Romans 9:1–13

God and the Jewish People

9I am in Christ, and I am telling you the truth; I do not lie. My conscience is ruled by the Holy Spirit, and it tells me I am not lying. ²I have great sorrow and always feel much sadness. ³I wish I could help my Jewish brothers and sisters, my people. I would even wish that I were cursed and cut off from Christ if that would help them. ⁴They are the people of Israel, God’s chosen children. They have seen the glory of God, and they have the agreements that God made between himself and his people. God gave them the law of Moses and the right way of worship and his promises. ⁵They are the descendants of our great ancestors, and they are the earthly family into which Christ was born, who is God over all. Praise him forever! ⁿ Amen.

⁶It is not that God failed to keep his promise to them. But only some of the people of Israel are truly God’s people, ^{n 7}and only some of Abraham’s ⁿ descendants are true children of Abraham. But God said to Abraham: “The descendants I promised you will be from Isaac.” ^{n 8}This means that not all of Abraham’s descendants are God’s true children. Abraham’s true children are those who become God’s children because of the promise God made to Abraham. ⁹God’s promise to Abraham was this: “At the right time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.” ^{n 10}And that is not all. Rebekah’s sons had the same father, our father Isaac. ^11–12But before the two boys were born, God told Rebekah, “The older will serve the younger.” ⁿ This was before the boys had done anything good or bad. God said this so that the one chosen would be chosen because of God’s own plan. He was chosen because he was the one God wanted to call, not because of anything he did. ¹³As the Scripture says, “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.” ⁿ