Israel Is Not Cast Away

1 I say then, God has not arejected His people, has He? bMay it never be! For cI too am an Israelite, 1a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

2 God ahas not rejected His people whom He bforeknew. cOr do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?

3 “Lord, athey have killed Your prophets, they have torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.”

4 But what 1is the divine response to him? “aI have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

5 In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time aa remnant according to God’s 1gracious choice.

6 But aif it is by grace, it is no longer 1on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.

7 What then? What aIsrael is seeking, it has not obtained, but 1those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were bhardened;

8 just as it is written,

“aGod gave them a spirit of stupor,

Eyes to see not and ears to hear not,

Down to this very day.”