Romans 1:21-25

1:21 For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts ¹  were darkened. 1:22 Although they claimed ²  to be wise, they became fools 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings ³  or birds or four-footed animals ⁴  or reptiles.

1:24 Therefore God gave them over ⁵  in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor ⁶  their bodies among themselves. ⁷  1:25 They ⁸  exchanged the truth of God for a lie ⁹  and worshiped and served the creation ¹⁰  rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

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¹ tn Grk “heart.”

² tn The participle φάσκοντες (faskonte") is used concessively here.

³ tn Grk “exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God in likeness of an image of corruptible man.” Here there is a wordplay on the Greek terms ἄφθαρτος (afqarto", “immortal, imperishable, incorruptible”) and φθαρτός (fqarto", “mortal, corruptible, subject to decay”).

⁴ sn Possibly an allusion to Ps 106:19-20.

⁵ sn Possibly an allusion to Ps 81:12.

⁶ tn The genitive articular infinitive τοῦ ἀτιμάζεσθαι (tou atimazesqai, “to dishonor”) has been taken as (1) an infinitive of purpose; (2) an infinitive of result; or (3) an epexegetical (i.e., explanatory) infinitive, expanding the previous clause.

⁷ tn Grk “among them.”

⁸ tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

⁹ tn Grk “the lie.”

¹⁰ tn Or “creature, created things.”