Romans 11:1–12

Israel’s Rejection Is Not Final

¹¹I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.^{* 2}God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?^{* 3}“Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.” ⁴But what is the divine reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”^{* 5}So, too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. ⁶But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.^p*

⁷What then? Israel has not achieved what it was pursuing. The elect have achieved it, but the rest were hardened,^{* 8}as it is written,

“God gave them a sluggish spirit,

eyes that would not see

and ears that would not hear,

down to this very day.”^*

⁹And David says,

“Let their table become a snare and a trap,

a stumbling block and a retribution for them;^*

¹⁰let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,

and keep their backs forever bent.”

The Salvation of the Gentiles

¹¹So I ask, have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means! But through their stumbling^q salvation has come to the gentiles, so as to make Israel^r jealous.^{* 12}Now if their stumbling^s means riches for the world and if their loss means riches for gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!