Romans 3:9-20
Holman Christian Standard Bible
The Whole World Guilty before God
9 What then? Are we any better?[a] Not at all! For we have previously charged that both Jews(A) and Gentiles[b](B) are all under sin,[c](C) 10 as it is written:[d]
There is no one righteous, not even one.
11 There is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away;
all alike have become useless.
There is no one who does what is good,
not even one.(D)[e]
13 Their throat is an open grave;
they deceive with their tongues.(E)[f]
Vipers’ venom is under their lips.(F)[g]
14 Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.(G)[h]
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 ruin and wretchedness are in their paths,
17 and the path of peace they have not known.(H)[i]
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.(I)[j]
19 Now we know that whatever the law says(J) speaks to those who are subject to the law,[k](K) so that every mouth may be shut and the whole world may become subject to God’s judgment.[l](L) 20 For no one will be justified[m] in His sight by the works of the law,(M) because the knowledge of sin comes through the law.(N)
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Romans 3:9 Are we Jews any better than the Gentiles?
- Romans 3:9 Lit Greeks
- Romans 3:9 Under sin’s power or dominion
- Romans 3:10 Paul constructs this charge from a chain of OT quotations, mainly from the Psalms.
- Romans 3:12 Ps 14:1-3; 53:1-3; Ec 7:20
- Romans 3:13 Ps 5:9
- Romans 3:13 Ps 140:3
- Romans 3:14 Ps 10:7
- Romans 3:17 Is 59:7-8
- Romans 3:18 Ps 36:1
- Romans 3:19 Lit those in the law
- Romans 3:19 Or become guilty before God, or may be accountable to God
- Romans 3:20 Or will be declared righteous, or will be acquitted
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