Romanos 9
1 veritatem dico in Christo non mentior testimonium mihi perhibente conscientia mea in Spiritu Sancto
[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 quoniam tristitia est mihi magna et continuus dolor cordi meo
[I tell you that] I grieve very greatly and deeply [DOU] [about my fellow Israelites].
3 optabam enim ipse ego anathema esse a Christo pro fratribus meis qui sunt cognati mei secundum carnem
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 qui sunt Israhelitae quorum adoptio est filiorum et gloria et testamenta et legislatio et obsequium et promissa
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 quorum patres et ex quibus Christus secundum carnem qui est super omnia Deus benedictus in saecula amen (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 non autem quod exciderit verbum Dei non enim omnes qui ex Israhel hii sunt Israhel
[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 neque quia semen sunt Abrahae omnes filii sed in Isaac vocabitur tibi semen
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 id est non qui filii carnis hii filii Dei sed qui filii sunt promissionis aestimantur in semine
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 promissionis enim verbum hoc est secundum hoc tempus veniam et erit Sarrae filius
[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 non solum autem sed et Rebecca ex uno concubitum habens Isaac patre nostro
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 cum enim nondum nati fuissent aut aliquid egissent bonum aut malum ut secundum electionem propositum Dei maneret
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 non ex operibus sed ex vocante dictum est ei quia maior serviet minori
13 sicut scriptum est Iacob dilexi Esau autem odio habui
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 quid ergo dicemus numquid iniquitas apud Deum absit
[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 Mosi enim dicit miserebor cuius misereor et misericordiam praestabo cuius miserebor
God told Moses, “I will pity and help anyone whom I choose [DOU]!”
16 igitur non volentis neque currentis sed miserentis Dei
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 dicit enim scriptura Pharaoni quia in hoc ipsum excitavi te ut ostendam in te virtutem meam et ut adnuntietur nomen meum in universa terra
[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 ergo cuius vult miseretur et quem vult indurat
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 dicis itaque mihi quid adhuc queritur voluntati enim eius quis resistit
[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 o homo tu quis es qui respondeas Deo numquid dicit figmentum ei qui se finxit quid me fecisti sic
[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 an non habet potestatem figulus luti ex eadem massa facere aliud quidem vas in honorem aliud vero in contumeliam
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 quod si volens Deus ostendere iram et notam facere potentiam suam sustinuit in multa patientia vasa irae aptata in interitum
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 ut ostenderet divitias gloriae suae in vasa misericordiae quae praeparavit in gloriam
[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 quos et vocavit nos non solum ex Iudaeis sed etiam ex gentibus
That means us whom he chose—not only [us] Jews but also non-Jews.
25 sicut in Osee dicit vocabo non plebem meam plebem meam et non misericordiam consecutam misericordiam consecutam
[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 et erit in loco ubi dictum est eis non plebs mea vos ibi vocabuntur filii Dei vivi
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 Esaias autem clamat pro Israhel si fuerit numerus filiorum Israhel tamquam harena maris reliquiae salvae fient
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 verbum enim consummans et brevians in aequitate quia verbum breviatum faciet Dominus super terram
because the Lord will punish completely and speedily the [people who live on] this earth, as he said that he would do.
29 et sicut praedixit Esaias nisi Dominus Sabaoth reliquisset nobis semen sicut Sodoma facti essemus et sicut Gomorra similes fuissemus
[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 quid ergo dicemus quod gentes quae non sectabantur iustitiam adprehenderunt iustitiam iustitiam autem quae ex fide est
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 Israhel vero sectans legem iustitiae in legem iustitiae non pervenit
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 quare quia non ex fide sed quasi ex operibus offenderunt in lapidem offensionis
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 sicut scriptum est ecce pono in Sion lapidem offensionis et petram scandali et omnis qui credit in eum non confundetur
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.
