Parallel Bible results for "romans 9"

Romans 9

New Century Version NCV

1 I am in Christ, and I am telling you the truth; I do not lie. My conscience is ruled by the Holy Spirit, and it tells me I am not lying.

2 I have great sorrow and always feel much sadness.

3 I wish I could help my Jewish brothers and sisters, my people. I would even wish that I were cursed and cut off from Christ if that would help them.

4 They are the people of Israel, God's chosen children. They have seen the glory of God, and they have the agreements that God made between himself and his people. God gave them the law of Moses and the right way of worship and his promises.

5 They are the descendants of our great ancestors, and they are the earthly family into which Christ was born, who is God over all. Praise him forever! Amen.

6 It is not that God failed to keep his promise to them. But only some of the people of Israel are truly God's people,

7 and only some of Abraham'sn descendants are true children of Abraham. But God said to Abraham: "The descendants I promised you will be from Isaac."

8 This means that not all of Abraham's descendants are God's true children. Abraham's true children are those who become God's children because of the promise God made to Abraham.

9 God's promise to Abraham was this: "At the right time I will return, and Sarah will have a son."

10 And that is not all. Rebekah's sons had the same father, our father Isaac.

11

12 But before the two boys were born, God told Rebekah, "The older will serve the younger." This was before the boys had done anything good or bad. God said this so that the one chosen would be chosen because of God's own plan. He was chosen because he was the one God wanted to call, not because of anything he did.

13 As the Scripture says, "I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau."

14 So what should we say about this? Is God unfair? In no way.

15 God said to Moses, "I will show kindness to anyone to whom I want to show kindness, and I will show mercy to anyone to whom I want to show mercy."

16 So God will choose the one to whom he decides to show mercy; his choice does not depend on what people want or try to do.

17 The Scripture says to the king of Egypt: "I made you king for this reason: to show my power in you so that my name will be talked about in all the earth."

18 So God shows mercy where he wants to show mercy, and he makes stubborn the people he wants to make stubborn.

19 So one of you will ask me: "Then why does God blame us for our sins? Who can fight his will?"

20 You are only human, and human beings have no right to question God. An object should not ask the person who made it, "Why did you make me like this?"

21 The potter can make anything he wants to make. He can use the same clay to make one thing for special use and another thing for daily use.

22 It is the same way with God. He wanted to show his anger and to let people see his power. But he patiently stayed with those people he was angry with -- people who were made ready to be destroyed.

23 He waited with patience so that he could make known his rich glory to the people who receive his mercy. He has prepared these people to have his glory,

24 and we are those people whom God called. He called us not from the Jews only but also from those who are not Jews.

25 As the Scripture says in Hosea: "I will say, 'You are my people' to those I had called 'not my people.' And I will show my love to those people I did not love."

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

27 And Isaiah cries out about Israel: "The people of Israel are many, like the grains of sand by the sea. But only a few of them will be saved,

28 because the Lord will quickly and completely punish the people on the earth."

29 It is as Isaiah said: "The Lord All-Powerful allowed a few of our descendants to live. Otherwise we would have been completely destroyed like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah."

30 So what does all this mean? Those who are not Jews were not trying to make themselves right with God, but they were made right with God because of their faith.

31 The people of Israel tried to follow a law to make themselves right with God. But they did not succeed,

32 because they tried to make themselves right by the things they did instead of trusting in God to make them right. They stumbled over the stone that causes people to stumble.

33 As it is written in the Scripture: "I will put in Jerusalem a stone that causes people to stumble, a rock that makes them fall. Anyone who trusts in him will never be disappointed."

New Living Translation NLT

1 With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it.

2 My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief

3 for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them.

4 They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises.

5 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.

6 Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people!

7 Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,” though Abraham had other children, too.

8 This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children.

9 For God had promised, “I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

10 This son was our ancestor Isaac. When he married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins.

11 But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes;

12 he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son.”

13 In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.”

14 Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not!

15 For God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.”

16 So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.

17 For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, “I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth.”

18 So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen.

19 Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?”

20 No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?”

21 When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into?

22 In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction.

23 He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory.

24 And we are among those whom he selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles.

25 Concerning the Gentiles, God says in the prophecy of Hosea, “Those who were not my people, I will now call my people. And I will love those whom I did not love before.”

26 And, “Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”

27 And concerning Israel, Isaiah the prophet cried out, “Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant will be saved.

28 For the LORD will carry out his sentence upon the earth quickly and with finality.”

29 And Isaiah said the same thing in another place: “If the LORD of Heaven’s Armies had not spared a few of our children, we would have been wiped out like Sodom, destroyed like Gomorrah.”

30 What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place.

31 But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded.

32 Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path.

33 God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, “I am placing a stone in Jerusalem that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. But anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”