Romans 3:9-19

The Condemnation of the World

3:9 What then? Are we better off? Certainly not, for we have already charged that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin, 3:10 just as it is written:

There is no one righteous, not even one,

3:11 there is no one who understands,

there is no one who seeks God.

3:12 All have turned away,

together they have become worthless;

there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.

3:13Their throats are open graves,

they deceive with their tongues,

the poison of asps is under their lips.

3:14Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.

3:15Their feet are swift to shed blood,

3:16 ruin and misery are in their paths,

3:17 and the way of peace they have not known.

3:18There is no fear of God before their eyes.

3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God.


sn Verses 10-12 are a quotation from Ps 14:1-3.

tn Grk “their throat is an opened grave.”

sn A quotation from Pss 5:9; 140:3.

tn Grk “whose mouth is.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

sn A quotation from Ps 10:7.

sn Rom 3:15-17 is a quotation from Isa 59:7-8.

sn A quotation from Ps 36:1.

tn Grk “in,” “in connection with.”