Romans 3:7-13

3:7 For if by my lie the truth of God enhances ¹  his glory, why am I still actually being judged as a sinner? 3:8 And why not say, “Let us do evil so that good may come of it”? – as some who slander us allege that we say. ²  (Their ³  condemnation is deserved!)

The Condemnation of the World

3:9 What then? Are we better off? Certainly not, for we have already charged that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin, 3:10 just as it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one,

3:11 there is no one who understands,

there is no one who seeks God.

3:12 All have turned away,

together they have become worthless;

there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.” ⁴ 

3:13 “Their throats are open graves, ⁵ 

they deceive with their tongues,

the poison of asps is under their lips.” ⁶ 

¹ tn Grk “abounded unto.”

² tn Grk “(as we are slandered and some affirm that we say…).”

³ tn Grk “whose.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, this relative clause was rendered as a new sentence in the translation.

³ sn Verses 10-12 are a quotation from Ps 14:1-3.

⁴ tn Grk “their throat is an opened grave.”

⁵ sn A quotation from Pss 5:9; 140:3.