Τί οὖν ἐροῦμεν; ὅτι ἔθνη τὰ μὴ διώκοντα δικαιοσύνην κατέλαβεν δικαιοσύνην, δικαιοσύνην δὲ τὴν ἐκ πίστεως·

Ti oun eroumen; oti ethne ta me diokonta dikaiosunen katelaben dikaiosunen, dikaiosunen de ten ek pisteos*

quid ergo dicemus quod gentes quae non sectabantur iustitiam adprehenderunt iustitiam iustitiam autem quae ex fide est

What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.

What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.

What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.

What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.

What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith;

What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith;

What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who followed not after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith:

What shall we say, therefore? The Gentiles, who did not run after righteousness have obtained righteousness, even the righteousness which is from faith,

What then shall we say? That they of the nations, who did not follow after righteousness, have attained righteousness, but the righteousness that is on the principle of faith.

What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who followed not after justice, have attained to justice, even the justice that is of faith.

What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith:

What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith;

So what can we say? We can say that non-Jewish people who were not trying to gain God's approval won his approval, an approval based on faith.

What should we say then? Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness--namely the righteousness that comes from faith.

What can we say, then? Gentiles, who were not pursuing righteousness, have attained righteousness, a righteousness that comes through faith.

What shall we say then?--that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness obtained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith,

What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith;

What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;

What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God's standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place.

What shall we say then? That the Gentiles who followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith:

To what conclusion does this bring us? Why, that the Gentiles, who were not in pursuit of righteousness, have overtaken it--a righteousness, however, which arises from faith;

What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who didn't follow after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith;

So, we must think about what all this means. The Gentiles were not trying to become right with God. But some of them have now become right with him. God has accepted them as right, because they have believed in Jesus Christ.

What, then, shall we say? that nations who are not pursuing righteousness did attain to righteousness, and righteousness that [is] of faith,

What are we to say about these things? The people who are not Jews were not made right with God by the Law. They were made right with God because they put their trust in Him.

What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who did not follow righteousness, have attained righteousness, even the righteousness that is by faith;

So what does all of this mean? Did the non-Jews stumble into a right standing with God without chasing after it? Yes, they found it through faith.

Well then, what shall we say about these things? Just this, that God has given the Gentiles the opportunity to be acquitted by faith, even though they had not been really seeking God.

What then shall we say? That the Gentiles who did not strive for righteousness have achieved it, that is, righteousness based on faith,

What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, laid hold of righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith;

What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who did not follow after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, that is to say, the righteousness which is by faith,

What should we say then? Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness—namely the righteousness that comes from faith.

What shall we say then? That Gentiles who did not follow after righteousness [who did not seek salvation by right relationship to God] have attained it by faith [a righteousness imputed by God, based on and produced by faith],

So what does all this mean? Those who are not Jews were not trying to make themselves right with God, but they were made right with God because of their faith.

Who in the world do you think you are to second-guess God? Do you for one moment suppose any of us knows enough to call God into question? Clay doesn’t talk back to the fingers that mold it, saying, “Why did you shape me like this?” Isn’t it obvious that a potter has a perfect right to shape one lump of clay into a vase for holding flowers and another into a pot for cooking beans? If God needs one style of pottery especially designed to show his angry displeasure and another style carefully crafted to show his glorious goodness, isn’t that all right? Either or both happens to Jews, but it also happens to the other people. Hosea put it well: I’ll call nobodies and make them somebodies; I’ll call the unloved and make them beloved. In the place where they yelled out, “You’re nobody!” they’re calling you “God’s living children.” Isaiah maintained this same emphasis: If each grain of sand on the seashore were numbered and the sum labeled “chosen of God,” They’d be numbers still, not names; salvation comes by personal selection. God doesn’t count us; he calls us by name. Arithmetic is not his focus. Isaiah had looked ahead and spoken the truth: If our powerful God had not provided us a legacy of living children, We would have ended up like ghost towns, like Sodom and Gomorrah. How can we sum this up? All those people who didn’t seem interested in what God was doing actually embraced what God was doing as he straightened out their lives. And Israel, who seemed so interested in reading and talking about what God was doing, missed it. How could they miss it? Because instead of trusting God, they took over. They were absorbed in what they themselves were doing. They were so absorbed in their “God projects” that they didn’t notice God right in front of them, like a huge rock in the middle of the road. And so they stumbled into him and went sprawling. Isaiah (again!) gives us the metaphor for pulling this together: Careful! I’ve put a huge stone on the road to Mount Zion, a stone you can’t get around. But the stone is me! If you’re looking for me, you’ll find me on the way, not in the way.

What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who were not pursuing righteousness, have obtained righteousness, a righteousness that is by faith.

What then shall we say?—that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have obtained it, the righteousness · that is by faith;

What then are we to say? Gentiles, who did not strive for righteousness, have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith;

What shall we say then? We say that the Gentiles, who did not follow righteousness, have found righteousness; I mean, the righteousness which comes of faith.

So we say that the Gentiles, who were not trying to put themselves right with God, were put right with him through faith;

Therefore what shall we say? That heathen men that followed not rightwiseness, have gotten rightwiseness [have caught rightwiseness], yea, the rightwiseness that is of faith.

What then shall we say? That the nations, who were not aspiring towards covenant membership, have obtained covenant membership, but it is a covenant membership based on faith.

What does all of this mean? It means that the Gentiles were not trying to be acceptable to God, but they found that he would accept them if they had faith.

What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith;

Now, how far have we got? That the Gentiles who never had the Law’s standard of righteousness to guide them, have attained righteousness, righteousness-by-faith. but Israel, following the Law of righteousness, failed to reach the goal of righteousness. And why? Because their minds were fixed on what they achieved instead of on what they believed. They tripped over that very stone the scripture mentions: ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offence, and whoever believes on him will not be put to shame’.

What then are we to say? Gentiles, who did not strive for righteousness, have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith,

What then are we to say? Gentiles, who did not strive for righteousness, have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith;

So what are we going to say? Gentiles who weren’t striving for righteousness achieved righteousness, the righteousness that comes from faith.

What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness [who did not seek salvation and a right relationship with God, nevertheless] obtained righteousness, that is, the righteousness which is produced by faith;

What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith;

What then shall we say? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have achieved it, that is, righteousness that comes from faith;

What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, but the righteousness that is by faith;

·So what does all this mean [L What, then, shall we say]? Those who are Gentiles ·were not trying to make themselves right with God [L did not pursue righteousness], but they ·were made right with God [obtained righteousness] ·because of their faith [L —that is, a righteousness that is by faith].

What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness—that is, a righteousness of faith.

What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith;

What should we say then? Gentiles did not look for a way to be right with God. But they found it by having faith.

What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.

So, what are we to say? This: that Gentiles, even though they were not striving for righteousness, have obtained righteousness; but it is a righteousness grounded in trusting!

But the Jews tried to obey the law that could make them good people. But they did not obey it all.

What then are we to say? Gentiles, who did not strive for righteousness, have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith;

What then shall we say? That Goyim who do not pursue Tzedek (righteousness) have attained Tzedek which is Tzedek through emunah,

So what can we say? We can say that non-Jewish people who were not trying to gain God’s approval won his approval, an approval based on faith.

What shall we say then? The Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith,

So what does all this mean? It means that people who are not Jews were made right with God because of their faith, even though they were not trying to make themselves right.

So what does all this mean? It means this: the non-Jews were not trying to make themselves right with God. But they were made right with God because of their faith.

What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness—even the righteousness that is by faith.

What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;

Therefore, what shall we say? That Gentiles, the ones not pursuing righteousness, took-hold-of  righteousness— but a righteousness by faith.