Romans 9; Romans 10

Romans 9

1 I speak the truth in Christ-I am not lying; my conscience is testifying to me with the Holy Spirit-

2 that I have intense sorrow and continual anguish in my heart.

3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from the Messiah for the benefit of my brothers, my countrymen by physical descent.

4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, and the promises.

5 The forefathers are theirs, and from them, by physical descent, came the Messiah, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.

7 Neither are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants. On the contrary, in Isaac your seed will be called.

8 That is, it is not the children by physical descent who are God's children, but the children of the promise are considered seed.

9 For this is the statement of the promise: At this time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.

10 And not only that, but also when Rebekah became pregnant by Isaac our forefather

11 (for though they had not been born yet or done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to election might stand,

12 not from works but from the One who calls) she was told: The older will serve the younger.

13 As it is written: Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.

14 What should we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not!

15 For He tells Moses: I will show mercy to whom I show mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.

16 So then it does not depend on human will or effort, but on God who shows mercy.

17 For the Scripture tells Pharaoh: For this reason I raised you up: so that I may display My power in you, and that My name may be proclaimed in all the earth.

18 So then, He shows mercy to whom He wills, and He hardens whom He wills.

19 You will say to me, therefore, "Why then does He still find fault? For who can resist His will?"

20 But who are you-anyone who talks back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, "Why did you make me like this?"

21 Or has the potter no right over His clay, to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor?

22 And what if God, desiring to display His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience objects of wrath ready for destruction?

23 And [what if] He did this to make known the riches of His glory on objects of mercy that He prepared beforehand for glory-

24 on us whom He also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

25 As He also says in Hosea: I will call "Not-My-People," "My-People," and she who is "Unloved," "Beloved."

26 And it will be in the place where they were told, you are not My people, there they will be called sons of the living God.

27 But Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: Though the number of Israel's sons is like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved;

28 for the Lord will execute His sentence completely and decisively on the earth.

29 And just as Isaiah predicted: If the Lord of Hosts had not left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah.

30 What should we say then? Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness-namely the righteousness that comes from faith.

31 But Israel, pursuing the law for righteousness, has not achieved the law.

32 Why is that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.

33 As it is written: Look! I am putting a stone in Zion to stumble over, and a rock to trip over, yet the one who believes on Him will not be put to shame.

Romans 10

1 Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God concerning them is for their salvation!

2 I can testify about them that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

3 Because they disregarded the righteousness from God and attempted to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted to God's righteousness.

4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is from the law: The one who does these things will live by them.

6 But the righteousness that comes from faith speaks like this: Do not say in your heart, "Who will go up to heaven?" that is, to bring Christ down

7 or, "Who will go down into the abyss?" that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.

8 On the contrary, what does it say? The message is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. This is the message of faith that we proclaim:

9 if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

10 With the heart one believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses, resulting in salvation.

11 Now the Scripture says, No one who believes on Him will be put to shame,

12 for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, since the same Lord of all is rich to all who call on Him.

13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

14 But how can they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher?

15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How welcome are the feet of those who announce the gospel of good things!

16 But all did not obey the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message?

17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.

18 But I ask, "Did they not hear?" Yes, they did: Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the inhabited world.

19 But I ask, "Did Israel not understand?" First, Moses said: I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that lacks understanding.

20 And Isaiah says boldly: I was found by those who were not looking for Me; I revealed Myself to those who were not asking for Me.

21 But to Israel he says: All day long I have spread out My hands to a disobedient and defiant people.