Ehud

12 And the people of Israel ^ragain did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord. 13 He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the Amalekites, and went and defeated Israel. And they took possession of the ^scity of palms. 14 And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

15 Then the people of Israel ^tcried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a ^uleft-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. 16 And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit¹ in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes. 17 And he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. 18 And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute. 19 But he himself turned back at the idols near Gilgal and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And he commanded, “Silence.” And all his attendants went out from his presence. 20 And Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And he arose from his seat. 21 And Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. 22 And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not pull the sword out of his belly; and the dung came out. 23 Then Ehud went out into the porch² and closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them.

24 When he had gone, the servants came, and when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, “Surely he is relieving himself in the closet of the cool chamber.” 25 And they waited till they were embarrassed. But when he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them, and there lay their lord dead on the floor.

26 Ehud escaped while they delayed, and he passed beyond the idols and escaped to Seirah. 27 When he arrived, he ^vsounded the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim. Then the people of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was their leader. 28 And he said to them, “Follow after me, for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they went down after him and seized the ^wfords of the Jordan against the Moabites and did not allow anyone to pass over. 29 And they killed at that time about 10,000 of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men; not a man escaped. 30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had ^xrest for eighty years.

Shamgar

31 After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed ^y600 of the Philistines with an oxgoad, and he also saved Israel.

Deborah and Barak

1 And the people of Israel ^zagain did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died. 2 And the Lord ^asold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. 3 Then the people of Israel ^bcried out to the Lord for help, for he had 900 ^cchariots of iron and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years.

4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 5 She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment. 6 She sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali and said to him, “Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of ^dNaphtali and the people of Zebulun. 7 And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him ^einto your hand’?” 8 Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” 9 And she said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 And Barak called out Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. And 10,000 men went up at his heels, and Deborah went up with him.

11 Now Heber the Kenite had separated from the Kenites, the descendants of ^fHobab the ^gfather-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the oak in Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.

12 When Sisera was told that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, 13 Sisera called out all his chariots, 900 chariots of iron, and all the men who were with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon. 14 And Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. ^hDoes not the Lord go out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. 15 And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot. 16 And Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left.

17 But Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. 18 And Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord; turn aside to me; do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. 19 ⁱAnd he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. 20 And he said to her, “Stand at the opening of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’” 21 ^jBut Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died. 22 And behold, as Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he went in to her tent, and there lay Sisera dead, with the tent peg in his temple.

23 So on that day God ^ksubdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the people of Israel. 24 And the hand of the people of Israel pressed harder and harder against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

Bless the Lord, O My Soul

Of David.

Greeting

1 Paul, a servant¹ of Christ Jesus, ^acalled to be an apostle, ^bset apart for the ^cgospel of God, 2 which he ^dpromised beforehand ^ethrough his prophets ^fin the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was ^gdescended from David² according to the flesh 4 and was ^hdeclared to be the ⁱSon of God ^jin power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 ^kthrough whom we have received grace and ^lapostleship to bring about the ^mobedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including you who are ⁿcalled to belong to Jesus Christ,

7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and ^ocalled to be ^psaints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Longing to Go to Rome

8 First, ^qI thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because ^ryour faith is proclaimed in all the world. 9 For ^sGod is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that ^twithout ceasing I mention you 10 always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 11 ^uFor I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual ^vgift to ^wstrengthen you— 12 that is, that we may ^xbe mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers,³ that I have often intended to come to you (but ^ythus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some ^zharvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 ^aI am under obligation both to Greeks and to ^bbarbarians,^{4 c}both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So I am eager ^dto preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

16 For I am not ^eashamed of the gospel, for it is the ^fpower of God for salvation to everyone who believes, ^gto the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the ^hrighteousness of God is ⁱrevealed from faith for faith,⁵ as it is written, ^j“The righteous shall live by faith.”⁶

God’s Wrath on Unrighteousness

18 ^kFor the ^lwrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and ^munrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For ⁿwhat can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, ^ohave been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,⁷ in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but ^pthey became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, ^qthey became fools, 23 and ^rexchanged the glory of the immortal God for images ^sresembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore ^tGod gave them up in the ^ulusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a ^vlie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, ^wmen committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due ^xpenalty for their error.

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, ^yhaughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s ^zrighteous decree that those who practice such things ^adeserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

God’s Righteous Judgment

1 ^bTherefore you have ^cno excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For ^din passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. 2 We know that the ^ejudgment of God rightly falls on ^fthose who practice such things. 3 Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and ^gforbearance and ^hpatience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up ⁱwrath for yourself on the ^jday of wrath when God’s ^krighteous judgment will be revealed.

6 He will render to each one ^laccording to his works: 7 to those who by ^mpatience ⁿin well-doing ^oseek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking⁸ and ^pdo not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, ^qthe Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God ^rshows no partiality.

God’s Judgment and the Law

12 For all who have sinned ^swithout the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned ^tunder the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is ^unot the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse ^vor even excuse them 16 on that ^wday when, according to my gospel, ^xGod judges the secrets of men ^yby Christ Jesus.

17 But if you call yourself a Jew and ^zrely ^aon the law and boast in God 18 and ^bknow his will and ^capprove what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; 19 and if you are sure that you yourself are a ^dguide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21 ^eyou then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that one must not commit adultery, ^fdo you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who ^gboast in the law dishonor God by ^hbreaking the law. 24 For, as it is written, ⁱ“The name of God is blasphemed ^jamong the Gentiles because of you.”

25 ^kFor ^lcircumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. 26 ^mSo, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded⁹ as circumcision? 27 Then he who is physically¹⁰ uncircumcised but keeps the law will ⁿcondemn you who have the ^owritten code¹¹ and circumcision but break the law. 28 For ^pno one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and ^qcircumcision is a matter of the heart, ^rby the Spirit, not by the letter. ^sHis praise is not from man but from God.

God’s Righteousness Upheld

1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much in every way. To begin with, ^tthe Jews were entrusted with the ^uoracles of God. 3 ^vWhat if some were unfaithful? ^wDoes their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 4 By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written,

5 But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, ^ywhat shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) 6 By no means! For then how could ^zGod judge the world? 7 But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? 8 And ^awhy not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.

No One Is Righteous

9 What then? Are we Jews¹² any better off?¹³ No, not at all. For we have already charged that ^ball, both ^cJews and ^dGreeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written:

19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are ^kunder the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For ^lby works of the law no human being¹⁴ will be justified in his sight, since ^mthrough the law comes knowledge of sin.

The Righteousness of God Through Faith

21 But now the ⁿrighteousness of God has been ^omanifested apart from the law, ^palthough the Law and the Prophets ^qbear witness to it— 22 the ^rrighteousness of God through ^sfaith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is ^tno distinction: 23 for ^uall have ^vsinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are ^wjustified ^xby his grace as a ^ygift, through the ^zredemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a ^apropitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine ^bforbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of ^cthe one who has faith in Jesus.

27 Then what becomes of our ^dboasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the ^elaw of faith. 28 For ^fwe hold that one is ^gjustified by faith apart from works of the law. 29 ^hOr is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since ⁱGod is one—^jwho will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 ^kDo we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.