Good News Translation GNT
Revised Standard Version RSV
1 Everyone must obey state authorities, because no authority exists without God's permission, and the existing authorities have been put there by God.
1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
2 Whoever opposes the existing authority opposes what God has ordered; and anyone who does so will bring judgment on himself.
2 Therefore he who resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
3 For rulers are not to be feared by those who do good, but by those who do evil. Would you like to be unafraid of those in authority? Then do what is good, and they will praise you,
3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of him who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval,
4 because they are God's servants working for your own good. But if you do evil, then be afraid of them, because their power to punish is real. They are God's servants and carry out God's punishment on those who do evil.
4 for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain; he is the servant of God to execute his wrath on the wrongdoer.
5 For this reason you must obey the authorities - not just because of God's punishment, but also as a matter of conscience.
5 Therefore one must be subject, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience.
6 That is also why you pay taxes, because the authorities are working for God when they fulfill their duties.
6 For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.
7 Pay, then, what you owe them; pay them your personal and property taxes, and show respect and honor for them all.
7 Pay all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.
8 Be under obligation to no one - the only obligation you have is to love one another. Whoever does this has obeyed the Law.
8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
9 The commandments, "Do not commit adultery; do not commit murder; do not steal; do not desire what belongs to someone else" - all these, and any others besides, are summed up in the one command, "Love your neighbor as you love yourself."
9 The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
10 If you love others, you will never do them wrong; to love, then, is to obey the whole Law.
10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
11 You must do this, because you know that the time has come for you to wake up from your sleep. For the moment when we will be saved is closer now than it was when we first believed.
11 Besides this you know what hour it is, how it is full time now for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed;
12 The night is nearly over, day is almost here. Let us stop doing the things that belong to the dark, and let us take up weapons for fighting in the light.
12 the night is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light;
13 Let us conduct ourselves properly, as people who live in the light of day - no orgies or drunkenness, no immorality or indecency, no fighting or jealousy.
13 let us conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy.
14 But take up the weapons of the Lord Jesus Christ, and stop paying attention to your sinful nature and satisfying its desires.
14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.