Parallel Bible results for "Romans 9"

Romans 9

GOD'S WORD Translation GW

1 As a Christian, I'm telling you the truth. I'm not lying. The Holy Spirit, along with my own thoughts, supports me in this.

2 I have deep sorrow and endless heartache.

3 I wish I could be condemned and cut off from Christ for the sake of others who, like me, are Jewish by birth.

4 They are Israelites, God's adopted children. They have the Lord's glory, the pledges, Moses' Teachings, the true worship, and the promises.

5 The Messiah is descended from their ancestors according to his human nature. The Messiah is God over everything, forever blessed. Amen.

6 Now it is not as though God's word has failed. Clearly, not everyone descended from Israel is part of Israel

7 or a descendant of Abraham. However, [as Scripture says,] "Through Isaac your descendants will carry on your name."

8 This means that children born by natural descent [from Abraham] are not necessarily God's children. Instead, children born by the promise are considered Abraham's descendants.

9 For example, this is what the promise said, "I will come back at the right time, and Sarah will have a son."

10 The same thing happened to Rebekah. Rebekah became pregnant by our ancestor Isaac.

11 Before the children had been born or had done anything good or bad, Rebekah was told that the older child would serve the younger one. This was said to Rebekah so that God's plan would remain a matter of his choice,

12 a choice based on God's call and not on anything people do.

13 The Scriptures say, "I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau."

14 What can we say--that God is unfair? That's unthinkable!

15 For example, God said to Moses, "I will be kind to anyone I want to. I will be merciful to anyone I want to."

16 Therefore, God's choice does not depend on a person's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.

17 For example, Scripture says to Pharaoh, "I put you here for this reason: to demonstrate my power through you and to spread my name throughout the earth."

18 Therefore, if God wants to be kind to anyone, he will be. If he wants to make someone stubborn, he will.

19 You may ask me, "Why does God still find fault with anyone? Who can resist whatever God wants to do?"

20 Who do you think you are to talk back to God like that? Can an object that was made say to its maker, "Why did you make me like this?"

21 A potter has the right to do whatever he wants with his clay. He can make something for a special occasion or something for everyday use from the same lump of clay.

22 If God wants to demonstrate his anger and reveal his power, he can do it. But can't he be extremely patient with people who are objects of his anger because they are headed for destruction?

23 Can't God also reveal the riches of his glory to people who are objects of his mercy and who he had already prepared for glory?

24 This is what God did for us whom he called--whether we are Jews or not.

25 As God says in Hosea: "Those who are not my people I will call my people. Those who are not loved I will call my loved ones.

26 Wherever they were told, 'You are not my people,' they will be called children of the living God."

27 Isaiah also says about Israel: "Although the descendants of Israel are as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore, only a few will be saved.

28 The Lord will carry out his sentence on the land, completely and decisively."

29 This is what Isaiah predicted: "If the Lord of Armies hadn't left us some descendants, we would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah."

30 So what can we say? We can say that non-Jewish people who were not trying to gain God's approval won his approval, an approval based on faith.

31 The people of Israel tried to gain God's approval by obeying Moses' Teachings, but they did not reach their goal.

32 Why? They didn't rely on faith to gain God's approval, but they relied on their own efforts. They stumbled over the rock that trips people.

33 As Scripture says, "I am placing a rock in Zion that people trip over, a large rock that people find offensive. Whoever believes in him will not be ashamed."

New International Version NIV

1 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit—

2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.

3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race,

4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.

5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

6 It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.

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.”

8 In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.

9 For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”

10 Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac.

11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand:

12 not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”

13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!

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.”

16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

17 For 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.”

18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?”

20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ”

21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?

22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?

23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—

24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

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,”

26 and, “In the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ ”

27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.

28 For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”

29 It is just as Isaiah said previously: “Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.”

30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;

31 but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal.

32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.

33 As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”