Romans 9

God’s Selection of Israel

1With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. 2My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief 3for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters.#9:3 Greek my brothers. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them. 4They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children.#9:4 Greek chosen for sonship. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises. 5Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.#9:5 Or May God, the one who rules over everything, be praised forever. Amen.

6Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people! 7Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,”#9:7 Gen 21:12. though Abraham had other children, too. 8This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children. 9For God had promised, “I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”#9:9 Gen 18:10, 14.

10This son was our ancestor Isaac. When he married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins.#9:10 Greek she conceived children through this one man. 11But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes; 12he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son.”#9:12 Gen 25:23. 13In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.”#9:13 Mal 1:2-3.

14Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not! 15For God said to Moses,

“I will show mercy to anyone I choose,

and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.”#9:15 Exod 33:19.

16So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.

17For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, “I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth.”#9:17 Exod 9:16 (Greek version). 18So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen.

19Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?”

20No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? 22In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction. 23He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory. 24And we are among those whom he selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles.

25Concerning the Gentiles, God says in the prophecy of Hosea,

“Those who were not my people,

I will now call my people.

And I will love those

whom I did not love before.”#9:25 Hos 2:23.

26And,

“Then, at the place where they were told,

‘You are not my people,’

there they will be called

‘children of the living God.’”#9:26 Greek sons of the living God. Hos 1:10.

27And concerning Israel, Isaiah the prophet cried out,

“Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore,

only a remnant will be saved.

28For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth

quickly and with finality.”#9:27-28 Isa 10:22-23 (Greek version).

29And Isaiah said the same thing in another place:

“If the Lord of Heaven’s Armies

had not spared a few of our children,

we would have been wiped out like Sodom,

destroyed like Gomorrah.”#9:29 Isa 1:9 (Greek version).

Israel’s Unbelief

30What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place. 31But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded. 32Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law#9:32 Greek by works. instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path. 33God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said,

“I am placing a stone in Jerusalem#9:33a Greek in Zion. that makes people stumble,

a rock that makes them fall.

But anyone who trusts in him

will never be disgraced.”#9:33b Isa 8:14; 28:16 (Greek version).

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Romans 9

God and his People

1I am speaking the truth; I belong to Christ and I do not lie. My conscience, ruled by the Holy Spirit, also assures me that I am not lying 2when I say how great is my sorrow, how endless the pain in my heart 3for my people, my own flesh and blood! For their sake I could wish that I myself were under God's curse and separated from Christ. 4#Ex 4.22They are God's people; he made them his children and revealed his glory to them; he made his covenants#9.4 covenants; some manuscripts have covenant. with them and gave them the Law; they have the true worship; they have received God's promises; 5they are descended from the famous Hebrew ancestors; and Christ, as a human being, belongs to their race. May God, who rules over all, be praised for ever!#9.5 May God, who rules over all, be praised for ever!; or And may he, who is God ruling over all, be praised for ever! Amen.

6I am not saying that the promise of God has failed; for not all the people of Israel are the people of God. 7#Gen 21.12Nor are all Abraham's descendants the children of God. God said to Abraham, “It is through Isaac that you will have the descendants I promised you.” 8This means that the children born in the usual way#9.8 children born in the usual way: This refers to the descendants Abraham had through Ishmael, his son by Hagar (see Gal 4.22–23). are not the children of God; instead, the children born as a result of God's promise are regarded as the true descendants. 9#Gen 18.10For God's promise was made in these words: “At the right time#9.9 At the right time; or At this time next year. I will come back, and Sarah will have a son.”

10And this is not all. For Rebecca's two sons had the same father, our ancestor Isaac. 11-12#Gen 25.23But in order that the choice of one son might be completely the result of God's own purpose, God said to her, “The elder will serve the younger.” He said this before they were born, before they had done anything either good or bad; so God's choice was based on his call, and not on anything they had done. 13#Mal 1.2–3As the scripture says, “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.”

14Shall we say, then, that God is unjust? Not at all. 15#Ex 33.19For he said to Moses, “I will have mercy on anyone I wish; I will take pity on anyone I wish.” 16So then, everything depends, not on what human beings want or do, but only on God's mercy. 17#Ex 9.16 (LXX)For the scripture says to the king of Egypt, “I made you king in order to use you to show my power and to spread my fame over the whole world.” 18So then, God has mercy on anyone he wishes, and he makes stubborn anyone he wishes.

God's Anger and Mercy

19But one of you will say to me, “If this is so, how can God find fault with anyone? Who can resist God's will?” 20#Is 29.16; 45.9But who are you, my friend, to answer God back? A clay pot does not ask the man who made it, “Why did you make me like this?” 21After all, the man who makes the pots has the right to use the clay as he wishes, and to make two pots from the same lump of clay, one for special occasions and the other for ordinary use.

22And the same is true of what God has done. He wanted to show his anger and to make his power known. But he was very patient in enduring those who were the objects of his anger, who were doomed to destruction. 23And he also wanted to reveal his abundant glory, which was poured out on us who are the objects of his mercy, those of us whom he has prepared to receive his glory. 24For we are the people he called, not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles. 25#Hos 2.23This is what he says in the book of Hosea:

“The people who were not mine

I will call ‘My People’.

The nation that I did not love

I will call ‘My Beloved’.

26 # Hos 1.10 And in the very place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’

there they will be called the children of the living God.”

27 # Is 10.22–23 (LXX) And Isaiah exclaims about Israel: “Even if the people of Israel are as many as the grains of sand by the sea, yet only a few of them will be saved; 28for the Lord will quickly settle his full account with the world.” 29#Is 1.9 (LXX)It is as Isaiah had said before, “If the Lord Almighty had not left us some descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.”

Paul's Prayer for Israel

30So we say that the Gentiles, who were not trying to put themselves right with God, were put right with him through faith; 31while God's people, who were seeking a law that would put them right with God, did not find it. 32And why not? Because they did not depend on faith but on what they did. And so they stumbled over the “stumbling stone” 33#Is 28.16 (LXX)that the scripture speaks of:

“Look, I place in Zion a stone

that will make people stumble,

a rock that will make them fall.

But whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.”

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