Romans 3:1–20

All the World Guilty

¹Then what ¹advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision?

²Great in every respect. First of all, that ^athey were entrusted with the ^boracles of God.

³What then? If ^asome ¹did not believe, their ²unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?

^4aMay it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found ^ba liar, as it is written,

“^cThat You may be justified in Your words,

And prevail when You ¹are judged.”

⁵But if our unrighteousness ^1ademonstrates the righteousness of God, ^bwhat shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (^cI am speaking in human terms.)

^6aMay it never be! For otherwise, how will ^bGod judge the world?

⁷But if through my lie ^athe truth of God abounded to His glory, ^bwhy am I also still being judged as a sinner?

⁸And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), “^aLet us do evil that good may come”? ¹Their condemnation is just.

⁹What then? ^1aAre we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both ^bJews and ^cGreeks are ^dall under sin;

¹⁰as it is written,

“^aThere is none righteous, not even one;

¹¹There is none who understands,

There is none who seeks for God;

¹²All have turned aside, together they have become useless;

There is none who does good,

There is not even one.”

¹³“^aTheir throat is an open grave,

With their tongues they keep deceiving,”

“^bThe poison of asps is under their lips”;

¹⁴“^aWhose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”;

¹⁵“^aTheir feet are swift to shed blood,

¹⁶Destruction and misery are in their paths,

¹⁷And the path of peace they have not known.”

¹⁸“^aThere is no fear of God before their eyes.”

¹⁹Now we know that whatever the ^aLaw says, it speaks to ^bthose who are ¹under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and ^call the world may become accountable to God;

²⁰because ^aby the works ¹of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for ^2bthrough the Law comes the knowledge of sin.