^11:11I ask then, they did not stumble into an irrevocable fall,⁸ did they? Absolutely not! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel⁹ jealous. ^11:12Now if their transgression means riches for the world and their defeat means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full restoration¹⁰ bring?

^11:13Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Seeing that I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, ^11:14if somehow I could provoke my people to jealousy and save some of them. ^11:15For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? ^11:16If the first portion¹¹ of the dough offered is holy, then the whole batch is holy, and if the root is holy, so too are the branches.¹²

^11:17Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and participated in¹³ the richness of the olive root, ^11:18do not boast over the branches. But if you boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. ^11:19Then you will say, “The branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” ^11:20Granted!¹⁴ They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear! ^11:21For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare you. ^11:22Notice therefore the kindness and harshness of God—harshness toward those who have fallen, but¹⁵ God’s kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness;¹⁶ otherwise you also will be cut off. ^11:23And even they—if they do not continue in their unbelief—will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. ^11:24For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree?

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Footnotes

8 Grk “that they might fall.”
9 Grk “them”; the referent (Israel, cf. 11:7) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10 Or “full inclusion”; Grk “their fullness.”
11 Grk “firstfruits,” a term for the first part of something that has been set aside and offered to God before the remainder can be used.
12 Most interpreters see Paul as making use of a long-standing metaphor of the olive tree (the root … the branches) as a symbol for Israel. See, in this regard, Jer 11:16, 19. A. T. Hanson, Studies in Paul’s Technique and Theology, 121–24, cites rabbinic use of the figure of the olive tree, and goes so far as to argue that Rom 11:17–24 is a midrash on Jer 11:16–19.
13 Grk “became a participant of.”
14 Grk “well!“, an adverb used to affirm a statement. It means “very well,” “you are correct.”
15 Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.
16 Grk “if you continue in (the) kindness.”