All the World Guilty

3 Then what ^[a]advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? ² Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. ³ What then? If some ^[b]did not believe, their ^[c]unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? ⁴ May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written,

⁵ But if our unrighteousness ^[e]demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking in human terms.) ⁶ May it never be! For otherwise, how will God judge the world? ⁷ But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner? ⁸ And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), “Let us do evil that good may come”? ^[f]Their condemnation is just.

⁹ What then? ^[g]Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; ¹⁰ as it is written,

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are ^[h]under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; ²⁰ because by the works ^[i]of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for ^[j]through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

Justification by Faith

²¹ But now apart ^[k]from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²² even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those ^[l]who believe; for there is no distinction; ²³ for all ^[m]have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; ²⁵ whom God displayed publicly as a ^[n]propitiation ^[o]in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, ^[p]because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; ²⁶ for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who ^[q]has faith in Jesus.

²⁷ Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. ^28 [r]For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works ^[s]of the Law. ²⁹ Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, ³⁰ since indeed God who will justify the ^[t]circumcised ^[u]by faith and the ^[v]uncircumcised through faith is one.

³¹ Do we then nullify ^[w]the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.

The Tablets Rewritten

10 “At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Cut out for yourself two tablets of stone like the former ones, and come up to Me on the mountain, and make an ark of wood for yourself. ² I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered, and you shall put them in the ark.’ ³ So I made an ark of acacia wood and cut out two tablets of stone like the former ones, and went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. ⁴ He wrote on the tablets, like the former writing, the Ten ^[a]Commandments which the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them to me. ⁵ Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are, as the Lord commanded me.”

⁶ (Now the sons of Israel set out from ^[b]Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died and there he was buried and Eleazar his son ministered as priest in his place. ⁷ From there they set out to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of brooks of water. ⁸ At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to serve Him and to bless in His name until this day. ⁹ Therefore, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance with his brothers; the Lord is his inheritance, just as the Lord your God spoke to him.)

¹⁰ “I, moreover, stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights like the first time, and the Lord listened to me that time also; the Lord was not willing to destroy you. ¹¹ Then the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, proceed on your journey ahead of the people, that they may go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.’

¹² “Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to ^[c]fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ and to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good? ¹⁴ Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the ^[d]highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it. ¹⁵ Yet on your fathers did the Lord set His affection to love them, and He chose their ^[e]descendants after them, even you above all peoples, as it is this day. ¹⁶ So circumcise ^[f]your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer. ¹⁷ For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe. ¹⁸ He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing. ¹⁹ So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. ²⁰ You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him, and you shall swear by His name. ²¹ He is your praise and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen. ²² Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons in all, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.