Romans 9
1 I am speaking the truth as one in union with Christ; it is no lie; and my conscience, enlightened by the Holy Spirit,
我与基督同在，我所说为真相！我的良心和圣灵可以证明
2 bears me out when I say that there is a great weight of sorrow upon me and that my heart is never free from pain.
我心中的彻骨悲伤，证明我心中从未终结的痛苦，
3 I could wish that I were myself accursed and severed from the Christ, for the sake of my Brothers — my own countrymen.
这苦痛是为了与我相同之人，我的兄弟姐妹。只要能够帮助他们，我宁愿自己被诅咒，宁愿与基督分离。
4 For they are Israelites, and theirs are the adoption as Sons, the visible Presence, the Covenants, the revealed Law, the Temple worship, and the Promises.
他们就是我的以色列同胞，是上帝所选之人。上帝向他们彰显其荣耀，认可接纳他们，赐予他们律法、真正的敬拜和上帝的承诺。
5 They are descended from the Patriarchs; and, as far as his human nature was concerned, from them came the Christ — he who is supreme over all things, God for ever blessed. Amen. (aiōn g165)
他们就是我们的祖先，从人类角度来说就是基督的祖先，是掌管一切、永远受祝福的上帝。阿门。 (aiōn g165)
6 Not that God’s Word has failed. For it is not all who are descended from Israel who are true Israelites;
上帝的承诺并未落空。因为并非每一位以色列人都是真正的以色列人，
7 nor, because they are Abraham’s descendants, are they all his Children; but — ‘It is Isaac’s children who will be called thy descendants.’
并且所有亚伯拉罕的后裔都是他真正的孩子。正如经文所说：“以撒所生才算作你的后裔。”
8 This means that it is not the children born in the course of nature who are God’s Children, but it is the children born in fulfilment of the Promise who are to be regarded as Abraham’s descendants.
所以并非亚伯拉罕的血缘之子即可被视为上帝之子，只有获得上帝承诺方为他的真正后裔。
9 For these words are the words of a promise — ‘About this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.’
上帝如此承诺：“明年我会回归，撒拉必生一子。”
10 Nor is that all. There is also the case of Rebecca, when she was about to bear children to our ancestor Isaac.
不仅如此，我们的祖先以撒也是利百加双胞胎儿子的父亲。
11 For in order that the purpose of God, working through selection, might not fail — a selection depending, not on obedience, but on his Call — Rebecca was told, before her children were born and before they had done anything either right or wrong,
但就在双胞胎出生之前，在他们做出任何正义或错误行为之前，（这样上帝的旨意才能延续，证明上帝并非根据人的行为而对其进行召唤）
12 that ‘the elder would be a servant to the younger.’
她就已被告知，“哥哥将会为弟弟服务。”
13 The words of Scripture are — ‘I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.’
正如经文所记：“我选择雅各，放弃以扫。”
14 What are we to say, then? Is God guilty of injustice? Heaven forbid!
那么我们应该得出怎样的结论？上帝不公？当然不是！
15 For his words to Moses are — ‘I will take pity on whom I take pity, and be merciful to whom I am merciful.’
正如上帝对摩西所说：“我应该向谁施以怜悯，我应该向谁施以慈悲，由我决定。”
16 So, then, all depends, not on human wishes or human efforts, but on God’s mercy.
因此，这并不取决于我们想要什么，也不取决于我们自身的努力，而是取决于上帝的慈悲本性。
17 In Scripture, again, it is said to Pharaoh — ‘It was for this very purpose that I raised thee to the throne, to show my power by my dealings with thee, and to make my name known throughout the world.’
经文中记载上帝对法老说：“我将你置于这个地位自有原因，我通过你彰显我的力量，让我的名字传遍世界。”
18 So, then, where God wills, he takes pity, and where he wills, he hardens the heart.
所以，上帝以怜悯或强硬的态度对待谁，都是他想要这么做。
19 Perhaps you will say to me — ‘How can any one still be blamed? For who withstands his purpose?’
你们可能会争辩：“那他为什么还要责怪我们？谁能抗拒上帝的旨意？”
20 I might rather ask ‘Who are you who are arguing with God?’ Does a thing which a man has moulded say to him who has moulded it ‘Why did you make me like this?’
不能这么说，你又是谁？一介凡人而已，怎能反驳上帝？被创造的万物怎能对造物主说：“你为什么将我造成这个样子？”
21 Has not the potter absolute power over his clay, so that out of the same lump he makes one thing for better, and another for common, use?
陶艺家用同一批粘土制作漂亮的碗和常用的锅，他难道没有权利使用吗？
22 And what if God, intending to reveal his displeasure and make his power known, bore most patiently with the objects of his displeasure, though they were fit only to be destroyed,
好比上帝要表明他反对罪恶，彰显他的能力，容忍这些“注定毁灭之罐”，
23 so as to make known his surpassing glory in dealing with the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared beforehand for glory,
这样才能通过这些“怜悯之罐”彰显他的伟大荣耀，提前为荣耀做好准备。
24 and whom he called — even us — Not only from among the Jews but from among the Gentiles also!
这就是我们——他所召唤之人，不仅来自犹太人，也来自外族人……
25 This, indeed, is what he says in the Book of Hosea — ‘I will call those my People who were not my People, and her my beloved who was not beloved.
上帝在《何西阿书》中说道：“他们并非我的子民，但我会称其为我的子民，他们并非蒙我所爱，我要称其为蒙我所爱。”
26 And in the very place where it was said to them — “Ye are not my People”, they shall be called Sons of the Living God.’
并且，“如果他们在身处之地被告知：‘你们并非我的子民，’就是在那里，他们将被称为永生上帝之子。”
27 And Isaiah cries aloud over Israel — ‘Though the Sons of Israel are like the sand of the sea in number, only a remnant of them shall escape!
以赛亚向以色列人呼喊：“尽管以色列子孙多如海沙，但得救者却只有少数。
28 For the Lord will execute his sentence upon the world, fully and without delay.’
因为主将快速而彻底地完成他在人世的审判。”
29 It is as Isaiah foretold — ‘Had not the Lord of Hosts spared some few of our race to us, we should have become like Sodom and been made to resemble Gomorrah.’
正如以赛亚之前所说：“如果至高之主未给我们留下后裔，我们的结局就和所多玛和蛾摩拉别无二致。”
30 What are we to say, then? Why, that Gentiles, who were not in search of righteousness, secured it — a righteousness which was the result of faith;
那么我们应该得出怎样的结论？外族人可能从未想过要正义行事，但却深知何为正义，然后通过他们对上帝的信任，做出道德正确之事。
31 while Israel, which was in search of a Law which would ensure righteousness, failed to discover one.
但以色列人却盯着律法行上帝之正义，却从未成功。
32 And why? Because they looked to obedience, and not to faith, to secure it. They stumbled over ‘the Stumbling-block.’
为什么？因为他们只根据行为决定正义，而不是通过相信上帝。他们就像被绊脚石绊倒，
33 As Scripture says — ‘See, I place a Stumbling-block in Zion — a Rock which shall prove a hindrance; and he who believes in him shall have no cause for shame.’
正如经文所预言：“看，我在锡安放了一块绊脚石，一块会绊倒世人的磐石。但相信他的人绝不会失望。”
