Romans 9:1-33 (New International Version)

God's Sovereign Choice

1 I speak the truth in Christ--I am not lying,¹ my conscience confirms² it in the Holy Spirit-- 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself³ were cursed⁴ and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers,⁵ those of my own race,⁶ 4 the people of Israel.⁷ Theirs is the adoption as sons;⁸ theirs the divine glory,⁹ the covenants,¹⁰ the receiving of the law,¹¹ the temple worship¹² and the promises.¹³ 5 Theirs are the patriarchs,¹⁴ and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ,¹⁵ who is God over all,¹⁶ forever praised!^a17 Amen. 6 It is not as though God's word¹⁸ had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.¹⁹ 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."^b20 8 In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children,²¹ but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring.²² 9 For this was how the promise was stated: "At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son."^c23 10 Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac.²⁴ 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad²⁵--in order that God's purpose²⁶ in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls--she was told, "The older will serve the younger."^d27 13 Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."^e28 14 What then shall we say?²⁹ Is God unjust? Not at all!³⁰ 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."^f31 16 It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.³² 17 For the 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."^g33 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.³⁴ 19 One of you will say to me:³⁵ "Then why does God still blame us?³⁶ For who resists his will?"³⁷ 20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God?³⁸ "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it,³⁹ 'Why did you make me like this?' "^h40 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?⁴¹ 22 What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience⁴² the objects of his wrath--prepared for destruction?⁴³ 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory⁴⁴ known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory⁴⁵-- 24 even us, whom he also called,⁴⁶ not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?⁴⁷ 25 As he says in Hosea: "I will call them 'my people' who are not my people; and I will call her 'my loved one' who is not my loved one,"ⁱ⁴⁸ 26 and, "It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.' "^j49 27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,⁵⁰ only the remnant will be saved.⁵¹ 28 For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality."^k52 29 It is just as Isaiah said previously: "Unless the Lord Almighty⁵³ had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah."^l54

Israel's Unbelief

30 What then shall we say?⁵⁵ That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;⁵⁶ 31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness,⁵⁷ has not attained it.⁵⁸ 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone."⁵⁹ 33 As it is written: "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."^m60