Bible Strands
Romans 3:12
All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul writes to the Roman congregation, concluding his chapter-long indictment that both Jews and Gentiles stand universally condemned under sin.
The words — πᾶντες (pantes, "all") and ἠχρεωθησαν (ēchreōthēsan, "became worthless") frame the verse's claim that universal deviation from God results in complete moral uselessness.
The thread — The passage quotes Psalm 14:3 directly and parallels Ecclesiastes 7:20, while Isaiah 59:8 similarly notes that people have not known the way of peace.
Why it lands — The text states that no human achieves inherent goodness, requiring a reader to acknowledge total moral inability before evaluating any claim of righteousness.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Cross-references
- Psalms 14:3 All have turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
- Ecclesiastes 7:20 Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
- Isaiah 59:8 The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their tracks. They have turned them into crooked paths; no one who treads on them will know peace.
- Isaiah 64:6 Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
- Isaiah 53:6 We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.
- Ecclesiastes 7:29 Only this have I found: I have discovered that God made mankind upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”
- Ephesians 2:3 All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.
- 1 Peter 2:25 For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
- Philemon 1:11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.
- Genesis 1:31 And God looked upon all that He had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.