Romans 9
1 I am in Christ, and what I say is true. I'm not lying! My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm
I say the truth in Christ, I lye not, (my conscience bearing me witness in the holy Ghost, )
2 how terribly sad I am, how I have never-ending pain in my heart,
that I have great grief and continual sorrow 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 could wish that I myself were made a curse after the manner of Christ, for my brethren, my kindred 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 giving of the law, and the form of divine worship, 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, as to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all God blessed for ever. Amen. (aiōn g165)
6 It's not that God's promise has failed. For not every Israelite is a true Israelite,
Not that the word of God hath failed. For they are not all Israel, who are descended from 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 the seed of Abraham, are they all children of promise: but "in Isaac shall thy seed be called."
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, not the children of the flesh are the children of God, but the children of the promise are accounted for the seed.
9 This is what the promise was: “I will return next year and Sarah will have a son.”
For this is the word of the promise, "According to this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son:"
10 In addition Rebecca's twin sons had the same father, our forefather Isaac.
and not to her only; but Rebecca also being with child by 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),
(when the children were not yet born, nor had done either good or evil, that the purpose of God according to his choice might abide, not on account of works, but of Him that calleth, ) it was said to her, the elder shall serve the younger:
12 she was told, “The older brother will serve the younger one.”
as it is written,
13 As Scripture says, “I chose Jacob, but rejected Esau.”
"I loved Jacob and I hated Esau."
14 So what should we conclude? That God was unjust? Certainly not!
What shall we say then? Is there injustice in God?
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.”
God forbid! For He saith to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."
16 So it does not depend on what we want, or our own efforts, but the merciful nature of God.
So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
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.”
And the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, for this very purpose have I raised thee up, that I may shew forth my power in thee, and that my name may be declared through all the earth.
18 So God is merciful to those he wishes to be, and hardens the attitude of those he wants to.
So then He hath mercy on whom He pleaseth, and whom He will, He hardeneth.
19 Now you'll argue with me and ask, “So why does he still blame us then? Who can resist the will of God?”
Thou wilt say then, Why doth he yet blame us? who hath resisted his will?
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?”
Nay but, O man, who art thou, that disputest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why didst thou 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?
Hath not the potter power over the clay, out of the same mass to make one vessel to honor and another 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 what if God, though resolved to shew his displeasure at last, and to make known his power, yet bore with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to 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 in the vessels of mercy, which He hath prepared for glory?
24 This is who we are—people he has called, not just from among the Jews, but from among the foreigners too...
whom He hath also called, even us, not only of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles.
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 He saith also in Hosea, I will call them my people, who were not my people, and her beloved, who was not 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 in the place where it was said to them, Ye are not my people, there shall they be called the children 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 Esaias crieth out concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant shall be saved.
28 For the Lord is going to quickly and completely finish his work of judgment on the earth.”
For in finishing the account and cutting it short in righteousness, the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.
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 as Esaias said before, "Except the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and we had been made like unto 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 shall we say then? that the Gentiles, who sought not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith;
31 But the people of Israel, who looked to the law to make them right with God, never succeeded.
but Israel, who followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness: why?
32 Why not? Because they relied on what they did rather than trusting in God. They tripped on the stumbling-block,
because they sought it not by faith, but by the works of the law, for they stumbled at that stumbling-stone;
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.”
as it is written, "Behold I lay in Sion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence:" and again, "Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed."
