In Greek this and the preceding verse are one sentence and offer a variety of punctuation possibilities. However, none of the punctuation alternatives makes serious differences for translation.

Every time I pray translates a noun phrase in Greek (see Revised Standard Version “always in my prayers”).

God, in his good will, may at last make it possible may more literally be rendered “by God’s will I may now at last succeed” (Revised Standard Version). In his good will means “if it is God’s will.” In some languages it may be necessary to restructure the semantic content of a phrase such as in his good will—for example, “I ask that God will approve that I visit you now” or “I ask that God will think it is right that I visit you now.” A form of condition may be introduced in a somewhat more paraphrastic manner: “I pray that God will make it possible for me to visit you if he wants me to.”

To visit you (so New English Bible, Jerusalem Bible) is literally “to come to you,” but on the basis of 15.22-29 it is obvious that Paul plans to stop in Rome on his way to Spain; he does not plan to stay permanently in Rome. If in the choice of a word for visit it is necessary to imply some length of time, then probably a term which suggests several weeks to a few months would be most appropriate.

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 .