Romans 10 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Brothers and sisters, what I want more than anything — what I pray to God for — is that they would be rescued.

I can vouch for them — they are deeply passionate about God. But their passion isn't guided by real understanding.

They didn't understand how God makes people right with him, and instead tried to set up their own way of being right. They never submitted to God's way of making things right.

Because The One is where the law was always heading. Everyone who trusts in him is made right with God.

Moses wrote about the kind of being-right-with-God that comes through the law: "The person who does these things will live by them."

But the kind of being-right-with-God that comes through trust says: "Don't say in your heart, 'Who will go up into heaven?'" — meaning, to bring The One down —

or "'Who will go down into the depths?'" — meaning, to bring The One back up from the dead.

So what does it say? "The message is close to you — it's in your mouth and in your heart." That's the message of trust that we're announcing:

If you openly declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and trust in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be rescued.

Because it's with the heart that you trust and are made right with God, and it's with the mouth that you declare it and are rescued.

As Scripture says, "Everyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."

There is no difference between Jewish and non-Jewish people — the same Lord is Lord over everyone, and he is incredibly generous to everyone who calls on him.

Because "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be rescued."

But how can they call on someone they haven't trusted? And how can they trust someone they haven't heard about? And how can they hear without someone telling them?

And how can anyone tell them unless they're sent? As it's written, "How welcome are the feet of those who bring good news!"

But not everyone accepted the good news. Isaiah himself said, "Lord, who actually trusted what we told them?"

So trust comes from hearing, and hearing comes through the message about The One.

But I ask: didn't they hear it? Of course they did — "Their voice has gone out to the whole earth, their words to the ends of the world."

Again I ask: did Israel really not understand? First, Moses says, "I will make you jealous of those who aren't even a nation. I will make you angry through a nation that doesn't understand."

Then Isaiah is even bolder: "I was found by people who weren't looking for me. I revealed myself to people who never asked about me."

But about Israel he says, "All day long I have held out my hands to a people who disobey and push back against me."