1 I saythen, God has not 1rejected His people, has He? 2May it never be! For 3I tooam an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
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God4has not rejected His peoplewhom He 5foreknew. 6Or do you not knowwhat the Scripturesays in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with GodagainstIsrael?
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"Lord, 7THEY HAVE KILLED YOUR PROPHETS, THEY HAVE TORNDOWN YOUR ALTARS, AND I ALONE AM LEFT, AND THEY ARE SEEKING MY LIFE."
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But what is the divineresponse to him? "8I HAVE KEPT for MyselfSEVENTHOUSANDMENWHO HAVE NOT BOWED THE KNEE TO BAAL."
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In the samewaythen, there has alsocome to be at the presenttime9a remnantaccording to God's graciouschoice.
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But 10if it is by grace, it is nolonger on the basis of works, otherwisegrace is nolongergrace.
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Whatthen? What11Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosenobtained it, and the rest were 12hardened;
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just as it is written, "13GODGAVE THEM A SPIRIT OF STUPOR, EYES TO SEE NOT AND EARS TO HEAR NOT, DOWN TO THISVERYDAY."
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And Davidsays, "14LET THEIR TABLEBECOME A SNARE AND A TRAP, AND A STUMBLINGBLOCK AND A RETRIBUTION TO THEM.
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"15LET THEIR EYES BE DARKENED TO SEE NOT, AND BEND THEIR BACKSFOREVER*."