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Common English Bible CEB
1 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit—
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I'm speaking the truth in Christ—I'm not lying, as my conscience assures me with the Holy Spirit:
2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
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I have great sadness and constant pain 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,
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I wish I could be cursed, cut off from Christ if it helped my brothers and sisters, who are my flesh-and-blood relatives.
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.
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They are Israelites. The adoption as God's children, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the worship, and the promises belong to them.
5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.
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The Jewish ancestors are theirs, and the Christ descended from those ancestors. He is the one who rules over all things, who is God, and who is blessed forever. Amen.
6 It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
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But it's not as though God's word has failed. Not all who are descended from Israel are part of 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.”
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Not all of Abraham's children are called Abraham's descendants, but instead your descendants will be named through Isaac.
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.
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That means it isn't the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children from the promise who are counted as descendants.
9 For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”
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The words in the promise were: A year from now 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.
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Not only that, but also Rebecca conceived children with one man, our ancestor 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:
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When they hadn't been born yet and when they hadn't yet done anything good or bad, it was shown that God's purpose would continue because it was based on his choice.
12 not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”
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It wasn't because of what was done but because of God's call. This was said to her: The older child will be a slave to the younger one.
13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
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As it is written, I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.
14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!
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So what are we going to say? Isn't this unfair on God's part? Absolutely not!
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.”
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He says to Moses, I'll have mercy on whomever I choose to have mercy, and I'll show compassion to whomever I choose to show compassion.
16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
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So then, it doesn't depend on a person's desire or effort. It depends entirely on God, who shows 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.”
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Scripture says to Pharaoh, I have put you in this position for this very thing: so I can show my power in you and so that my name can be spread through the entire earth.
18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
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So then, God has mercy on whomever he wants to, but he makes resistant whomever he wants to.
19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?”
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So you are going to say to me, "Then why does he still blame people? Who has ever resisted 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?’ ”
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You are only a human being. Who do you think you are to talk back to God? Does the clay say to the potter, "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?
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Doesn't the potter have the power over the clay to make one pot for special purposes and another for garbage from the same lump of clay?
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?
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What if God very patiently puts up with pots made for wrath that were designed for destruction, because he wanted to show his wrath and to make his power known?
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—
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What if he did this to make the wealth of his glory known toward pots made for mercy, which he prepared in advance for glory?
24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
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We are the ones God has called. We don't come only from the Jews but we also come 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,”
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As it says also in Hosea, I will call “my people” those who aren't my people, and the one who isn't well loved, I will call “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.’ ”
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And in the place where it was said to them, "You aren't my people," there they will be called "the living God's children."
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.
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But Isaiah cries out for Israel, Though the number of Israel's children will be like the sand of the sea, only a remaining part will be saved,
28 For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”
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because the Lord does what he says completely and quickly.
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.”
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As Isaiah prophesied, If the Lord of the heavenly forces had not left descendants for us, we would have been like Sodom, and we would have become 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;
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So what are we going to say? Gentiles who weren't striving for righteousness achieved righteousness, the righteousness that comes from faith.
31 but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal.
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But though Israel was striving for a Law of righteousness, they didn't arrive.
32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.
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Why? It's because they didn't go for it by faith but they went for it as if it could be reached by doing something. They have tripped over a stumbling block.
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.”
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As it is written: Look! I'm putting a stumbling block in Zion, which is a rock that offends people. And the one who has faith in him will not be put to shame.
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Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible