Chapter 9

Solicitude for Israel

1 aI am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit,

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

3 For aI could 1wish that I myself were baccursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen caccording to the flesh,

4 who are aIsraelites, to whom belongs bthe adoption as sons, and cthe glory and dthe covenants and ethe giving of the Law and fthe temple service and gthe promises,

5 whose are athe fathers, and bfrom whom is 1the Christ according to the flesh, cwho is over all, dGod eblessed 2forever. Amen.

6 But it is not as though athe word of God has failed. bFor they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel;

7 nor are they all children abecause they are Abraham’s 1descendants, but: “2bthrough Isaac your 1descendants will be named.”

8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are achildren of God, but the bchildren of the promise are regarded as 1descendants.

9 For this is the word of promise: “aAt this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.”

10 aAnd not only this, but there was bRebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac;

11 for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that aGod’s purpose according to His choice would 1stand, not 2because of works but 2because of Him who calls,

12 it was said to her, “aThe older will serve the younger.”

13 Just as it is written, “aJacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

14 aWhat shall we say then? bThere is no injustice with God, is there? cMay it never be!

15 For He says to Moses, “aI will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who aruns, but on bGod who has mercy.

17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “aFor this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed 1throughout the whole earth.”

18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He ahardens whom He desires.

19 aYou will say to me then, “bWhy does He still find fault? For cwho resists His will?”

20 On the contrary, who are you, aO man, who banswers back to God? cThe thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it?

21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel 1for honorable use and another 2for common use?

22 1What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much apatience vessels of wrath bprepared for destruction?

23 And He did so to make known athe riches of His glory upon bvessels of mercy, which He cprepared beforehand for glory,

24 even us, whom He also acalled, bnot from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

25 As He says also in Hosea,

“aI will call those who were not My people, ‘My people,’

And her who was not beloved, ‘beloved.’ ”

26 “aAnd it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘you are not My people,’

There they shall be called sons of bthe living God.”

27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “aThough the number of the sons of Israel be blike the sand of the sea, it is cthe remnant that will be saved;

28 afor the Lord will execute His word on the earth, 1thoroughly and 2quickly.”

29 And just as Isaiah foretold,

“aUnless bthe Lord of 1Sabaoth had left to us a 2posterity,

cWe would have become like Sodom, and would have 3resembled Gomorrah.”

30 aWhat shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even bthe righteousness which is 1by faith;

31 but Israel, apursuing a law of righteousness, did not barrive at that law.

32 Why? Because they did not pursue it 1by faith, but as though it were 1by works. They stumbled over athe stumbling stone,

33 just as it is written,

“aBehold, I lay in Zion ba stone of stumbling and a rock of offense,

cAnd he who believes in Him dwill not be 1disappointed.”

Chapter 10

1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.

2 For I testify about them that they have aa zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.

3 For not knowing about aGod’s righteousness and bseeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

4 For aChrist is the 1end of the law for righteousness to beveryone who believes.

5 For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is 1based on law ashall live 2by that righteousness.

6 But athe righteousness 1based on faith speaks as follows: “bDo not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down),

7 or ‘Who will descend into the aabyss?’ (that is, to bbring Christ up from the dead).”

8 But what does it say? “aThe word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,

9 1that aif you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and bbelieve in your heart that cGod raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;

10 for with the heart a person believes, 1resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, 2resulting in salvation.

11 For the Scripture says, “aWhoever believes in Him will not be 1disappointed.”

12 For athere is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is bLord of call, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;

13 for “aWhoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him awhom they have not heard? And how will they hear without ba preacher?

15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “aHow beautiful are the feet of those who 1bbring good news of good things!”

16 However, they adid not all heed the 1good news; for Isaiah says, “bLord, who has believed our report?”

17 So faith comes from ahearing, and hearing by bthe word 1of Christ.

18 But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have;

“aTheir voice has gone out into all the earth,

And their words to the ends of the 1world.”

19 But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? First Moses says,

“aI will bmake you jealous by that which is not a nation,

By a nation without understanding will I anger you.”

20 And Isaiah is very bold and says,

“aI was found by those who did not seek Me,

I became manifest to those who did not ask for Me.”

21 But as for Israel He says, “aAll the day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”