1We then who are strong ought to hear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
2Let each one of us please his neighbor, to promote what is good, for edification.
3For Christ did not seek his own pleasure, but, as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached thee fell on me.”
4For whatever things were written aforetime, were written for our instruction; that we through the patience and the consolation of the Scriptures might have hope.
5And may the God of patience and consolation grant that ye may be of the same mind one with another, according to Christ Jesus;
6that with one accord ye may with one mouth glorify God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ received you to the glory of God.
8For I say that Christ became a minister to the circumcised for the sake of God's truth, in order to make sure the promises given to the fathers;
9and that the gentiles glorified God for his mercy, as it is written, “For this cause I will give praise to thee among the gentiles, and sing to thy name.”
10And again he saith: “Rejoice, ye gentiles, with his people.”
11And again: “Praise the Lord, all ye gentiles, and let every people praise him.”
12And again Isaiah saith: “There shall be the shoot from Jesse, and he that riseth up to rule the gentiles; in him shall the gentiles hope.”
13And may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
14But I myself am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye are even of yourselves full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.
15But I have written to you, brethren, in a manner somewhat bold on some subjects, as putting you in mind, on account of the grace given me by God
16that I should be a minister of Christ Jesus to the gentiles, performing the office of a priest in respect to the gospel of God, that the oblation of the gentiles may be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
17I have then ground for glorying in Christ Jesus in regard to the things pertaining m God.
18For I will not be bold to say anything hut of what Christ hath actually wrought by me to bring the gentiles to obedience by word and deed,
19by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem, and in the country around even to Illyricum, I have fully made known the gospel of Christ;
20but always earnestly desirous to preach it in this manner,—not where Christ had been named, that I might not build on another's foundation,
21but, as it is written: “They, to whom no tidings concerning him came, shall see; and they that have not heard shall understand.”
22For which cause also, for the most part, I have been hindered from coming to you.
23But now having no more opportunity in these regions, and having had for many years a great desire to come to you,
24when I go to Spain, I will come to you; for I hope to see you on my way, and to be helped forward thither by you, after I have in some degree satisfied myself with your company.
25But now I am going to Jerusalem on a service of relief to the saints.
26For Macedonia and Achaia have thought it good to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.
27They have thought it good, and they owed it to them. For if the gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they ought in return to minister to them in temporal things.
28When therefore I have completed this business, and secured to them this fruit, I shall set out to pass through you to Spain.
29And I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.
30But I beseech you, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love produced by the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in prayers to God for me;
31that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judaea, and that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints;
32so that, through the will of God, I may come to you in joy, and may with you be refreshed.
33And may the God of peace be with you all. Amen.