Similar lists of sins appear in the New Testament at 13.13; 1 Corinthians 5.10, 11; 6.9, 10; 2 Corinthians 12.20, 21; Galatians 5.19-21; etc. The specific sins mentioned do not necessarily represent distinct and separate qualities in each case; in some instances it is obvious that Paul has heaped synonyms together. Nevertheless, the translator must attempt, insofar as possible, to cover all of these areas of sin and wickedness with more or less equivalent terms. For wickedness and evil it may be necessary to employ simply one generic expression equivalent to “badness.”

In a number of languages most of the nouns which identify evil activities must be expressed as verbs, so that greed must be rendered as “they want what others have” and vice as “they engage in badness with one another” or “they cause badness to one another.”

Similarly, jealousy and murder may be translated as “they are very jealous of one another” and “they kill one another.” Fighting is a Greek word which means “strife” or “party spirit,” resulting in sharp argument and dissension. Deceit may be equivalent to “they deceive one another.” Malice is a word which occurs only here in the New Testament and is defined as “the tendency to put the worst construction on everything.” Malice may be rendered in some languages as “they are always thinking the worst of others.”

Gossip may be rendered as “they say bad things about one another.” This is substantially equivalent to the first evil mentioned in verse 30, and the same translation may cover both expressions. In some languages one may have idiomatic expressions for gossip—for example, “they harvest lies” or “they throw lies into the wind,” with the implication that the lies will be carried far and wide.

The word rendered hateful to God (so also New English Bible) appears only here in the New Testament, and may possibly be taken as active: “haters of God” (Revised Standard Version) or “enemies of God” (Jerusalem Bible). Insolent may be rendered as “they insult one another.” Terms such as proud and boastful may be translated in such a way as to indicate the difference between personal attitudes and outward behavior—for example, “in their hearts they think they are great and they are always telling people that they are great” or “their hearts are proud and their words are big.” In some languages pride is expressed in a somewhat idiomatic form: “they think they are chiefs” or “they are always giving themselves power.”

They are immoral is simply a highly generic expression to describe evil, and the word which follows, translated they do not keep their promises, apparently is a play on words with the preceding term. Failure to keep their promises may be rendered as “they do not do what they say they will do” or “they promise but do not perform.” This may be rendered idiomatically in some languages as “they gamble with their words” or “their words have several layers.”

The negative expression they show no kindness or pity may be rendered positively in some languages as “they go on handling others roughly.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .