Therefore give everyone what you owe: if you owe taxes, pay taxes; if customs, then customs; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
Parallel translations
- KJV Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
- BSB Pay everyone what you owe him: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.
- NKJV Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
- NASB Pay to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; respect to whom respect; honor to whom honor.
- NLT Give to everyone what you owe them: Pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them, and give respect and honor to those who are in authority.
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
Give everyone their due: taxes, revenue, respect, and honor as owed.
Overview
Paul summarizes the believer's obligations to authority with a comprehensive principle: render to each what is owed. This echoes Jesus' words to 'render to Caesar' (Matthew 22:21). The verse balances material dues (taxes, customs) with attitudes (respect, honor), framing civic responsibility as a matter of integrity.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Luke 20:25He said to them, “Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
- Matt 17:25He said, “Yes.” When he came into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth receive toll or tribute? From their children, or from strangers?”
- 1 Pet 2:17–18Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
- Prov 24:21My son, fear Yahweh and the king. Don’t join those who are rebellious:
- Matt 22:21They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
- 1 Tim 5:17Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching.
- Eph 6:5Servants, be obedient to those who according to the flesh are your masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as to Christ;
- 1 Pet 3:7You husbands, in the same way, live with your wives according to knowledge, giving honor to the woman, as to the weaker vessel, as being also joint heirs of the grace of life; that your prayers may not be hindered.
- Luke 23:2They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man perverting the nation, forbidding paying taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.”
- Mark 12:17Jesus answered them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” They marveled greatly at him.
- Eph 5:33Nevertheless each of you must also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
- Lev 19:3“‘Each one of you shall respect his mother and his father. You shall keep my Sabbaths. I am Yahweh your God.
- Eph 6:2–3“Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with a promise:
- 1 Tim 6:1Let as many as are bondservants under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and the doctrine not be blasphemed.
- Lev 19:32“‘You shall rise up before the gray head, and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God. I am Yahweh.
- 1 Sam 12:18So Samuel called to Yahweh; and Yahweh sent thunder and rain that day. Then all the people greatly feared Yahweh and Samuel.
- Exod 20:12“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.
- 1 Tim 5:13Besides, they also learn to be idle, going about from house to house. Not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not.
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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 13:7 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.