Romans 9:25–33

²⁵God says in Hosea,

“I will call those who are not my people ‘my people.’

I will call the one who is not my loved one ‘my loved one.’ ”

²⁶He also says,

“Once it was said to them,

‘You are not my people.’

In that very place they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ ”

²⁷Isaiah cries out concerning Israel. He says,

“The number of people from Israel may be like the sand by the sea.

But only a few of them will be saved.

²⁸The Lord will carry out his sentence.

He will be quick to carry it out on earth, once and for all.”

²⁹Earlier Isaiah had said,

“The Lord who rules over all

left us children and grandchildren.

If he hadn’t, we would have become like Sodom.

We would have been like Gomorrah.”

Israel Does Not Believe

³⁰What should we say then? Those who aren’t Jews did not look for a way to be right with God. But they found it by having faith. ³¹Israel did look for a law that could make them right with God. But they didn’t find it.

³²Why not? Because they didn’t look for it by faith. They tried to get it by working for it. They tripped over the stone that causes people to trip and fall. ³³It is written,

“Look! In Zion I am laying a stone that causes people to trip.

It is a rock that makes them fall.

The one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”