Romans 9
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- 1I speak the truth in Christ — I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit —
- 2that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
- 3For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my own people by blood —
- 4the people of Israel. To them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.
- 5The patriarchs are theirs, and from them, according to the flesh, came Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.
- 6But it is not as though God's word has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.
- 7And not all of Abraham's descendants are his children. Rather, 'Through Isaac your offspring will be named.'
- 8That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are God's children, but the children of the promise are counted as the true offspring.
- 9For this was the word of promise: 'At the appointed time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.'
- 10And not only that, but also when Rebecca conceived children by one man, our father Isaac —
- 11before the children were born and had done nothing good or bad, so that God's purpose according to his choosing might stand, not because of works but because of him who calls —
- 12she was told, 'The older will serve the younger.'
- 13As it is written, 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'
- 14What shall we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not!
- 15For he says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.'
- 16So then, it does not depend on the one who wills or the one who strives, but on God who shows mercy.
- 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, 'For this very purpose I raised you up, that I might display my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.'
- 18So then, he has mercy on whom he wills, and he hardens whom he wills.
- 19You will say to me then, 'Why does he still find fault? For who has resisted his will?'
- 20But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'
- 21Does not the potter have authority over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
- 22What if God, wanting to show his wrath and make his power known, endured with great patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction —
- 23and did so to make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory —
- 24even us, whom he called, not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles?
- 25As he says in Hosea, 'I will call those who were not my people "my people," and her who was not beloved "beloved."'
- 26'And in the very place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," there they will be called sons of the living God.'
- 27And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, 'Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant will be saved.
- 28For the Lord will carry out his sentence on the earth completely and decisively.'
- 29And as Isaiah said before, 'If the Lord of Hosts had not left us offspring, we would have become like Sodom and been made like Gomorrah.'
- 30What shall we say then? That Gentiles who were not pursuing righteousness obtained righteousness — the righteousness that comes by faith.
- 31But Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, did not attain that law.
- 32Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,
- 33as it is written, 'Look, I am laying in Zion a stone that causes stumbling and a rock that offends, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.'