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.”

9 And David says,

“aLet their table become a snare and a trap,

And a stumbling block and a retribution to them.

10 “aLet their eyes be darkened to see not,

And bend their backs forever.”

11 aI say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? bMay it never be! But by their transgression csalvation has come to the Gentiles, to dmake them jealous.