Romans 9
9
1 I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit 2that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. 3For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh 4who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises; 5of whom are the fathers, and from whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen.
6 But it is not as though the word of God has come to nothing. For they are not all Israel that are of Israel. 7Neither, because they are Abraham’s offspring, are they all children. But, “your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac.”#Genesis 21:12 8That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as heirs. 9For this is a word of promise: “At the appointed time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.”#Genesis 18:10,14 10Not only so, but Rebekah also conceived by one, by our father Isaac. 11For being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him who calls,#9:11 NU puts the phrase “not of works, but of him who calls” at the beginning of verse 12 instead of the end of verse 11. 12it was said to her, “The elder will serve the younger.”#Genesis 25:23 13Even as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”#Malachi 1:2-3
14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? May it never be! 15For he said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”#Exodus 33:19 16So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”#Exodus 9:16 18So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.
19 You will say then to me, “Why does he still find fault? For who withstands his will?” 20But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”#Isaiah 29:16; 45:9 21Or hasn’t the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel for honour, and another for dishonour? 22What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23and that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory— 24us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles? 25As he says also in Hosea,
“I will call them ‘my people,’ which were not my people;
and her ‘beloved,’ who was not beloved.”#Hosea 2:23
26“It will be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”#Hosea 1:10
27 Isaiah cries concerning Israel,
“If the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea,
it is the remnant who will be saved;
28 for he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,
because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.”#Isaiah 10:22-23
29 As Isaiah has said before,
“Unless the Lord of Armies#9:29 Greek: Sabaoth (or Hebrew: Tze’va’ot) had left us a seed,
we would have become like Sodom,
and would have been made like Gomorrah.”#Isaiah 1:9
30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who didn’t follow after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith; 31but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, didn’t arrive at the law of righteousness. 32Why? Because they didn’t seek it by faith, but as it were by works of the law. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33even as it is written,
“Behold,#9:33 “Behold”, from “ἰδοὺ”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection. I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offence;
and no one who believes in him will be disappointed.”#Isaiah 8:14; 28:16
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Romans 9
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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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.