¹Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of my fellow Israelites is for their salvation.[#tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.; #tn Grk “on behalf of them”; the referent (Paul’s fellow Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.]

²For I can testify that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not in line with the truth.[#tn Grk “they have a zeal for God.”; #tn Grk “in accord with knowledge.” sn Their zeal is not in line with the truth means that the Jews’ passion for God was strong, but it ignored the true righteousness of God (v. 3; cf. also 3:21).]

³For ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

⁴For Christ is the end of the law, with the result that there is righteousness for everyone who believes.

⁵For Moses writes about the righteousness that is by the law: “The one who does these things will live by them .”[#sn A quotation from Lev 18:5.]

⁶But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart , ‘Who will ascend into heaven? ’” (that is, to bring Christ down)[#sn A quotation from Deut 9:4.; #sn A quotation from Deut 30:12.]

⁷or “Who will descend into the abyss? ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).[#sn A quotation from Deut 30:13.]

⁸But what does it say? “, ” (that is, the word of faith that we preach),[#sn A quotation from Deut 30:14.]

⁹because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.[#tn Or “the Lord.” The Greek construction, along with the quotation from Joel 2:32 in v. 13 (in which the same “Lord” seems to be in view) suggests that κύριον (kurion) is to be taken as “the Lord,” that is, Yahweh. Cf. D. B. Wallace, “The Semantics and Exegetical Significance of the Object-Complement Construction in the New Testament,” GTJ 6 (1985): 91-112.]

¹⁰For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation.[#tn Grk “believes to righteousness.”; #tn Grk “confesses to salvation.”]

¹¹For the scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame .”[#sn A quotation from Isa 28:16.]

¹²For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, who richly blesses all who call on him.

¹³For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved .[#sn A quotation from Joel 2:32.]

¹⁴How are they to call on one they have not believed in? And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them?[#tn Grk “preaching”; the words “to them” are supplied for clarification.]

¹⁵And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How timely is the arrival of those who proclaim the good news .”[#tn The word in this context seems to mean “coming at the right or opportune time” (see BDAG 1103 s.v. ὡραῖος 1); it may also mean “beautiful, attractive, welcome.”; #tn Grk “the feet.” The metaphorical nuance of “beautiful feet” is that such represent timely news.; #sn A quotation from Isa 52:7; Nah 1:15.]

¹⁶But not all have obeyed the good news, for Isaiah says, “, ?”[#sn A quotation from Isa 53:1.]

¹⁷Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word of Christ.[#tn The Greek term here is ῥῆμα (rJhma), which often (but not exclusively) focuses on the spoken word.; #tc Most mss (א1 A D1 Ψ 33 1881 Ï sy) have θεοῦ (qeou) here rather than Χριστοῦ (Cristou; found in Ì46vid א* B C D* 6 81 629 1506 1739 pc lat co). External evidence strongly favors the reading “Christ” here. Internal evidence is also on its side, for the expression ῥῆμα Χριστοῦ (rJhma Cristou) occurs nowhere else in the NT; thus scribes would be prone to change it to a known expression.tn The genitive could be understood as either subjective (“Christ does the speaking”) or objective (“Christ is spoken about”), but the latter is more likely here.]

¹⁸But I ask, have they not heard? Yes, they have: , .[#tn That is, Israel (see the following verse).; #tn Grk “they have not ‘not heard,’ have they?” This question is difficult to render in English. The basic question is a negative sentence (“Have they not heard?”), but it is preceded by the particle μή (mh) which expects a negative response. The end result in English is a double negative (“They have not ‘not heard,’ have they?”). This has been changed to a positive question in the translation for clarity. See BDAG 646 s.v. μή 3.a.; D. Moo, Romans (NICNT), 666, fn. 32; and C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans (ICC), 537, for discussion.; #tn Here the particle μενοῦνγε (menounge) is correcting the negative response expected by the particle μή (mh) in the preceding question. Since the question has been translated positively, the translation was changed here to reflect that rendering.; #sn A quotation from Ps 19:4.]

¹⁹But again I ask, didn’t Israel understand? First Moses says, “I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; with a senseless nation I will provoke you to anger .”[#tn Grk “Israel did not ‘not know,’ did he?” The double negative in Greek has been translated as a positive affirmation for clarity (see v. 18 above for a similar situation).; #sn A quotation from Deut 32:21.]

²⁰And Isaiah is even bold enough to say, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I became well known to those who did not ask for me .”[#sn A quotation from Isa 65:1.]

²¹But about Israel he says, “All day long I held out my hands to this disobedient and stubborn people! ”[#sn A quotation from Isa 65:2.]