But about Israel he says, “All day long I held out my hands to this disobedient and stubborn people!”

For if Abraham was declared righteous by the works of the law, he has something to boast about – but not before God.

What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up.

So I boast in Christ Jesus about the things that pertain to God.

This is the reason I was often hindered from coming to you.

and I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of Christ’s blessing.

so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company.

Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us.

Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of my fellow Israelites is for their salvation.

and I always ask in my prayers, if perhaps now at last I may succeed in visiting you according to the will of God.

But now there is nothing more to keep me in these regions, and I have for many years desired to come to you

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I often intended to come to you (and was prevented until now), so that I may have some fruit even among you, just as I already have among the rest of the Gentiles.

This was also to demonstrate his righteousness in the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness.

Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to join fervently with me in prayer to God on my behalf.