Romans 9:1–23

Israel’s Rejection of Christ

9I ^atell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, ^2bthat I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. ³For ^cI could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my ¹countrymen according to the flesh, ⁴who are Israelites, ^dto whom pertain the adoption, ^ethe glory, ^fthe covenants, ^gthe giving of the law, ^hthe service of God, and ⁱthe promises; ^5jof whom are the fathers and from ^kwhom, according to the flesh, Christ came, ^lwho is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.

Israel’s Rejection and God’s Purpose

^6mBut it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For ⁿthey are not all Israel who are of Israel, ^7onor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, ^p“In Isaac your seed shall be called.” ⁸That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but ^qthe children of the promise are counted as the seed. ⁹For this is the word of promise: ^r“At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.”

¹⁰And not only this, but when ^sRebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac ¹¹(for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of ^tHim who calls), ¹²it was said to her, ^u“The older shall serve the younger.” ¹³As it is written, ^v“Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”

Israel’s Rejection and God’s Justice

¹⁴What shall we say then? ^wIs there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! ¹⁵For He says to Moses, ^x“I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” ¹⁶So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. ¹⁷For ^ythe Scripture says to the Pharaoh, ^z“For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” ¹⁸Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He ^ahardens.

¹⁹You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For ^bwho has resisted His will?” ²⁰But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? ^cWill the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” ²¹Does not the ^dpotter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make ^eone vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

²²What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering ^fthe vessels of wrath ^gprepared for destruction, ²³and that He might make known ^hthe riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had ⁱprepared beforehand for glory,