Romans 9:1–23

Paul’s Anguish Over Israel

9I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying,ⁿ my conscience confirms^o it through the Holy Spirit—²I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³For I could wish that I myself^p were cursed^q and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people,^r those of my own race,^{s 4}the people of Israel.^t Theirs is the adoption to sonship;^u theirs the divine glory,^v the covenants,^w the receiving of the law,^x the temple worship^y and the promises.^{z 5}Theirs are the patriarchs,^a and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah,^b who is God over all,^c forever praised!^ad Amen.

God’s Sovereign Choice

⁶It is not as though God’s word^e had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.^{f 7}Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”^{bg 8}In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children,^h but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.^{i 9}For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”^cj

¹⁰Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac.^{k 11}Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad^l—in order that God’s purpose^m in election might stand: ¹²not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”^{dn 13}Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”^eo

¹⁴What then shall we say?^p Is God unjust? Not at all!^{q 15}For he says to Moses,

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,

and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”^fr

¹⁶It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.^{s 17}For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”^{gt 18}Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.^u

¹⁹One of you will say to me:^v “Then why does God still blame us?^w For who is able to resist his will?”^{x 20}But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?^y “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,^z ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ”^{ha 21}Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?^b

²²What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience^c the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?^{d 23}What if he did this to make the riches of his glory^e known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory^f—