselves better than others, but make humble people your friends. Don’t be conceited.

17 Repay no one evil for evil, but try to do what everyone regards as good.

18 If possible, and to the extent that it depends on you, live in peace with all people.

19 Never seek revenge, my friends; instead, leave that to God’s anger; for in theTanakhit is written,

“Adonaisays, ‘Vengeance is my responsibility; I will repay.’”

20 On the contrary,

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;

if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

For by doing this, you will heap

fiery coals [of shame] on his head.”

21 Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.

1 Everyone is to obey the governing authorities. For there is no authority that is not from God, and the existing authorities have been placed where they are by God.

2 Therefore, whoever resists the authorities is resisting what God has instituted; and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.

3 For rulers are no terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you like to be unafraid of the person in authority? Then simply do what is good, and you will win his approval;

4 for he is God’s servant, there for your benefit. But if you do what is wrong, be afraid! Because it is not for nothing that he holds the power of the sword; for he is God’s servant, there as an avenger to punish wrongdoers.

5 Another reason to obey, besides fear of punishment, is for the sake of conscience.

6 This is also why you pay taxes; for the authorities are God’s public officials, constantly attending to these duties.

7 Pay everyone what he is owed: if you owe the tax-collector, pay your taxes; if you owe the revenue-collector, pay revenue; if you owe someone respect, pay him respect; if you owe someone honor, pay him honor.

8 Don’t owe anyone anything — except to love one another; for whoever loves his fellow human being has fulfilledTorah.

9 For the commandments, “Don’t commit adultery,” “Don’t murder,” “Don’t steal,” “Don’t covet,” and any others are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

10 Love does not do harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fullness ofTorah.

11 Besides all this, you know at what point of history we stand; so it is high time for you to rouse yourselves from sleep; for the final deliverance is nearer than when we first came to trust.

12 The night is almost over, the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and arm ourselves with the weapons of light.

13 Let us live properly, as people do in the daytime — not partying and getting drunk, not engaging in sexual immorality and other excesses, not quarrelling and being jealous.

14 Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Yeshua the Messiah; and don’t waste your time thinking about how to provide for the sinful desires of your old nature.