| 1. | I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie; my conscience joins with the holy Spirit in bearing me witness |
| 2. | that I have great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart. |
| 3. | For I could wish that I myself were accursed and separated from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kin according to the flesh. |
| 4. | They are Israelites; theirs the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; |
| 5. | theirs the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, is the Messiah. God who is over all be blessed forever. Amen. |
| 6. | But it is not that the word of God has failed. For not all who are of Israel are Israel, |
| 7. | nor are they all children of Abraham because they are his descendants; but "It is through Isaac that descendants shall bear your name." |
| 8. | This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as descendants. |
| 9. | For this is the wording of the promise, "About this time I shall return and Sarah will have a son." |
| 10. | And not only that, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one husband, our father Isaac -- |
| 11. | before they had yet been born or had done anything, good or bad, in order that God's elective plan might continue, |
| 12. | not by works but by his call--she was told, "The older shall serve the younger." |
| 13. | As it is written: "I loved Jacob but hated Esau." |
| 14. | What then are we to say? Is there injustice on the part of God? Of course not! |
| 15. | For he says to Moses: "I will show mercy to whom I will, I will take pity on whom I will." |
| 16. | So it depends not upon a person's will or exertion, but upon God, who shows mercy. |
| 17. | For the scripture says to Pharaoh, "This is why I have raised you up, to show my power through you that my name may be proclaimed throughout the earth." |
| 18. | Consequently, he has mercy upon whom he wills, and he hardens whom he wills. |
| 19. | You will say to me then, "Why (then) does he still find fault? For who can oppose his will?" |
| 20. | But who indeed are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Will what is made say to its maker,"Why have you created me so?" |
| 21. | Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for a noble purpose and another for an ignoble one? |
| 22. | What if God, wishing to show his wrath and make known his power, has endured with much patience the vessels of wrath made for destruction? |
| 23. | This was to make known the riches of his glory to the vessels of mercy, which he has prepared previously for glory, |
| 24. | namely, us whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles. |
| 25. | As indeed he says in Hosea: "Those who were not my people I will call 'my people,' and her who was not beloved I will call 'beloved.' |
| 26. | And in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' there they shall be called children of the living God." |
| 27. | And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, "Though the number of the Israelites were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will be saved; |
| 28. | for decisively and quickly will the Lord execute sentence upon the earth." |
| 29. | And as Isaiah predicted: "Unless the Lord of hosts had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom and have been made like Gomorrah." |
| 30. | What then shall we say? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have achieved it, that is, righteousness that comes from faith; |
| 31. | but that Israel, who pursued the law of righteousness, did not attain to that law? |
| 32. | Why not? Because they did it not by faith, but as if it could be done by works. They stumbled over the stone that causes stumbling, |
| 33. | as it is written: "Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion that will make people stumble and a rock that will make them fall, and whoever believes in him shall not be put to shame." |
