1 I say the trueth in Christ, I lye not, my conscience bearing mee witnes in the holy Ghost, 2 That I haue great heauinesse, and continuall sorow in mine heart. 3 For I woulde wish my selfe to be separate from Christ, for my brethren that are my kinsemen according to the flesh, 4 Which are the Israelites, to whome perteineth the adoption, and the glory, and the Couenants, and the giuing of the Lawe, and the seruice of God, and the promises. 5 Of whome are the fathers, and of whome concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is God ouer all, blessed for euer, Amen. 6 Notwithstanding it can not bee that the worde of God should take none effect: for all they are not Israel, which are of Israel: 7 Neither are they all children, because they are the seede of Abraham: but, In Isaac shall thy seede be called: 8 That is, they which are the children of the flesh, are not the children of God: but the children of the promise, are counted for the seede. 9 For this is a worde of promise, In this same time wil I come, and Sara shall haue a sonne. 10 Neither he onely felt this, but also Rebecca when shee had conceiued by one, euen by our father Isaac. 11 For yer the children were borne, and when they had neither done good, nor euill (that the purpose of God might remaine according to election, not by workes, but by him that calleth) 12 It was said vnto her, The elder shall serue the yonger. 13 As it is written, I haue loued Iacob, and haue hated Esau. 14 What shall wee say then? Is there vnrighteousnes with God? God forbid. 15 For he saith to Moses, I wil haue mercy on him, to whom I wil shew mercie: and wil haue compassion on him, on who I wil haue copassion. 16 So then it is not in him that willeth, nor in him that runneth, but in God that sheweth mercy. 17 For the Scripture saith vnto Pharao, For this same purpose haue I stirred thee vp, that I might shewe my power in thee, and that my Name might be declared throughout al the earth. 18 Therefore he hath mercie on whome he will, and whom he will, he hardeneth. 19 Thou wilt say then vnto me, Why doeth he yet complaine? for who hath resisted his will? 20 But, O man, who art thou which pleadest against God? shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 21 Hath not the potter power of the clay to make of the same lumpe one vessell to honour, and another vnto dishonour? 22 What and if God would, to shewe his wrath, and to make his power knowen, suffer with long patience the vessels of wrath, prepared to destruction? 23 And that hee might declare the riches of his glory vpon the vessels of mercy, which hee hath prepared vnto glory? 24 Euen vs whome hee hath called, not of of the Iewes onely, but also of the Gentiles, 25 As he sayth also in Osee, I will call them, My people, which were not my people: and her, Beloued, which was not beloued. 26 And it shalbe in the place where it was said vnto them, Ye are not my people, that there they shalbe called, The children of the liuing God. 27 Also Esaias cryeth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel were as the sand of the sea, yet shall but a remnant be saued. 28 For he wil make his account, and gather it into a short summe with righteousnes: for the Lord will make a short count in the earth. 29 And as Esaias sayde before, Except the Lord of hostes had left vs a seede, we had bene made as Sodom, and had bene like to Gomorrha. 30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles which folowed not righteousnes, haue attained vnto righteousnes, euen the righteousnes which is of faith. 31 But Israel which followed the Lawe of righteousnes, could not arteine vnto the Law of righteousnes. 32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the workes of the Lawe: for they haue stumbled at the stumbling stone, 33 As it is written, Beholde, I lay in Sion a stumbling stone, and a rocke to make men fall: and euery one that beleeueth in him, shall not be ashamed.
God and His People
1 I am speaking the truth; I belong to Christ and I do not lie. My conscience, ruled by the Holy Spirit, also assures me that I am not lying 2 when I say how great is my sorrow, how endless the pain in my heart 3 for my people, my own flesh and blood! For their sake I could wish that I myself were under God's curse and separated from Christ. 4 They are God's people; he made them his children and revealed his glory to them; he made his covenants with them and gave them the Law; they have the true worship; they have received God's promises; 5 they are descended from the famous Hebrew ancestors; and Christ, as a human being, belongs to their race. May God, who rules over all, be praised forever! Amen.
6 I am not saying that the promise of God has failed; for not all the people of Israel are the people of God. 7 Nor are all of Abraham's descendants the children of God. God said to Abraham, “It is through Isaac that you will have the descendants I promised you.” 8 This means that the children born in the usual way are not the children of God; instead, the children born as a result of God's promise are regarded as the true descendants. 9 For God's promise was made in these words: “At the right time I will come back, and Sarah will have a son.”
10 And this is not all. For Rebecca's two sons had the same father, our ancestor Isaac. 11-12 But in order that the choice of one son might be completely the result of God's own purpose, God said to her, “The older will serve the younger.” He said this before they were born, before they had done anything either good or bad; so God's choice was based on his call, and not on anything they had done. 13 As the scripture says, “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.”
14 Shall we say, then, that God is unjust? Not at all. 15 For he said to Moses, “I will have mercy on anyone I wish; I will take pity on anyone I wish.” 16 So then, everything depends, not on what we humans want or do, but only on God's mercy. 17 For the scripture says to the king of Egypt, “I made you king in order to use you to show my power and to spread my fame over the whole world.” 18 So then, God has mercy on anyone he wishes, and he makes stubborn anyone he wishes.
God's Anger and Mercy
19 But one of you will say to me, “If this is so, how can God find fault with anyone? Who can resist God's will?” 20 But who are you, my friend, to talk back to God? A clay pot does not ask the man who made it, “Why did you make me like this?” 21 After all, the man who makes the pots has the right to use the clay as he wishes, and to make two pots from the same lump of clay, one for special occasions and the other for ordinary use.
22 And the same is true of what God has done. He wanted to show his anger and to make his power known. But he was very patient in enduring those who were the objects of his anger, who were doomed to destruction. 23 And he also wanted to reveal his abundant glory, which was poured out on us who are the objects of his mercy, those of us whom he has prepared to receive his glory. 24 For we are the people he called, not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles. 25 This is what he says in the book of Hosea:
“The people who were not mine
I will call ‘My People.’
The nation that I did not love
I will call ‘My Beloved.’
26 And in the very place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called the children of the living God.”
27 And Isaiah exclaims about Israel: “Even if the people of Israel are as many as the grains of sand by the sea, yet only a few of them will be saved; 28 for the Lord will quickly settle his full account with the world.” 29 It is as Isaiah had said before, “If the Lord Almighty had not left us some descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.”
Israel and the Gospel
30 So we say that the Gentiles, who were not trying to put themselves right with God, were put right with him through faith; 31 while God's people, who were seeking a law that would put them right with God, did not find it. 32 And why not? Because they did not depend on faith but on what they did. And so they stumbled over the “stumbling stone” 33 that the scripture speaks of:
“Look, I place in Zion a stone
that will make people stumble,
a rock that will make them fall.
But whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.”