Romans 2:19-27

¹⁹You are certain that you are able to show God's truth to non-Jews, as guides show the road to those who are blind MET. You are certain that by what you say you can show God's way to the non-Jews who do not understand it, as a light shows the way to those who walk in the darkness MET, DOU.

²⁰You are certain that you can instruct/correct non-Jews, whom you consider foolish because of their not understanding God's message. Because you have in God's laws a written expression of true knowledge HEN, you are certain that you can teach people who, being like children, do not know God's truth MET.

²¹Since you claim that you have all these advantages because you are a Jew, ◄it is disgusting that you who teach other people that they should obey the laws God gave Moses do not obey the laws that you yourself teach!/why is it that you who teach other people that they should obey the laws God gave Moses do not obey the laws that you yourself teach?► RHQ You who preach that people should not steal things, it is disgusting that you yourself steal things! RHQ

²²You who command people not to have sexual relations with someone to whom they are not married, it is disgusting that you commit adultery yourself! RHQ You who detest idols, it is disgusting that you rob temples where people worship idols! RHQ

²³You who boast saying, “ I have God's laws,” it is disgusting that you disobey those same laws! RHQ As a result you are insulting God!

²⁴You must not be like our ancestors, about whom were written these words in the Scriptures: “The non-Jews speak evil about God because of the evil actions of many of you Jews.” The non-Jews say God must be a hypocrite if he condones the behavior of people like you.

²⁵Any one of you who is circumcised to show that he belongs to God can benefit from that if he obeys the laws God gave to Moses. But if you (sg), a circumcised person, disobey God's laws, God will consider that you who are circumcised are no better in God's sight than someone who is not circumcised.

²⁶This means that God will certainly consider that even non-Jews who are not circumcised can become his people if they obey the things that he commanded in his laws. RHQ

²⁷If any one of you disobeys God's laws, even though you(sg) have the Scriptures and even though someone has circumcised you {you are circumcised} God will punish you. And those people who are not circumcised, but who obey God's laws, will declare that God is right when he says that he will punish you.