Romans 9
1 I am in Christ, and what I say is true. I'm not lying! My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm
Truth I say in Christ, I do not lie, my conscience bearing testimony with me in the Holy Spirit,
2 how terribly sad I am, how I have never-ending pain in my heart,
that I have great grief and unceasing pain in my heart—
3 for my own people, my brothers and sisters. I would rather be cursed myself, separated from Christ, if that would help them.
for I was wishing, I myself, to be accursed from the Christ—for my brothers, my relatives, according to the flesh,
4 They are my fellow-Israelites, God's chosen people. God revealed to them his glory and made agreements with them, giving them the law, true worship, and his promises.
who are Israelites, whose [is] the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the lawgiving, and the service, and the promises,
5 They are our forefathers—ancestors of Christ, humanly-speaking, the one who rules over everything, the eternally-blessed God. Amen. (aiōn g165)
whose [are] the fathers, and of whom [is] the Christ, according to the flesh, who is God over all, blessed for all ages. Amen. (aiōn g165)
6 It's not that God's promise has failed. For not every Israelite is a true Israelite,
And it is not possible that the word of God has failed; for not all who [are] of Israel are these of Israel;
7 and all those who are descended from Abraham are not his true children. For Scripture says, “Your descendants will be counted through Isaac,”
nor because they are seed of Abraham [are] all children, but, “in Isaac will a seed be called to you”;
8 so it's not Abraham's actual children who are counted as God's children, but only those children of God's promise who are considered his true descendants.
that is, the children of the flesh—these [are] not children of God; but the children of the promise are reckoned for seed;
9 This is what the promise was: “I will return next year and Sarah will have a son.”
for the word of promise [is] this: “According to this time I will come, and there will be to Sarah a son.”
10 In addition Rebecca's twin sons had the same father, our forefather Isaac.
And not only [so], but also Rebecca, having conceived by one—our father Isaac
11 But even before the children were born, and before they'd done anything right or wrong, (so that God's purpose could continue, proving God's calling of people is not based on human performance),
(for they being not yet born, neither having done anything good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to [divine] selection, might remain; not of works, but of Him who is calling),
12 she was told, “The older brother will serve the younger one.”
it was said to her, “The greater will serve the less”;
13 As Scripture says, “I chose Jacob, but rejected Esau.”
according as it has been written: “Jacob I loved, and Esau I hated.”
14 So what should we conclude? That God was unjust? Certainly not!
What, then, will we say? Unrighteousness [is] with God? Let it not be!
15 As he said to Moses, “I will be merciful to whoever I should show mercy, and I will have compassion on whoever I should show compassion.”
For to Moses He says, “I will do kindness to whom I do kindness, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion”;
16 So it does not depend on what we want, or our own efforts, but the merciful nature of God.
so then—not of him who is willing, nor of him who is running, but of God who is doing kindness;
17 Scripture records God saying to Pharaoh: “I put you here for a reason—so that through you I could demonstrate my power, and so that my name could be made known throughout the earth.”
for the Writing says to Pharaoh, “For this very thing I raised you up, that I might show in you My power, and that My Name might be declared in all the land”;
18 So God is merciful to those he wishes to be, and hardens the attitude of those he wants to.
so then, to whom He wills, He does kindness, and to whom He wills, He hardens.
19 Now you'll argue with me and ask, “So why does he still blame us then? Who can resist the will of God?”
You will say, then, to me, “Why does He yet find fault? For who has resisted His counsel?”
20 That's no way to speak, for who are you—a mere mortal—to contradict God? Can something that is created say to its creator, “Why did you make me like this?”
No, but, O man, who are you that are answering again to God? Will the thing formed say to Him who formed [it], Why did you make me thus?
21 Doesn't a potter have the right to use the same batch of clay to make both a decorative bowl and an everyday pot?
Does the potter not have authority over the clay, out of the same lump to make one vessel to honor and one to dishonor?
22 It's as if God, wanting to demonstrate his opposition to sin and to reveal his power, bears patiently with these “pots destined for destruction,”
And if God, willing to show the wrath and to make known His power, endured, in much long suffering, vessels of wrath fitted for destruction,
23 so that he might reveal the greatness of his glory through these “pots of mercy” which he has prepared in advance for glory.
and that He might make known the riches of His glory on vessels of kindness, that He before prepared for glory, whom also He called—us—
24 This is who we are—people he has called, not just from among the Jews, but from among the foreigners too...
not only out of Jews, but also out of nations,
25 As God said in the book of Hosea, “Those who are not my people I will call my people, and those who are not loved I will call the ones I love,”
as also in Hosea He says, “I will call what [is] not My people—My people; and her not beloved—Beloved,
26 and, “It will happen that at the place where they were told, ‘You're not my people,’ there they will be called the children of the living God.”
and it will be—in the place where it was said to them, You [are] not My people; there they will be called sons of the living God.”
27 Isaiah cries out regarding Israel: “Even if the children of Israel have become as numerous as the sands of the sea, only a small number will be saved.
And Isaiah cries concerning Israel, “If the number of the sons of Israel may be as the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved;
28 For the Lord is going to quickly and completely finish his work of judgment on the earth.”
for a matter He is finishing, and is cutting short in righteousness, because a matter cut short will the LORD do on the land.”
29 As Isaiah previously said, “If the Lord Almighty had not left us some descendants, we would have become just like Sodom and Gomorrah.”
And according as Isaiah says before, “Except the LORD of Hosts left to us a seed, we had become as Sodom, and we had been made like Gomorrah.”
30 What shall we conclude, then? That even though the foreigners were not even looking to do right, they did grasp what is right, and through their trust in God did what was morally right.
What, then, will we say? That nations who are not pursuing righteousness attained to righteousness, and righteousness that [is] of faith,
31 But the people of Israel, who looked to the law to make them right with God, never succeeded.
and Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at a law of righteousness;
32 Why not? Because they relied on what they did rather than trusting in God. They tripped on the stumbling-block,
why? Because—not by faith, but as by works of law; for they stumbled at the stone of stumbling,
33 just as Scripture predicted: “Look, I'm placing in Zion a stumbling-block, a rock that will offend people. But those who trust in him won't be disappointed.”
according as it has been written: “Behold, I place in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense; and everyone who is believing thereon will not be ashamed.”
