9
1 I
tell the truth in
Christ. I am
not lying, my
conscience testifying with
me in the
Holy Spirit
2 that
I have great
sorrow and unceasing
pain in my
heart.
3 For
I could wish
that I myself
were accursed from
Christ for
my brothers’ sake,
my relatives
according to the
flesh
4 who
are Israelites;
whose is the
adoption, the
glory, the
covenants, the
giving of the
law, the service,
and the promises;
5 of
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.
7 Neither,
because they
are Abraham’s offspring, are
they all children.
But, “your offspring
will be accounted
as from
Isaac.”
8 That
is, it is
not the children
of the flesh
who are children
of God, but
the children of
the promise are
counted as heirs.
9 For
this is a
word of promise:
“At the appointed
time I will
come, and Sarah
will have a
son.”
10 Not
only so, but
Rebekah also
conceived by one,
by our father
Isaac.
11 For
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,
12 it
was said to
her, “The elder
will serve the
younger.”
13 Even
as it is
written, “Jacob
I loved, but Esau
I hated.”
14 What
shall we say
then? Is
there unrighteousness with
God? May it
never be!
15 For
he said to
Moses, “I will
have mercy on
whom I have
mercy, and I
will have
compassion on whom
I have
compassion.”
16 So
then it is
not of him
who wills, nor
of him who
runs, but of
God who has
mercy.
17 For
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.”
18 So
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?”
20 But
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?”
21 Or hasn’t
the potter a
right over the
clay, from the
same lump to
make one part
a vessel for
honor, and another
for dishonor?
22 What
if God, willing
to show his
wrath and to
make his power
known, endured
with much patience
vessels of wrath
prepared for destruction,
23 and
that he might
make known the
riches of his
glory on vessels
of mercy, which
he prepared
beforehand for
glory—
24 us,
whom he also
called, not from
the Jews only,
but also from
the Gentiles?
25 As
he says also
in Hosea,
“I will call
them ‘my people,’
which were not
my people;
and her ‘beloved,’
who was
not beloved.”
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.’ ”
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.”
29 As
Isaiah has said
before,
“Unless the Lord
of Armies
had left us
a seed,
we would have
become like Sodom,
and would have
been made like
Gomorrah.”
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;
31 but
Israel, following after
a law of
righteousness, didn’t arrive
at the law
of righteousness.
32 Why?
Because they didn’t
seek it by
faith, but as
it were by
works of the law.
They stumbled over
the stumbling
stone,
33 even
as it is
written,
“Behold,
I lay in
Zion a stumbling
stone and a
rock of offense;
and no one
who believes in
him will be
disappointed.”