Romans 10

Brothers and sisters, what my heart wants, and what I pray to God for the people of Israel, is that they would be saved.

1Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

2I can say this about them: they are eager for God. But their eagerness is not based on knowing the truth.

2For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

NoteIn the King James, "a zeal of God" means zeal for God: the "of" marks what their enthusiasm is directed at, not where it comes from. "Zeal" here is intense, committed devotion, not mild interest.

3They did not understand the way God makes people right with himself. They tried to set up a way of their own instead. So they did not accept God's way of making people right.

3For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

Note"Righteousness" translates a Greek word covering both being in the right and being put in the right by someone else; the same root gives the word usually translated "justified." Also, the King James "going about to establish" does not mean walking around: "going about to" was ordinary English for "setting out to" or "attempting to."

4Christ is the end of the law, so that everyone who believes is made right with God.

4For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

Note"End" translates the Greek telos, which can mean the point at which something stops and also the goal or completion something was always aiming at. The Greek allows both senses, and readers have argued over which Paul intends since ancient times; the rendering leaves the word as open as the original.

5Moses describes the way of being right with God that comes through the law: "The person who does these things will live by them."

5For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.

NotePaul is quoting Leviticus 18:5.

6But the way of being right with God that comes through faith says this: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will go up into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down from above),

6But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)

NotePaul is quoting Deuteronomy 30:12-14, where Moses says God's command is not far off in the sky or across the sea but close at hand. The King James "speaketh on this wise" simply means "speaks in this way." Paul has the passage spoken by "the righteousness which is of faith," as though that were a person talking.

7"or, 'Who will go down into the deep?'" (that is, to bring Christ back up from the dead).

7Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)

NoteDeuteronomy 30:13 says "beyond the sea"; Paul instead writes "the deep," Greek abyssos, the bottomless depth, a word Greek-speaking Jews used for the underworld where the dead are. So the two questions are about reaching the top of the sky and the bottom of the world.

8What does it say instead? "The message is near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart." That is the message about faith, the one we preach.

8But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

9It says that if you say out loud that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

9That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Note"Confess" here means to declare openly and publicly, to say something on the record, not to admit to wrongdoing. "Lord" translates kyrios, which was the ordinary word for a master or owner, the word the Greek Old Testament put wherever the Hebrew had God's personal name, and a title claimed by the Roman emperor.

10With the heart a person believes and is made right with God. With the mouth a person says it out loud and is saved.

10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

11The Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame."

11For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

NoteQuoting Isaiah 28:16. "Ashamed" here is not a private feeling of embarrassment but public disgrace: being humiliated, let down in front of everyone. The picture is of someone who trusted and was not left looking like a fool.

12There is no difference between a Jew and a Greek. The same Lord is Lord of everyone, and he gives richly to all who call on him.

12For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.

Note"Greek" stands here for non-Jews in general. Greek was the shared language and culture of the eastern Roman world, so "Jew and Greek" was a common way of saying "people of either kind, that is, everybody."

13For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

13For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

NoteQuoting Joel 2:32. "Call upon the name of the Lord" is a long-standing Hebrew expression for calling out to God, in worship or in appeal, by naming him.

14So how can people call on someone they have not believed in? And how can they believe in someone they have never heard about? And how can they hear if no one preaches?

14How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

Note"Preacher" translates a word meaning herald: someone sent to announce a message out loud in public on another person's authority. It does not mean a clergyman with a congregation.

15And how can anyone preach unless he is sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news of peace and bring good reports of good things!"

15And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

NoteQuoting Isaiah 52:7, which pictures a runner coming over the hills with news that the exile is over. "Preach the gospel" and "bring glad tidings" both translate forms of one Greek word meaning to announce good news, and "gospel" is itself an old English word for good news.

16But not all of them obeyed the good news. Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our message?"

16But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?

Note"Esaias" is the Greek form of the name Isaiah, which the King James translators kept as it stood in their Greek text. The quotation is Isaiah 53:1. "Report" translates akoē, a word that means both a message heard and the act of hearing; it is the same word translated "hearing" in the next verse.

17So faith comes from hearing, and hearing comes through the word of God.

17So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

NoteThe Greek manuscripts differ here: the ones behind the King James read "the word of God," while the oldest surviving copies read "the word of Christ." Also, "hearing" renders the same double-sided word as "report" in verse 16, so the line can mean both that faith comes from the act of listening and that it comes from the message that is heard.

18But I ask, did they not hear? They certainly did: "Their sound went out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world."

18But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.

NoteQuoting Psalm 19:4, where the "sound" and the "words" belong to the sky, the sun and the stars, telling of God without speech across the whole earth. The King James "yes verily" is emphatic agreement, roughly "they most certainly did."

19I ask again, did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, "I will make you jealous by people who are not a nation. I will make you angry by a nation with no understanding."

19But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.

NoteQuoting Deuteronomy 32:21. "Provoke you to jealousy" means to make someone jealous deliberately. "Them that are no people" means a group with no standing as a nation at all. "Foolish" here means lacking sense or understanding, not silly or comical.

20Then Isaiah says it very boldly: "I was found by people who were not looking for me. I showed myself to people who were not asking for me."

20But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.

NoteQuoting Isaiah 65:1. "Is very bold" translates a verb meaning dares, takes the risk of saying it outright. "Was made manifest" means was made plainly visible, showed himself openly.

21But about Israel he says, "All day long I have held out my hands to a people who disobey me and talk back."

21But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.

NoteQuoting Isaiah 65:2. "Gainsaying" is old English for contradicting, answering back, speaking against. To stretch out the hands is the gesture of someone pleading or beckoning, arms held out in appeal, and here it is kept up all day long.