Romans 3:4-19

⁴I would reply, “No, it certainly does not mean that! God always does what he has promised, even though people do not. All those who accuse God of not keeping his promises to us Jews are very mistaken.” What King David wrote about God's justly saying that he would punish him for his sins is also true of those who accuse God of not keeping his promises. What he said to God was, “So everyone must acknowledge that what you (sg) have said about them (OR, their sin) is true, and you will always win the case when you are accused {when people accuse you}.”

⁵So if we Jews' being wicked PRS shows that it is right that God does not bless us, what shall we say/conclude? Shall we conclude that it is not right for God to be angry and punish us Jews MTY? I should not be saying these things, but I am speaking as ordinary humans speak.

⁶We should certainly not conclude that God should not judge us, because if God did not judge us Jews, ◄it would not possibly be right for him to judge anyone in the world MTY!/how could he judge anyone in the world?► MTY, RHQ

⁷But someone might object and say to me, “The fact that God truly keeps his promises becomes very clear/evident because of my not doing what God has commanded. But the result is that people praise God! So ◄God should no longer say that I should be punished {that he should punish me} on account of my having sinned!/why should God still say that I should be punished {that he should punish me} on account of my having sinned?► RHQ

⁸If what you, Paul, say is true, then ◄we might as well/it is all right for us to► do evil things in order that good things like that will result! For example, then people will praise God!” Some people speak evil about me by their falsely saying that I say such things. God will fairly/justly punish people who say such things about me!

⁹If someone would ask, “ Shall we conclude that God will treat us Jews more favorably and will treat the non-Jews less favorably RHQ?” I would reply that we can certainly not conclude that! I have already shown you that all people, the Jews and also the non-Jews, have sinned and so they deserve to be punished { that God will punish them} PRS.

¹⁰The following words that are written {prophets have written} in the Scriptures support this, No person is righteous. There is not even one righteous person!

¹¹There is no one who understands how to live properly (OR, about God). There is no one who seeks/desires to know God!

¹²Absolutely everyone has turned away MET from God. God considers them depraved (OR, Everyone has become useless to God). There is no one who acts righteously; no, there is not even one!

¹³What people say MTY is foul/bad, like the smell that comes from a grave that has been {that people have} opened MET. By what people say MTY, they deceive people. By what they say MTY they injure people, just like the poison of snakes injures people MET.

¹⁴They are continually ◄cursing/asking God to do harmful things to► others and saying ◄cruel/harsh/hateful► things MTY.

¹⁵They ◄go quickly/are eager► to murder people MTY.

¹⁶Wherever they go, they ruin everything and make people miserable MTY.

¹⁷They have not/never known how to live peacefully with other people.

¹⁸They absolutely refuse to fear/reverence God SYN!

¹⁹Furthermore, we know that it is to Jewish people, who are required to obey God's laws, that Moses wrote those laws PRS. We can infer from this that there are no Jews or non-Jews SYN who are able to say anything in reply to God's saying that he will punish them for having sinned. God has declared everyone in the world MTY guilty!