¹ The word of the LORD also came unto me, saying,

² Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.

³ Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and thou shalt remove from thy place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they be a rebellious house.

⁴ Then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for removing: and thou shalt go forth at even in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity.

⁵ Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby.

⁶ In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight: thou shalt cover thy face, that thou see not the ground: for I have set thee for a sign unto the house of Israel.

⁷ And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for captivity, and in the even I digged through the wall with mine hand; I brought it forth in the twilight, and I bare it upon my shoulder in their sight.

⁸ And in the morning came the word of the LORD unto me, saying,

⁹ Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said unto thee, What doest thou?

¹⁰ Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.

¹¹ Say, I am your sign: like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them: they shall remove and go into captivity.

¹² And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby: he shall cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes.

¹³ My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.

¹⁴ And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them.

¹⁵ And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.

¹⁶ But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

¹⁷ Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

¹⁸ Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness;

¹⁹ And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein.

²⁰ And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

²¹ And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

²² Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth?

²³ Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.

²⁴ For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel.

²⁵ For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the LORD GOD.

²⁶ Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

²⁷ Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.

²⁸ Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord GOD.

¹ Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Good News of God,

² which he promised before through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,

³ concerning his Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh,

⁴ who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

⁵ through whom we received grace and apostleship, for obedience of faith among all the nations, for his name's sake;

⁶ among whom you are also called to belong to Jesus Christ;

⁷ to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁸ First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, that your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world.

⁹ For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the Good News of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my prayers,

¹⁰ requesting, if by any means now at last I may be prospered by the will of God to come to you.

¹¹ For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, to the end that you may be established;

¹² that is, that I with you may be encouraged in you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine.

¹³ Now I don't desire to have you unaware, brothers, that I often planned to come to you, and was hindered so far, that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.

¹⁴ I am debtor both to Greeks and to foreigners, both to the wise and to the foolish.

¹⁵ So, as much as is in me, I am eager to preach the Good News to you also who are in Rome.

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes; for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.

¹⁷ For in it is revealed God's righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, "But the righteous shall live by faith."

¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

¹⁹ because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them.

²⁰ For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse.

²¹ Because, knowing God, they didn't glorify him as God, neither gave thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened.

²² Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

²³ and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things.

²⁴ Therefore God also gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves,

²⁵ who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

²⁶ For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For their women changed the natural function into that which is against nature.

²⁷ Likewise also the men, leaving the natural function of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another, men doing what is inappropriate with men, and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error.

²⁸ Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;

²⁹ being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil habits, secret slanderers,

³⁰ backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

³¹ without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful;

³² who, knowing the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.