^10:1Brothers and sisters,¹ my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of my fellow Israelites² is for their salvation. ^10:2For I can testify that they are zealous for God,³ but their zeal is not in line with the truth.⁴^10:3For ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. ^10:4For Christ is the end of the law, with the result that there is righteousness for everyone who believes.

^10:5For Moses writes about the righteousness that is by the law: “The one who does these things will live by them.”⁵^10:6But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart,⁶ ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ”⁷ (that is, to bring Christ down) ^10:7or “Who will descend into the abyss?”⁸ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). ^10:8But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”⁹ (that is, the word of faith that we preach), ^10:9because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord¹⁰ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ^10:10For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness¹¹ and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation.¹²^10:11For the scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”¹³^10:12For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, who richly blesses all who call on him. ^10:13For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.¹⁴

^10:14How are they to call on one they have not believed in? And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them¹⁵? ^10:15And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How timely¹⁶ is the arrival¹⁷ of those who proclaim the good news.”¹⁸^10:16But not all have obeyed the good news, for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”¹⁹^10:17Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word²⁰ of Christ.²¹

^10:18But I ask, have they²² not heard?²³ Yes, they have:²⁴ Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.²⁵^10:19But again I ask, didn’t Israel understand?²⁶ First Moses says, “I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; with a senseless nation I will provoke you to anger.”²⁷^10:20And Isaiah is even bold enough to say, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I became well known to those who did not ask for me.”²⁸^10:21But about Israel he says, “All day long I held out my hands to this disobedient and stubborn people!”²⁹

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Footnotes

1 Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in .
2 Grk “on behalf of them”; the referent (Paul’s fellow Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 Grk “they have a zeal for God.”
4 Grk “in accord with knowledge.” Their zeal is not in line with the truth means that the Jews’ passion for God was strong, but it ignored the true righteousness of God (v. 3; cf. also 3:21).
5 A quotation from Lev 18:5.
6 A quotation from Deut 9:4.
7 A quotation from Deut 30:12.
8 A quotation from Deut 30:13.
9 A quotation from Deut 30:14.
10 Or “the Lord.” The Greek construction, along with the quotation from Joel 2:32 in v. 13 (in which the same “Lord” seems to be in view) suggests that κύριον (kurion) is to be taken as “the Lord,” that is, Yahweh. Cf. D. B. Wallace, “The Semantics and Exegetical Significance of the Object-Complement Construction in the New Testament,” 6 (1985): .
11 Grk “believes to righteousness.”
12 Grk “confesses to salvation.”
13 A quotation from Isa 28:16.
14 A quotation from Joel 2:32.
15 Grk “preaching”; the words “to them” are supplied for clarification.
16 The word in this context seems to mean “coming at the right or opportune time” (see ὡραῖος 1); it may also mean “beautiful, attractive, welcome.”
17 Grk “the feet.” The metaphorical nuance of “beautiful feet” is that such represent timely news.
18 A quotation from Isa 52:7; Nah 1:15.
19 A quotation from Isa 53:1.
20 The Greek term here is ῥῆμα (rhēma), which often (but not exclusively) focuses on the spoken word.
21 Most (א1 A D1 Ψ 33 1881 𝔐 sy) have θεοῦ (theou) here rather than Χριστοῦ (Christou; found in 𝔓46vid א* B C D* 6 81 629 1506 1739 lat co). External evidence strongly favors the reading “Christ” here. Internal evidence is also on its side, for the expression ῥῆμα Χριστοῦ (rhēma Christou) occurs nowhere else in the NT; thus scribes would be prone to change it to a known expression. The genitive could be understood as either subjective (“Christ does the speaking”) or objective (“Christ is spoken about”), but the latter is more likely here.
22 That is, Israel (see the following verse).
23 Grk “they have not ‘not heard,’ have they?” This question is difficult to render in English. The basic question is a negative sentence (“Have they not heard?”), but it is preceded by the particle μή (mē) which expects a negative response. The end result in English is a double negative (“They have not ‘not heard,’ have they?”). This has been changed to a positive question in the translation for clarity. See μή 3.a.; D. Moo, Romans (), 666, fn. 32; and C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans (), , for discussion.
24 Here the particle μενοῦνγε (menounge) is correcting the negative response expected by the particle μή (mē) in the preceding question. Since the question has been translated positively, the translation was changed here to reflect that rendering.
25 A quotation from Ps 19:4.
26 Grk “Israel did not ‘not know,’ did he?” The double negative in Greek has been translated as a positive affirmation for clarity (see v. above for a similar situation).
27 A quotation from Deut 32:21.
28 A quotation from Isa 65:1.
29 A quotation from Isa 65:2.