Romans 15:9-21

9The Gentiles also praise God because he has been kind to them. This is written in the Bible: ‘I will tell the Gentiles about you, God. I will praise you with songs, to show how great you are.’

10It says also in the Bible: ‘Be very happy, you Gentiles! Praise God together with his people.’

11It also says this: ‘Say how great the Lord is, all you Gentiles. All people, from every country, should say how great he is.’

12God's prophet Isaiah says this: ‘The root of Jesse will arrive. He will come to rule the Gentiles. The Gentiles will trust him to save them.’

13God is the one who causes us to hope for good things. I pray that God will bless you very much. I pray that he will cause you to be happy and to have peace in your minds. He will do this because you believe in him. As a result, God's Holy Spirit will make you strong with his power, so that you hope even more certainly.

14My Christian friends, I myself am completely sure that you are always good. You know everything about God's message, so that you are able to teach one another what is right.

15I know that is true, but I still needed to write this letter to you. I have written to you strongly, so that you would remember certain things. Because God is kind, he has chosen me to serve him in this way.

16I am a servant of Christ Jesus among the Gentiles. I tell people God's good news. I work like a priest so that God will accept the Gentiles. I offer them to God. The Holy Spirit has made them clean and so God accepts them.

17So I can be proud about my work. I can serve God well because I belong to Christ Jesus.

18But I will only speak about the work that Christ has made me able to do. I have lived among the Gentiles and I have spoken God's message to them. They have obeyed God as a result of Christ's work through me.

19God's Holy Spirit used his power to do many miracles. He caused many great and powerful things to happen. As a result, I have told the whole good news about Christ to many people. I have told it while I travelled all the way from Jerusalem to Illyricum.

20I want to go to places where nobody has ever told people about Christ before. I want to tell the good news to people in those places. That is what I have always wanted to do. I do not want to work in a place where someone else has already started to teach God's message.

21This is written in the Bible about God's Messiah: ‘Those people that nobody ever told them about him will now see. Those people who have never heard about him will now understand.’