Romans 11
1 So I say, Has God put his people on one side? Let there be no such thought. For I am of Israel, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
I ask, then, ‘Has God rejected his people?’ Heaven forbid! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God has not put away the people of his selection. Or have you no knowledge of what is said about Elijah in the holy Writings? how he says words to God against Israel,
God has not rejected his people, whom he chose from the first. Have you forgotten the words of scripture in the story of Elijah – how he appeals to God against Israel?
3 Lord, they have put your prophets to death, and made waste your altars, and now I am the last, and they are searching for me to take away my life.
‘Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have pulled down your altars, and I only am left; and now they are eager to take my life.’
4 But what answer does God make to him? I have still seven thousand men whose knees have not been bent to Baal.
But what was the divine response? ‘I have kept for myself seven thousand who have never bowed the knee to Baal.’
5 In the same way, there are at this present time some who are marked out by the selection of grace.
And so in our own time, too, there is to be found a remnant of our nation selected by God in love.
6 But if it is of grace, then it is no longer of works: or grace would not be grace.
But if in love, then it is not as a result of obedience. Otherwise love would cease to be love.
7 What then? That which Israel was searching for he did not get, but those of the selection got it and the rest were made hard.
What follows from this? Why, that Israel as a nation failed to secure what it was seeking, while those whom God selected did secure it.
8 As it was said in the holy Writings, God gave them a spirit of sleep, eyes which might not see, and ears which have no hearing, to this day.
The rest grew callous; as scripture says – ‘God has given them a deadness of mind – eyes that are not to see and ears that are not to hear – and it is so to this very day.’
9 And David says, Let their table be made a net for taking them, and a stone in their way, and a punishment:
David, too, says – ‘May their feasts prove a snare and a trap to them – a hindrance and a retribution;
10 Let their eyes be made dark so that they may not see, and let their back be bent down at all times.
may their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see; and do you always make their backs to bend.’
11 So I say, Were their steps made hard in order that they might have a fall? In no way: but by their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, so that they might be moved to envy.
I ask then – ‘Was their stumbling to result in their fall?’ Heaven forbid! On the contrary, through their falling away salvation has reached the Gentiles, to stir the rivalry of Israel.
12 Now, if their fall is the wealth of the world, and their loss the wealth of the Gentiles, how much greater will be the glory when they are made full?
And, if their falling away has enriched the world, and their failure has enriched the Gentiles, how much more will result from their full restoration!
13 But I say to you, Gentiles, in so far as I am the Apostle of the Gentiles, I make much of my position:
But I am speaking to you who were Gentiles.
14 If in any way those who are of my flesh may be moved to envy, so that some of them may get salvation by me.
Being myself an apostle to the Gentiles, I exalt my office, in the hope that I may stir my countrymen to rivalry, and so save some of them.
15 For, if by their putting away, the rest of men have been made friends with God, what will their coming back again be, but life from the dead?
For, if their being cast aside has meant the reconciliation of the world, what will their reception mean, but life from the dead?
16 And if the first-fruit is holy, so is the mass: and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
If the first handful of dough is holy, so is the whole mass, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, an olive-tree of the fields, were put in among them, and were given a part with them in the root by which the olive-tree is made fertile,
Some, however, of the branches were broken off, and you, who were only a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and came to share with them the root which is the source of the richness of the cultivated olive.
18 Do not be uplifted in pride over the branches: because it is not you who are the support of the root, but it is by the root that you are supported.
Yet do not exult over the other branches. But, if you do exult over them, remember that you do not support the root, but that the root supports you.
19 You will say, Branches were broken off so that I might be put in.
But branches, you will say, were broken off, so that I might be grafted in.
20 Truly, because they had no faith they were broken off, and you have your place by reason of your faith. Do not be lifted up in pride, but have fear;
True, it was because of their want of faith that they were broken off, and it is because of your faith that you are standing. Do not think too highly of yourself, but beware.
21 For, if God did not have mercy on the natural branches, he will not have mercy on you.
For, if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
22 See then that God is good but his rules are fixed: to those who were put away he was hard, but to you he has been good, on the condition that you keep in his mercy; if not, you will be cut off as they were.
See, then, both the goodness and the severity of God – his severity towards those who fell, and his goodness towards you, provided that you continue to confide in that goodness; otherwise you, also, will be cut off.
23 And they, if they do not go on without faith, will be united to the tree again, because God is able to put them in again.
And they, too, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God has it in his power to graft them in again.
24 For if you were cut out of a field olive-tree, and against the natural use were united to a good olive-tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be united again with the olive-tree which was theirs?
If you were cut off from your natural stock – a wild olive – and were grafted, contrary to the course of nature, on a good olive, much more will they – the natural branches – be grafted back into their parent tree.
25 For it is my desire, brothers, that this secret may be clear to you, so that you may not have pride in your knowledge, that Israel has been made hard in part, till all the Gentiles have come in;
My friends, so that you don’t think too highly of yourselves, I want you to recognize the truth, hitherto hidden, that the callousness which has come over Israel is only partial, and will continue only until the whole Gentile world has been gathered in.
26 And so all Israel will get salvation: as it is said in the holy Writings, There will come out of Zion the One who makes free; by him wrongdoing will be taken away from Jacob:
And then all Israel will be saved. As scripture says – ‘From Zion will come the Deliverer; he will banish ungodliness from Jacob.
27 And this is my agreement with them, when I will take away their sins.
And they will see the fulfillment of my covenant, when I have taken away their sins.’
28 As far as the good news is in question, they are cut off from God on account of you, but as far as the selection is in question, they are loved on account of the fathers.
From the standpoint of the good news, the Jews are God’s enemies for your sake; but from the standpoint of God’s selection, they are dear to him for the sake of the patriarchs.
29 Because God's selection and his mercies may not be changed.
For God never regrets his gifts or his call.
30 For as you, in time past, were not under the rule of God, but now have got mercy through their turning away,
Just as you at one time were disobedient to him, but have now found mercy in the day of their disobedience;
31 So in the same way these have gone against the orders of God, so that by the mercy given to you they may now get mercy.
so, too, they have now become disobedient in your day of mercy, in order that they also in their turn may now find mercy.
32 For God has let them all go against his orders, so that he might have mercy on them all. (eleēsē g1653)
For God has given all alike over to disobedience, that to all alike he may show mercy. (eleēsē g1653)
33 O how deep is the wealth of the wisdom and knowledge of God! no one is able to make discovery of his decisions, and his ways may not be searched out.
Oh! The unfathomable wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments, how untraceable his ways! Yes –
34 Who has knowledge of the mind of the Lord? or who has taken part in his purposes?
ho has ever comprehended the mind of the Lord? Who has ever become his counsellor?
35 Or who has first given to him, and it will be given back to him again?
Or who has first given to him, so that he may claim a reward?
