Romans 9:1–23

Solicitude for Israel

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

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

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

⁴who 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,

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

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

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

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

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

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

¹¹for 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 because of Him who calls,

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

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

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

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

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

¹⁷For 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.”

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

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

²⁰On 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?

²¹Or 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?

²²¹What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much ^apatience vessels of wrath ^bprepared for destruction?

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