1ጳውሎስ፣ የክርስቶስ ኢየሱስ ባሪያ፣ ሐዋርያ ሊሆን የተጠራና ለእግዚአብሔር ወንጌል የተለየ፤ 2ስለዚህ ወንጌል በነቢያቱ በኩል በቅዱሳት መጻሕፍት አስቀድሞ ተስፋ ተሰጠ። 3ወንጌሉም ስለ ልጁ፣ በሥጋ ከዳዊት ዘር ስለሆነ፣ 4በቅድስና መንፈስ1፥4 ወይም በቅድስናው መንፈስ ደግሞ ከሙታን በመነሣቱ የእግዚአብሔር ልጅ መሆኑ በኀይል ስለ ተገለጠው ስለ ጌታችን ኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ ነው። 5በእርሱ በኩል ስለ ስሙ ከአሕዛብ ሁሉ መካከል ሰዎችን በእምነት አማካይነት ወደሚገኘው መታዘዝ ለመጥራት ጸጋንና ሐዋርያነትን ተቀበልን። 6እናንተ ራሳችሁም ለኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ እንዲሆኑ ከተጠሩት መካከል ናችሁ።
7በእግዚአብሔር ለተወደዳችሁና ቅዱሳን ለመሆን ለተጠራችሁ በሮም ላላችሁ ሁሉ፤
ከአባታችን ከእግዚአብሔር፣ ከጌታም ከኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ ጸጋና ሰላም ለእናንተ ይሁን።
ሮምን ለማየት የጳውሎስ ናፍቆት
8ከሁሉ አስቀድሜ፣ እምነታችሁ በዓለም ሁሉ በመሰማቱ፣ ስለ ሁላችሁ አምላኬን በኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ አመሰግናለሁ። 9ዘወትር ምን ያህል እንደማስባችሁ፣ የልጁን ወንጌል በመስበክ በሙሉ ልቤ የማገለግለው እግዚአብሔር ምስክሬ ነው፤ 10በጸሎቴ ሁልጊዜ አስባችኋለሁ፤ አሁን ደግሞ በመጨረሻ በእግዚአብሔር ፈቃድ ወደ እናንተ እንድመጣ መንገድ ይከፈትልኝ ዘንድ እጸልያለሁ።
11እንድትጸኑ የሚያስችላችሁን መንፈሳዊ ስጦታ አካፍላችሁ ዘንድ፣ ላያችሁ እናፍቃለሁ። 12ይኸውም እናንተና እኔ በእያንዳንዳችን እምነት እርስ በርሳችን እንድንበረታታ ነው። 13ወንድሞች ሆይ፤ በሌሎች አሕዛብ ዘንድ እንደ ሆነልኝ፣ በእናንተም ዘንድ ፍሬ ለማግኘት ብዙ ጊዜ ወደ እናንተ ልመጣ ዐቅጄ ሳለሁ፣ እስከ አሁን ድረስ ግን መከልከሌን እንድታውቁ እወድዳለሁ።
14ግሪኮች ለሆኑትና ላልሆኑት፣ ለጥበበኞችና ለማያስተውሉ ዕዳ አለብኝ፤ 15በሮም ለምትኖሩ፣ ለእናንተም ወንጌልን ለመስበክ የምጓጓው ለዚህ ነው።
16በወንጌል አላፍርም፤ ምክንያቱም ለሚያምን ሁሉ ለድነት የሚሆን የእግዚአብሔር ኀይል ነው፤ ይህም በመጀመሪያ ለአይሁድ፣ ቀጥሎም ለአሕዛብ ነው። 17በወንጌል የእግዚአብሔር ጽድቅ ተገልጧልና፤ ጽድቁም ከመጀመሪያ እስከ መጨረሻ በእምነት1፥17 ወይም ከእምነት ወደ እምነት የሆነ ነው፣ “ጻድቅ በእምነት ይኖራል” ተብሎ እንደ ተጻፈው።
የእግዚአብሔር ቍጣ በሰዎች ላይ
18በክፋታቸው እውነትን ዐፍነው በሚይዙ፣ በዐመፃቸውና በክፋታቸው ሁሉ ላይ የእግዚአብሔር ቍጣ ከሰማይ ይገለጣል፤ 19ስለ እግዚአብሔር ሊታወቅ የሚቻለው ለእነርሱ ግልጽ ነው፤ ምክንያቱም እግዚአብሔር ለእነርሱ ግልጽ አድርጎታል። 20ዓለም ከተፈጠረ ጀምሮ የማይታየው የእግዚአብሔር ባሕርይ፣ ይኸውም ዘላለማዊ ኀይሉና መለኮትነቱ፣ ከፍጥረቱ በግልጽ ይታያል፤ ስለዚህ ሰዎች ማመካኛ የላቸውም።
21እግዚአብሔርን ቢያውቁም እንኳ፣ እንደ አምላክነቱ አላከበሩትም፤ ምስጋናም አላቀረቡለትም፤ ነገር ግን ሐሳባቸው ፍሬ ቢስ ሆነ፤ የማያስተውል ልባቸው ጨለመ። 22ጥበበኞች ነን ቢሉም፣ ሞኞች ሆኑ፤ 23የዘላለም አምላክን ክብር ምዉት በሆነው ሰው፣ በወፎች፣ በእንስሳትና በምድር ላይ በሚሳቡ ፍጥረት መልክ መስለው ለወጡ።
24ስለዚህም እግዚአብሔር በኀጢአት በተሞላው የልባቸው ምኞት እርስ በርሳቸው የገዛ አካላቸውን እንዲያስነውሩ ቅድስና ለሌለው ሩካቤ ሥጋ አሳልፎ ሰጣቸው። 25የእግዚአብሔርን እውነት በሐሰት ለወጡ፤ በፈጣሪ ፈንታ ፍጡር አመለኩ፤ አገለገሉም፤ ፈጣሪም ለዘላለም የተመሰገነ ነው፤ አሜን።
26በዚህም ምክንያት እግዚአብሔር አሳፋሪ ለሆነ ምኞት አሳልፎ ሰጣቸው፤ ሴቶቻቸውም እንኳ ለባሕርያቸው የሚገባውን ግንኙነት ባሕርያቸው ላልሆነው ግንኙነት ለወጡ። 27እንደዚሁም ወንዶች ለባሕርያቸው የሚገባውን ሴቶችን መገናኘት ትተው እርስ በርሳቸው በፍትወት ተቃጠሉ፤ ወንዶች ከወንዶች ጋር ነውር ፈጸሙ፤ ለክፉ አድራጎታቸውም የሚገባቸውን ቅጣት በገዛ ራሳቸው ላይ አመጡ።
28ከዚህም በላይ በሐሳባቸው እግዚአብሔርን ማወቅ አይጠቅምም በማለታቸው፣ መደረግ የማይገባውን እንዲያደርጉ እግዚአብሔር ለማይረባ አእምሮ አሳልፎ ሰጣቸው። 29በሁሉም ዐይነት ዐመፃ፣ ክፋት፣ ስግብግብነትና ምግባረ ብልሹነት ተሞልተዋል፤ ቅናትን፣ ነፍስ ገዳይነትን፣ ጥልን፣ አታላይነትንና ተንኰልን የተሞሉ ናቸው፤ ሐሜተኞች፣ 30ስም አጥፊዎች፣ አምላክን የሚጠሉ፣ ተሳዳቢዎች፣ ትዕቢተኞችና ትምክሕተኞች ናቸው፤ ክፋትን የሚሠሩበትን መንገድ ያውጠነጥናሉ፤ ለወላጆቻቸው አይታዘዙም። 31የማያስተውሉ፣ ውል የሚያፈርሱ፣ ርኅራኄ የሌላቸውና ጨካኞች ናቸው። 32ይህን የሚያደርጉ ሁሉ ሞት ይገባቸዋል የሚለውን ትክክለኛ የሆነውን የእግዚአብሔርን ሕግ ቢያውቁም፣ እነዚህን ነገሮች ማድረግ ብቻ ሳይሆን፣ እንዲህ የሚያደርጉትንም ያበረታታሉ።
1I, Paul, am writing this letter. I serve Christ Jesus. I have been appointed to be an apostle. God set me apart to tell others his good news. 2He promised the good news long ago. He announced it through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. 3The good news is about God’s Son. He was born into the family line of King David. 4By the Holy Spirit, he was appointed to be the mighty Son of God. God did this by raising him from the dead. He is Jesus Christ our Lord. 5We received grace because of what Jesus did. He made us apostles to the Gentiles. We must invite all of them to obey God by trusting in Jesus. We do this to bring glory to him. 6You also are among those Gentiles who are appointed to belong to Jesus Christ.
7I am sending this letter to all of you in Rome. You are loved by God and appointed to be his holy people.
May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
Paul Longs to Visit Rome
8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you. People all over the world are talking about your faith. 9I serve God with my whole heart. I preach the good news about his Son. God knows that I always remember you 10in my prayers. I pray that now at last it may be God’s plan to open the way for me to visit you.
11I long to see you. I want to make you strong by giving you a gift from the Holy Spirit. 12I want us to encourage one another in the faith we share. 13Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that I planned many times to visit you. But until now I have been kept from coming. My work has produced results among the other Gentiles. In the same way, I want to see results among you.
14I have a duty both to Greeks and to non-Greeks. I have a duty both to wise people and to foolish people. 15So I really want to preach the good news also to you who live in Rome.
16I want to preach it because I’m not ashamed of the good news. It is God’s power to save everyone who believes. It is meant first for the Jews. It is meant also for the Gentiles. 17The good news shows God’s power to make people right with himself. God’s power to be made right with him is given to the person who has faith. It happens by faith from beginning to end. It is written, “The one who is right with God will live by faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4)
God’s Anger Against Sinners
18God shows his anger from heaven. It is against all the godless and evil things people do. They are so evil that they say no to the truth. 19The truth about God is plain to them. God has made it plain. 20Ever since the world was created it has been possible to see the qualities of God that are not seen. I’m talking about his eternal power and about the fact that he is God. Those things can be seen in what he has made. So people have no excuse for what they do.
21They knew God. But they didn’t honor him as God. They didn’t thank him. Their thinking became worthless. Their foolish hearts became dark. 22They claimed to be wise. But they made fools of themselves. 23They would rather have statues of gods than the glorious God who lives forever. Their statues of gods are made to look like people, birds, animals and reptiles.
24So God let them go. He allowed them to do what their sinful hearts wanted to. He let them commit sexual sins. They made one another’s bodies impure by what they did. 25They chose a lie instead of the truth about God. They worshiped and served created things. They didn’t worship the Creator. But he is praised forever. Amen.
26So God let them continue to have their shameful desires. Their women committed sexual acts that were not natural. 27In the same way, the men turned away from their natural love for women. They burned with sexual desire for each other. Men did shameful things with other men. They suffered in their bodies for all the wrong things they did.
28They didn’t think it was important to know God. So God let them continue to have evil thoughts. They did things they shouldn’t do. 29They are full of every kind of sin, evil and ungodliness. They want more than they need. They commit murder. They want what belongs to other people. They fight and cheat. They hate others. They say mean things about other people. 30They tell lies about them. They hate God. They are rude and proud. They brag. They think of new ways to do evil. They don’t obey their parents. 31They do not understand. They can’t be trusted. They are not loving and kind. 32They know that God’s commands are right. They know that those who do evil things should die. But they continue to do those very things. They also approve of others who do them.