Romawa 9
1 Mi hla njanji ni Kristi, mina si tie chena, imre mu si tsro me ni mi Brji Tsratsra,
[Now I would like to discuss the fact that most of my fellow Israelites have rejected Christ]. Because of my relationship with Christ, I say completely truthfully [what I will now tell you]. I am not lying [DOU]! My conscience confirms what I [say] because the Holy Spirit [controls it].
2 ndi mi he ni kpon yi ni low sron u kakle ni sronmu.
[I tell you that] I grieve very greatly and deeply [DOU] [about my fellow Israelites].
3 Ba ndi na tre ndi ba tie nyu nimu nda cume ni kan ni Yesu ni tu mri vayi mu, ni ba mla mu u kpa.
I personally would be willing to let [God] curse me [and, as a result, be separated] from Christ, [if that would] help my fellow Israelites, my natural kinsmen, [to believe in Christ].
4 Ahi baba yi ba Israilawa, ba fe kpanyme, ni gbire san, ni yo nyun mbe dede, ni toh turon, da gbire Irji san ni tara kuma, ni yo nyu ma.
We [Jews] are [Israelites, God’s chosen] descendants of [Jacob]. [God has always considered] us as his children [MET]. It was to our ancestors [that he used to appear] gloriously [while they were in the desert]. It was with them that [God made] covenants [several times]. It was to them [that God] gave the laws [at Sinai Mountain]. They were the ones [to whom God showed how they should] worship him. They were the ones [to whom God] promised many things, [especially that the Messiah would come from their race].
5 Mba tiba mba ndi nimi Almasihu u no niko u kpa wawu wa a hi Irji u koge, du mba gbirasa u saika sai sai du he naki. (aiōn g165)
It was our ancestors, [Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whom God chose to found our nation]. And, [most importantly], it was from us Israelites that the Messiah received his human nature. [Nevertheless, most of my fellow Israelites have rejected Christ], who is the one who controls all things! He is God, the one who is worthy that we praise him forever! This is true! (OR, Amen!) (aiōn g165)
6 U ana nitu itere Irji wa a joku na, ana hi kohan ni Israilawa a hi Israilawa u njanji na.
[God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that their descendants would all inherit his blessings]. But [although most of my fellow Israelites have rejected Christ], that does not [prove] that God has failed [to do] the things that he promised, because it is not all who are descended from Jacob and who [call themselves the people of] Israel whom [God considers] to be truly his people.
7 Nakima ana duka grji Ibrahim mba hi iriri Ibrahim na. “Mba yo mba be grji Ishaku.”
And it is also not all of Abraham’s natural descendants that [God considers] to be his people. Instead, [God considers only some of them to be Abraham’s children]. [This agrees with what God told Abraham]: “It is Isaac, [not any of your(sg) other sons], whom [I] will consider [to be the true father of] your descendants.”
8 Mba ki mba he imiri be kpa mba na imiri be he imiri be Irji na. Mba imiri be yo nyu wa mba bla ba suru ni grji ba.
That means that it is not all the natural-born descendants [of Abraham] whom God [considers as] his children. Instead, it is those who [believed what God] promised whom [he] considers to be his children.
9 U wayi hi itere u yo nyu a “nzizayi me ye de ye no Saraya ivire.
[You know that what God] promised [to Abraham] was this: “About this time [next year] Sarah [your wife] will bear a son [as a result of my enabling] [MTY] [her to do so].” [So Abraham knew that it was not through Ishmael, the son that he already had, that God would fulfill what he had promised him] (OR, [that his true descendants would come]).
10 Ana he iwayi me ngana, niwaa Rifkatu a ban nne ni lonma itimbu Ishaku.
And not only then did God show [that he did not determine who would be his true children according to who their ancestors were. He showed it again] when Rebecca conceived [twins] by our ancestor Isaac.
11 Ba rihe ngrji myri ba u mbana ti kpi dede ma ko meme ma na. Ni tu naki Irji a chu ana bi ni kpi wa mba ti ana amma nitu idi wa a yo.
Before [the twins, Jacob and Esau], were born, when neither one had yet done anything good or bad, [God] said to Rebecca [about the twins she was to bear], “The older one shall later serve the younger one, [contrary to normal custom].” [God said this] in order that [we] might [clearly] understand that what he purposed [for people] was according to what he himself determined. That is, people’s [eternal destiny] does not depend on what they do. Instead, their destiny depends on [God], the one who chooses them.
12 U mba hla ni wa “Nikon ani kwba ti gra ni tsitsama.” A na kima mba tere.
13 Naki mba han zi “Me son Yakubu de kamu ni Isuwa.”
And [this teaching is] ([supported/shown to be true]) [by] what is written [in the Scriptures] {what [a prophet] recorded} [that God said]: “I favored Jacob, [the younger son]. I did not favor [HYP] Esau, [the older son].”
14 U khi tere de naki? Irji na ti bina naki? Ah ah.
[Someone] might say, “(Is God unjust [by choosing the ones he wants to choose?/I think] that God is unjust [by choosing the ones he wants to choose!])” [RHQ] [I would reply], “[He is] certainly not [unjust]!”
15 U a hla ni Musa me lo sonro niwa mi losonro, mi losonron ni wa nimi no si sonro ni wa ani si sonron a.
God told Moses, “I will pity and help anyone whom I choose [DOU]!”
16 Ni tu na ki ana he ni tu idi wa a yo sonron. Ko kuma ni idi wa ani ri shishi, na a he ni nitu Irji wa ani losonro ni ta.
So [God chooses people], not because they want [God to choose them] or because they try hard [to do things so that he] will [accept them]. Instead he chooses people because he himself has mercy [on undeserving ones].
17 U lan tre Baci'a hla ni Firauna, “Ani tu wayi yi me nzuu lunde ni ndu me tsoro ngbengblen mu ni mi me ni ndu b d'bu nde mu ni ngbungblu'a wawuu.”
[Moses] recorded [PRS] [that God had told] Pharaoh, “This is why I gave you [(sg)] authority [MTY]: It was in order that I might show [by how I oppose] you [how exceedingly] powerful I am, and in order that people everywhere [HYP] would hear about me [MTY].”
18 Naki, Irji ni tsro low sron ni wa a son'a nda tie wa a son sen tu.
So [we conclude that God] kindly helps the ones he wants to act kindly towards. But he makes stubborn the ones [such as Pharaoh] that he wants [to make stubborn].
19 Khita mla ya u khi tere ade ni tuge ani son toh joku? Ahi ihan yi ni ya kukri ni gbegble u tuma.
[One of] you may [object to this by] saying to me, “[Because God determines ahead of time everything that people do, that also implies that he wants us to do everything that we do]. (No one has resisted what God has willed!/Who has resisted what God has willed?) [RHQ] Therefore, (it would not be right that God would still condemn [a person for having sinned]!/why does God still condemn [a person for having sinned]?) [RHQ]”
20 Khi ta ya i u idi u hi han wa u san yun ni Irji? Ko idi u me a ani ya miye idi u me de ge sa a me wawu naki?
[I would reply that since] you [(sg)] are [just a] human being, (you do not [have any right at all to] criticize God!/[who are you to] say that what God does is wrong?) [RHQ] [As a potter is the one who creates a clay pot, God is the one who created you]. (A clay pot [MET] certainly would not [have a right to criticize] the potter by asking [PRS], “Why did you [(sg)] make me this way?”/Would a clay pot [have a right to criticize] the potter by asking [PRS], “Why did you [(sg)] make me this way?”) [RHQ]
21 U idi u me iri ana he ni gbegbegle ni tu itama iri wa ani meri iri u dedema iriri a hi u daraja, iriri a hi u tidu mege?
Instead, (the potter certainly has the right to [take] some clay and from one lump [of clay] make one pot that people will honor and [make another] one for ordinary purposes [MET]./does not a potter have the right to [take] some clay and from one lump [of clay] make one pot that people will honor and [make another] pot for ordinary purposes?) [MET, RHQ] [Similarly, God has the right to carry out what he purposes for people].
22 U ida Irji ani so tsoro ifu ma ni gbegble mba toh, ssai a vu sonron gbugbuu ni mba iri u fu wa mlati is gbi sutu mba.
Although God desires to show that he is angry [about sin], and [although he desires to] make clear that he can powerfully [punish people who have sinned], he tolerated very patiently the people [MET] who caused him to be angry and who deserved to be destroyed (OR, who were made to be destroyed).
23 E ati naki da tsoro gbira san ma gbugbu wa a he nimi dede u ma, wa a mla ti du mba gbirasan?
[God has been patient] in order that he might make clear how very wonderfully [he acts toward those] [MET] whom he intended to act mercifully towards and whom he prepared ahead of time in order that they might [live] gloriously [in heaven].
24 Amma tie wa ni tu mbuyi ita wa aye ta'a, ana Yahudawa ni nklen mba megyen na u ni bi kohra ngame.
That means us whom he chose—not only [us] Jews but also non-Jews.
25 Towa a tre ni mi nvunvu u Yunusa a, “Ani yo ndji wa bana bimu na ndi ndji mu, ni biwa ana son ba naa, biwa mi son ba.”
[These words that] Hosea wrote [MTY] that [God] said also (show that God has the right/[support God’s right]) [to choose from among both Jews and non-Jews] [MTY]: I will declare that many people who were not my people are now my people. I will declare that many people whom I did not love [HYP] before, I love now.
26 Ani he naki wa mba na tre “ndi ba hi indi mana, u mba yo mba imiri Irji be sisairi.”
And [another prophet wrote]: What will happen is that in the places where [God] told them before, “You are not my people,” in those same places [people] will declare truthfully that they are children of God, who is completely powerful.
27 Ishaya a yi kpokpo djur rah nitu Israila. “Mba ta ni tere a de imiri Israila mba bra na kpabru u kosan ba u mbari mba ba nawo.
Isaiah also exclaimed concerning the Israelites: Even though the Israelites are [so many that no one can count them, like] sand [particles on the beach beside] the ocean, [only] a small part of them will be saved {[God] will save [only] a small part of them},
28 U Irji a toh a de wawu a ni kle nyun ma ni gbugbugblu pyipyi me bani wuton mba.
because the Lord will punish completely and speedily the [people who live on] this earth, as he said that he would do.
29 Na wa Ishaya a han ni sei u Irji a de na ka grji do ni ta wu na khi de na he na Sadumawa u khi dena kwma ti na Gomarata.
[Also, we can understand from what the prophet] Isaiah said [that God would not save] anyone if he did not show mercy: If the Lord, who controls everything in heaven, had not mercifully allowed some of our descendants to survive, we would have become like the people of [the cities of] Sodom and Gomorrah, who were [SIM, DOU] completely destroyed.
30 U ziza khi tere a de ge? U be kora, be wa bana son tsa-tsara na mba kpa dede ni dedema u kpa kyem.
We must conclude this: [RHQ] Although non-Jews did not search out [a way by which] God would erase the record of their sins, they actually found that way because they trusted [in what Christ did for them].
31 U Israila be wa mba na wa ituron u tsa-tsara na u mba na he ni mi turon na.
But although [the people of] Israel sought a basis [by which God would] erase the record of their sins, they did not succeed in [fulfilling the true purpose of the] laws [that God gave to Moses].
32 Nitu ge? ni tu mba na wa ni njanji na. u a he nitu idu na. Mba za ni tu tita wa ni du yi za ni kbu za.
The reason [RHQ] [that they did not succeed] is that they did not trust that [God would provide a way to save them]. Instead, they were trying to do certain things [in order that God would accept them. Because they did not expect the Messiah to die, the Israelites] felt disgusted about [Jesus’ death, which is like] the stone [MET] on which people stumble.
33 Towa ba nhaa, “To Mi ka tita u kbu za sizi ni mi Sihiyona mba ni haan u latre. U wa a kpanyme ni wu'a ana tie shan na.
This is what [a prophet] predicted when he wrote these words that [God said about the Messiah]: Listen! I am placing in Israel [MTY] [one who is like] a stone [MET] on which people will stumble. What he does will offend people [DOU]. Nevertheless, those who believe in him will not be disappointed.
