Romans 12:19

‘Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to the wrath (of God), for it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me, I will recompense, says the Lord.'

Paul advises the Christians in Rome, on the basis of Scripture, that they should leave vengeance in the hands of God, Who will surely recompense men for wrongdoing because He is the righteous Judge. They are not to avenge themselves, but to give place to ‘the wrath'. This is presumably the wrath mentioned in Romans 1:18 and is not therefore limited to the final judgment. (In Romans 13:5 it is exercised by the Roman government). The Scripture is probably taken from Deuteronomy 32:35 where MT has ‘vengeance is mine, and recompense'. This may have been combined by Paul with Jeremiah 5:9, ‘shall I not visit (in judgment) for these things? says the LORD'. Notice that Hebrews 10:30 supports Paul's rendition, and suggests that the citation could be found in this form somewhere in a current text. (It is found in some Aramaic Targums). It is, however, a reminder that the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 5:6). We should therefore give place to God's wrath, recognising that such judgment is outside our remit. Our concern should be to deliver men from under the wrath of God by bringing them to Jesus Christ.