. Romans, from The holy Bible, Revised Standard version
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Romans, chapter 13
1: Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For
there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted
by God.
2: Therefore he who resists the authorities resists what God
has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
3: For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.
Would you have no fear of him who is in authority? Then do what is good,
and you will receive his approval,
4: for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong,
be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain; he is the servant of
God to execute his wrath on the wrongdoer.
5: Therefore one must be subject, not only to avoid God's wrath
but also for the sake of conscience.
6: For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities
are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.
7: Pay all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due,
revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to
whom honor is due.
8: Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who
loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
9: The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall
not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment,
are summed up in this sentence, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
10: Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the
fulfilling of the law.
11: Besides this you know what hour it is, how it is full time
now for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than
when we first believed;
12: the night is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us then cast
off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light;
13: let us conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day, not in
reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in
quarreling and jealousy.
14: But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision
for the flesh, to gratify its desires.