They are senseless, faithless, heartless, merciless.
Parallel translations
- WEB without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful;
- KJV Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
- NKJV undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful;
- NASB without understanding, untrustworthy, unfeeling, and unmerciful;
- NLT They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
They are senseless, faithless, heartless, and merciless. Sin hardens people against the natural bonds and kindness that should mark human life.
Overview
The final terms in the list emphasize the loss of what is most basically human: understanding, faithfulness to commitments, natural family affection, and mercy. This portrays the depth of corruption when people are given over to sin. It sets the stage for Paul's conclusion that such sin is fully blameworthy.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Prov 18:2A fool does not delight in understanding, but only in airing his opinions.
- 2 Tim 3:3unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, without love of good,
- Rom 3:11There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
- Isa 33:8The highways are deserted; travel has ceased. The treaty has been broken, the witnesses are despised, and human life is disregarded.
- Jer 4:22“For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”
- Matt 15:16“Do you still not understand?” Jesus asked.
- Isa 27:11When its limbs are dry, they are broken off. Women come and use them for kindling; for this is a people without understanding. Therefore their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.
- 2 Kgs 18:14–37So Hezekiah king of Judah sent word to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand from me.” And the king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
- Rom 1:20–21For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 1:31 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.