Romans, 9

1. This is the truth and I am speaking in Christ, without pretence, as my conscience testifies for me in the Holy Spirit;

1. I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit,

2. there is great sorrow and unremitting agony in my heart:

2. that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.

3. I could pray that I myself might be accursed and cut off from Christ, if this could benefit the brothers who are my own flesh and blood.

3. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen by race.

4. They are Israelites; it was they who were adopted as children, the glory was theirs and the covenants; to them were given the Law and the worship of God and the promises.

4. They are Israelites, and to them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises;

5. To them belong the fathers and out of them, so far as physical descent is concerned, came Christ who is above all, God, blessed for ever. Amen.

5. to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ. God who is over all be blessed for ever. Amen.

6. It is not that God's promise has failed. Not all born Israelites belong to Israel,

6. But it is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,

7. and not all the descendants of Abraham count as his children, for Isaac is the one through whom your Name will be carried on.

7. and not all are children of Abraham because they are his descendants; but "Through Isaac shall your descendants be named."

8. That is, it is not by being children through physical descent that people become children of God; it is the children of the promise that are counted as the heirs.

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 reckoned as descendants.

9. The actual words of the promise were: I shall come back to you at this season, and Sarah will have a son.

9. For this is what the promise said, "About this time I will return and Sarah shall have a son."

10. Even more to the point is what was said to Rebecca when she was pregnant by our ancestor, Isaac,

10. And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac,

11. before her children were born, so that neither had yet done anything either good or bad, but in order that it should be God's choice which prevailed

11. though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call,

12. -not human merit, but his call -- she was told: the elder one will serve the younger.

12. she was told, "The elder will serve the younger."

13. Or as scripture says elsewhere: I loved Jacob but hated Esau.

13. As it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

14. What should we say, then? That God is unjust? Out of the question!

14. What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means!

15. For speaking to Moses, he said: I am gracious to those to whom I am gracious and I take pity on those on whom I take pity.

15. For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."

16. So it is not a matter of what any person wants or what any person does, but only of God having mercy.

16. So it depends not upon man's will or exertion, but upon God's mercy.

17. Scripture says to Pharaoh: I raised you up for this reason, to display my power in you and to have my name talked of throughout the world.

17. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, "I have raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power in you, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth."

18. In other words, if God wants to show mercy on someone, he does so, and if he wants to harden someone's heart, he does so.

18. So then he has mercy upon whomever he wills, and he hardens the heart of whomever he wills.

19. Then you will ask me, 'How then can he ever blame anyone, since no one can oppose his will?'

19. You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?"

20. But you -- who do you think you, a human being, are, to answer back to God? Something that was made, can it say to its maker: why did you make me this shape?

20. But who are you, a man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me thus?"

21. A potter surely has the right over his clay to make out of the same lump either a pot for special use or one for ordinary use.

21. Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for beauty and another for menial use?

22. But suppose that God, although all the time he wanted to reveal his retribution and demonstrate his power, has with great patience gone on putting up with those who are the instruments of his retribution and designed to be destroyed;

22. What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the vessels of wrath made for destruction,

23. so that he may make known the glorious riches ready for the people who are the instruments of his faithful love and were long ago prepared for that glory.

23. in order to make known the riches of his glory for the vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory,

24. We are that people, called by him not only out of the Jews but out of the gentiles too.

24. even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

25. Just as he says in the book of Hosea: I shall tell those who were not my people, 'You are my people,' and I shall take pity on those on whom I had no pity.

25. As indeed he says in Hose'a, "Those who were not my people I will call `my people,' and her who was not beloved I will call `my beloved.'"

26. And in the very place where they were told, 'You are not my people,' they will be told that they are 'children of the living God'.

26. "And in the very place where it was said to them, `You are not my people,' they will be called `sons of the living God.'"

27. And about Israel, this is what Isaiah cried out: Though the people of Israel are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will be saved;

27. And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved;

28. for without hesitation or delay the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth.

28. for the Lord will execute his sentence upon the earth with rigor and dispatch."

29. As Isaiah foretold: Had the Lord Sabaoth not left us a few survivors, we should be like Sodom, we should be the same as Gomorrah.

29. And as Isaiah predicted, "If the Lord of hosts had not left us children, we would have fared like Sodom and been made like Gomor'rah."

30. What should we say, then? That the gentiles, although they were not looking for saving justice, found it, and this was the saving justice that comes of faith;

30. What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith;

31. while Israel, looking for saving justice by law-keeping, did not succeed in fulfilling the Law.

31. but that Israel who pursued the righteousness which is based on law did not succeed in fulfilling that law.

32. And why? Because they were trying to find it in actions and not in faith, and so they stumbled over the stumbling-stone-

32. Why? Because they did not pursue it through faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,

33. as it says in scripture: Now I am laying in Zion a stumbling-stone, a rock to trip people up; but he who relies on this will not be brought to disgrace.

33. as it is written, "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone that will make men stumble, a rock that will make them fall; and he who believes in him will not be put to shame."