Romans 1:18-32 : Easy-to-Read Version
All People Have Done Wrong
18God's anger is shown from heaven. God is angry with all the evil and wrong things that people do against God. They have the truth, but by their evil lives they hide the truth. 19God shows his anger, because everything that is known about God has been made clear to them. Yes, God has clearly shown people everything that is known about him.
20There are things about God that people cannot see--his eternal power and all the things that make him God. But since the beginning of the world those things have been easy for people to understand. Those things are made clear in the things that God has made. So people have no excuse for the bad things they do.
21People knew God. But they did not give glory to God and they did not thank him. People's thinking became useless. Their foolish minds were filled with darkness (sin). 22People said they were wise, and they became fools. 23They gave up the glory of God who lives forever. People traded that glory for the worship of idols* made to look like earthly people. People traded God's glory for things that look like birds, animals, and snakes.
24People were full of sin, wanting only to do evil things. So God left them and let them go their sinful way. And so they became full of sexual sins, using their bodies wrongly with each other. 25Those people traded the truth of God for a lie. Those people worshiped and served things that were made. But people did not worship and serve the God who made those things. God should be praised forever. Amen.
26Because people did those things, God left them and let them do the shameful things they wanted to do. Women stopped having natural sex with men. They started having sex with other women. 27In the same way, men stopped having natural sex with women. The men began wanting each other all the time. Men did shameful things with other men. And in their bodies they received the punishment for those wrong things they did.
28People did not think it was important to have a true knowledge of God. So God left them and allowed those people to have their own worthless thinking. And so those people do the things that they should not do. 29Those people are filled with every kind of sin, evil, selfishness, and hatred. Those people are full of jealousy, murder, fighting, lying, and thinking the worst things about each other. Those people gossip 30and say evil things about each other. Those people hate God. They are rude and conceited and boast about themselves. Those people invent ways of doing evil. They don't obey their parents, 31they are foolish, they don't keep their promises, and they show no kindness or mercy to other people.
32Those people know God's law. They know that God's law says that people that live like this should die. But they continue to do these wrong things. And they also feel that people who do these things are doing right.
idols Statues made from wood, stone, or metal that people worshiped like gods.