Let God’s wrath do it is literally “give place to wrath,” but in the present context “wrath” is a reference to God’s wrath, and many translations make this explicit (Revised Standard Version, New English Bible, Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, An American Translation*, Moffatt). The scripture quotation in this passage comes from Deuteronomy 32.35. Let God’s wrath do it is equivalent in some languages to “let God take revenge,” “let God pay him back in judgment,” or even “let God condemn him.”

It may be awkward in some languages to introduce a direct quotation in a double manner—that is, with the two phrases, for the scripture says and says the Lord. This may be reduced to a single statement in some languages: “for the Lord says in the scripture,” “the scripture contains the words of the Lord,” or “these are the words of the Lord in the scripture.”

In translating I will take revenge it is important to indicate that God takes revenge for what others have done, but not necessarily to himself. In other words, God is not being vengeful in the sense that he retaliates for what people do to him. Rather, he exercises judgment upon those who harm others. Therefore, one may translate “I will take revenge on the evil that has been done” or “I will take revenge on those who have done evil.” In some languages the closest equivalent may be “to pay back”—for example, “I will pay them back for how they have caused others to suffer.” In other languages one may translate as “I will cause them to suffer in return.”

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 .