The Impartiality of God

2 Therefore you have no excuse, ^[a]everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. ² And we know that the judgment of God ^[b]rightly falls upon those who practice such things. ³ But do you suppose this, O man, ^[c]when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴ Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? ⁵ But ^[d]because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, ⁶ who will render to each person according to his deeds: ⁷ to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; ⁸ but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. ⁹ There will be tribulation and distress ^[e]for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, ¹⁰ but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹¹ For there is no partiality with God.

¹² For all who have sinned ^[f]without the Law will also perish ^[g]without the Law, and all who have sinned ^[h]under the Law will be judged ^[i]by the Law; ¹³ for it is not the hearers ^[j]of the Law who are ^[k]just before God, but the doers ^[l]of the Law will be justified. ¹⁴ For when Gentiles who do not have ^[m]the Law do ^[n]instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having ^[o]the Law, are a law to themselves, ¹⁵ in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, ¹⁶ on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.

The Jew Is Condemned by the Law

¹⁷ But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely ^[p]upon the Law and boast in God, ¹⁸ and know His will and ^[q]approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, ¹⁹ and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰ a ^[r]corrector of the foolish, a teacher of ^[s]the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, ²¹ you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who ^[t]preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? ²² You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³ You who boast ^[u]in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? ²⁴ For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written.

²⁵ For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice ^[v]the Law; but if you are a transgressor ^[w]of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. ²⁶ So if the ^[x]uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? ²⁷ And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who ^[y]though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor ^[z]of the Law? ²⁸ For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. ²⁹ But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.

Israel Provoked God

9 “Hear, O Israel! You are crossing over the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, great cities ^[a]fortified to heaven, ² a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ ³ Know therefore today that it is the Lord your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, so that you may drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the Lord has spoken to you.

⁴ “Do not say in your heart when the Lord your God has driven them out before ^[b]you, ‘Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is dispossessing them before you. ⁵ It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the ^[c]oath which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

⁶ “Know, then, it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a ^[d]stubborn people. ⁷ Remember, do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. ⁸ Even at Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was so angry with you that He would have destroyed you. ⁹ When I went up to the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the Lord had made with you, then I remained on the mountain forty days and nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water. ¹⁰ The Lord gave me the two tablets of stone written by the finger of God; and on them were all the words which the Lord had spoken with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. ¹¹ It came about at the end of forty days and nights that the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. ¹² Then the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, go down from here quickly, for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them; they have made a molten image for themselves.’ ¹³ The Lord spoke further to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed, it is a ^[e]stubborn people. ¹⁴ Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’

¹⁵ “So I turned and came down from the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. ¹⁶ And I saw that you had indeed sinned against the Lord your God. You had made for yourselves a molten calf; you had turned aside quickly from the way which the Lord had commanded you. ¹⁷ I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my hands and smashed them before your eyes. ¹⁸ I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke Him to anger. ¹⁹ For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the Lord was wrathful against you in order to destroy you, but the Lord listened to me that time also. ²⁰ The Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him; so I also prayed for Aaron at the same time. ²¹ I took your ^[f]sinful thing, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the brook that came down from the mountain.

²² “Again at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the Lord to wrath. ²³ When the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and possess the land which I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the ^[g]command of the Lord your God; you neither believed Him nor listened to His voice. ²⁴ You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day I knew you.

²⁵ “So I fell down before the Lord the forty days and nights, which I ^[h]did because the Lord had said He would destroy you. ²⁶ I prayed to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord God, do not destroy Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²⁷ Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look at the stubbornness of this people or at their wickedness or their sin. ²⁸ Otherwise the land from which You brought us may say, “Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which He had ^[i]promised them and because He hated them He has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.” ²⁹ Yet they are Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have brought out by Your great power and Your outstretched arm.’