New Living Translation NLT
New International Version NIV
20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope,
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For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope
21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.
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that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
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We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.
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Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.
24 We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it.
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For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?
25 But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)
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But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
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In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.
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And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
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And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
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Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.