28 After we had safely reached shore, 1 we learned that the island was called Malta. 2 2 The local inhabitants 3 showed us extraordinary 4 kindness, for they built a fire and welcomed us all because it had started to rain 5 and was cold. 3 When Paul had gathered a bundle of brushwood 6 and was putting it on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand. 4 When the local people 7 saw the creature hanging from Paul’s 8 hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer! Although he has escaped from the sea, Justice herself 9 has not allowed him to live!” 10 5 However, 11 Paul 12 shook 13 the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 But they were expecting that he was going to swell up 14 or suddenly drop dead. So after they had waited 15 a long time and had seen 16 nothing unusual happen 17 to him, they changed their minds 18 and said he was a god. 19
7 Now in the region around that place 20 were fields belonging to the chief official 21 of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us hospitably as guests for three days. 8 The father 22 of Publius lay sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him 23 and after praying, placed 24 his hands on him and healed 25 him. 9 After this had happened, many of the people on the island who were sick 26 also came and were healed. 27 10 They also bestowed many honors, 28 and when we were preparing to sail, 29 they gave 30 us all the supplies we needed. 31
11 After three months we put out to sea 32 in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered at the island and had the “Heavenly Twins” 33 as its figurehead. 34 12 We put in 35 at Syracuse 36 and stayed there three days. 13 From there we cast off 37 and arrived at Rhegium, 38 and after one day a south wind sprang up 39 and on the second day we came to Puteoli. 40 14 There 41 we found 42 some brothers 43 and were invited to stay with them seven days. And in this way we came to Rome. 44 15 The brothers from there, 45 when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius 46 and Three Taverns 47 to meet us. When he saw them, 48 Paul thanked God and took courage. 16 When we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to live 49 by himself, with the soldier who was guarding him.
17 After three days 50 Paul 51 called the local Jewish leaders 52 together. When they had assembled, he said to them, “Brothers, 53 although I had done 54 nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, 55 from Jerusalem 56 I was handed over as a prisoner to the Romans. 57 18 When 58 they had heard my case, 59 they wanted to release me, 60 because there was no basis for a death sentence 61 against me. 19 But when the Jews objected, 62 I was forced to appeal to Caesar 63 – not that I had some charge to bring 64 against my own people. 65 20 So for this reason I have asked to see you and speak with you, for I am bound with this chain because of the hope of Israel.” 66 21 They replied, 67 “We have received no letters from Judea about you, nor have any of the brothers come from there 68 and reported or said anything bad about you. 22 But we would like to hear from you what you think, for regarding this sect we know 69 that people 70 everywhere speak against 71 it.”
23 They set 72 a day to meet with him, 73 and they came to him where he was staying 74 in even greater numbers. 75 From morning until evening he explained things 76 to them, 77 testifying 78 about the kingdom of God 79 and trying to convince 80 them about Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets. 24 Some were convinced 81 by what he said, 82 but others refused 83 to believe. 25 So they began to leave, 84 unable to agree among themselves, after Paul made one last statement: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly to your ancestors 85 through the prophet Isaiah 26 when he said,
‘Go to this people and say,
“You will keep on hearing, 86 but will never understand,
and you will keep on looking, 87 but will never perceive.
27 For the heart of this people has become dull, 88
and their ears are hard of hearing, 89
and they have closed their eyes,
so that they would not see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
and turn, 90 and I would heal them.”’ 91
28 “Therefore be advised 92 that this salvation from God 93 has been sent to the Gentiles; 94 they 95 will listen!”
29 [[EMPTY]] 96 30 Paul 97 lived 98 there two whole years in his own rented quarters 99 and welcomed 100 all who came to him, 31 proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ 101 with complete boldness 102 and without restriction. 103
1 From Paul, 1 a slave 2 of Christ Jesus, 3 called to be an apostle, 4 set apart for the gospel of God. 5 2 This gospel 6 he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, 3 concerning his Son who was a descendant 7 of David with reference to the flesh, 8 4 who was appointed the Son-of-God-in-power 9 according to the Holy Spirit 10 by the resurrection 11 from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him 12 we have received grace and our apostleship 13 to bring about the obedience 14 of faith 15 among all the Gentiles on behalf of his name. 6 You also are among them, 16 called to belong to Jesus Christ. 17 7 To all those loved by God in Rome, 18 called to be saints: 19 Grace and peace to you 20 from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
8 First of all, 21 I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world. 9 For God, whom I serve in my spirit by preaching the gospel 22 of his Son, is my witness that 23 I continually remember you 10 and I always ask 24 in my prayers, if perhaps now at last I may succeed in visiting you according to the will of God. 25 11 For I long to see you, so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift 26 to strengthen you, 12 that is, that we may be mutually comforted by one another’s faith, 27 both yours and mine. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, 28 brothers and sisters, 29 that I often intended to come to you (and was prevented until now), so that I may have some fruit even among you, just as I already have among the rest of the Gentiles. 30 14 I am a debtor 31 both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 Thus I am eager 32 also to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome. 33
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 34 17 For the righteousness 35 of God is revealed in the gospel 36 from faith to faith, 37 just as it is written, “The righteous by faith will live.” 38
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people 39 who suppress the truth by their 40 unrighteousness, 41 19 because what can be known about God is plain to them, 42 because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people 43 are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts 44 were darkened. 22 Although they claimed 45 to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings 46 or birds or four-footed animals 47 or reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over 48 in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor 49 their bodies among themselves. 50 25 They 51 exchanged the truth of God for a lie 52 and worshiped and served the creation 53 rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, 54 27 and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women 55 and were inflamed in their passions 56 for one another. Men 57 committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, 58 God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. 59 29 They are filled 60 with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with 61 envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 senseless, covenant-breakers, 62 heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they fully know 63 God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, 64 they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them. 65
2 Therefore 2 you are without excuse, 3 whoever you are, 4 when you judge someone else. 5 For on whatever grounds 6 you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment is in accordance with truth 7 against those who practice such things. 3 And do you think, 8 whoever you are, when you judge 9 those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, 10 that you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know 11 that God’s kindness leads you to repentance? 5 But because of your stubbornness 12 and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed! 13 6 He 14 will reward 15 each one according to his works: 16 7 eternal life to those who by perseverance in good works seek glory and honor and immortality, 8 but 17 wrath and anger to those who live in selfish ambition 18 and do not obey the truth but follow 19 unrighteousness. 9 There will be 20 affliction and distress on everyone 21 who does evil, on the Jew first and also the Greek, 22 10 but 23 glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, for the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God. 12 For all who have sinned apart from the law 24 will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous. 25 14 For whenever the Gentiles, 26 who do not have the law, do by nature 27 the things required by the law, 28 these who do not have the law are a law to themselves. 15 They 29 show that the work of the law is written 30 in their hearts, as their conscience bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or else defend 31 them, 32 16 on the day when God will judge 33 the secrets of human hearts, 34 according to my gospel 35 through Christ Jesus.
17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law 36 and boast of your relationship to God 37 18 and know his will 38 and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law, 39 19 and if you are convinced 40 that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth – 21 therefore 41 you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor 42 idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law! 24 For just as it is written, “the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” 43
25 For circumcision 44 has its value if you practice the law, but 45 if you break the law, 46 your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 Therefore if the uncircumcised man obeys 47 the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 27 And will not the physically uncircumcised man 48 who keeps the law judge you who, despite 49 the written code 50 and circumcision, transgress the law? 28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh, 29 but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart 51 by the Spirit 52 and not by the written code. 53 This person’s 54 praise is not from people but from God.
