9I am telling the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears witness to me in the Holy Spirit—²that my grief is great and there is constant distress in my heart. ³For I could wish myself to be accursed from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my fellow countrymen according to the flesh, ⁴who are Israelites, to whom belong the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the temple service, and the promises, ⁵to whom belong the patriarchs, and from whom is the Christ according to human descent, who is God over all, blessed forever^a! Amen.

⁶But it is not as if the word of God had failed. For not all those who are descended from Israel are truly Israel, ⁷nor are they all children because they are descendants of Abraham, but “In Isaac will your descendants be named.”^b ⁸That is, it is not the children by human descent^c who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as descendants. ⁹For the statement of the promise is this: “At this time I will return and Sarah will have^d a son.”^e ¹⁰And not only this, but also when^* Rebecca conceived children by one man,^f Isaac our father—¹¹for although they^* had not yet been born, or done anything good or evil, in order that the purpose of God according to election might remain, ¹²not by works but by the one who calls—it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger,”^g ¹³just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”^h

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Footnotes

aLiterally “for eternity”
bA quotation from Gen 21:12
cLiterally “of the flesh”
dLiterally “there will be to Sarah”
eA quotation from Gen 18:10, 14
*Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“having conception” = “conceived”) which is understood as temporal
fOr perhaps “by one act of sexual intercourse”
*Here “although” is supplied as a component of the participle (“been born”) which is understood as concessive
gA quotation from Gen 25:23
hA quotation from Mal 1:2–3