Romans 9:1–10:21
9 aI am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For bI could wish that I myself were caccursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers,1 my kinsmen daccording to the flesh. 4 They are eIsraelites, and to them belong fthe adoption, gthe glory, hthe covenants, ithe giving of the law, jthe worship, and kthe promises. 5 To them belong lthe patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, mwho is God over all, nblessed forever. Amen.
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham obecause they are his offspring, but p“Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but qthe children of the promise are counted as offspring. 9 For this is what the promise said: r“About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” 10 And not only so, but salso when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of thim who calls— 12 she was told, u“The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, v“Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
14 What shall we say then? wIs there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, x“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion,2 but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, y“For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For zwho can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, ato answer back to God? bWill what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 cHas the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump done vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience evessels of wrath fprepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known gthe riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he hhas prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he ihas called, jnot from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25 As indeed he says in Hosea,
k“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ ”
26 l“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called m‘sons of the living God.’ ”
27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: n“Though the number of the sons of Israel3 be as the sand of the sea, oonly a remnant of them will be saved, 28 for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” 29 And as Isaiah predicted,
pq“If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,
rwe would have been like Sodom
and become like Gomorrah.”
30 What shall we say, then? sThat Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, ta righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel uwho pursued a law that would lead to righteousness4 vdid not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the wstumbling stone, 33 as it is written,
x“Behold, I am laying in Zion ya stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
zand whoever believes in him will not be aput to shame.”
10 Brothers,1 my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that bthey have a zeal for God, cbut not according to knowledge. 3 For, being ignorant of dthe righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 For eChrist is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.2
The Message of Salvation to All
5 For fMoses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that gthe person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6 But hthe righteousness based on faith says, i“Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the jabyss?’ ” (that is, kto bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? l“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if myou confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and nbelieve in your heart othat God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, p“Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 qFor there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; rfor the same Lord is Lord of all, sbestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For t“everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him uof whom they have never heard?3 And how are they to hear vwithout someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, w“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But xthey have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, y“Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So zfaith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
18 But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for
a“Their voice has gone out bto all the earth,
and their words to the ends of the world.”
19 But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says,
c“I will dmake you jealous of those who are not a nation;
with a efoolish nation I will make you angry.”
20 Then Isaiah is so bold as to say,
f“I have been found by those who did not seek me;
I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.”
21 But of Israel he says, g“All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”