1 I speak the truth in Christ  * 9:1 Rm 1:9; 2Co 11:10; Gl 1:20; 1Tm 2:7  — I am not lying; my conscience testifies to me through the Holy Spirit  * 9:1 Or testifying with me by the Holy Spirit  —  2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish  * 9:3 Ex 32:32 that I myself were cursed  * 9:3 1Co 12:3; 16:22; Gl 1:8,9 and cut off  * 9:3 Lit to be anathema from Christ for the benefit of my brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood. 4 They are Israelites,  * 9:4 Rm 8:6 and to them belong the adoption,  * 9:4 Ex 4:22; Rm 8:15 the glory,  * 9:4 Ex 40:34; 1Kg 8:11; Ezk 1:28; Heb 9:5 the covenants,  * 9:4 Gn 17:2; Dt 29:14; Lk 1:72; Ac 3:25; Eph 2:12 the giving of the law,  * 9:4 Dt 4:13–14; Ps 147:19 the temple service,  * 9:4 Dt 7:6; 14:1; Heb 9:1,6 and the promises.  * 9:4 Ac 2:39; 13:32; Eph 2:125 The ancestors are theirs,  * 9:5 Ac 3:13; Rm 11:28 and from them, by physical descent,  * 9:5 Lit them, according to the flesh came the Christ,  * 9:5 Mt 1:1–16; Rm 1:3 who is God  * 9:5 Jn 1:1; Col 2:9 over all,  * 9:5 Col 1:16–19 praised forever.  * 9:5 Or the Messiah, the one who is over all, the God who is blessed forever, or Messiah. God, who is over all, be blessed forever,* 9:5 Rm 1:25 Amen.

6 Now it is not as though the word of God has failed,  * 9:6 Nm 23:19 because not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.  * 9:6 Jn 1:47; Rm 2:28–29; Gl 6:167 Neither is it the case that all of Abraham’s children are his descendants.  * 9:7 Lit seed,* 9:7 Jn 8:33,39; Gl 4:23 On the contrary, your offspring will be traced* 9:7 Lit calledthrough Isaac.* 9:7 Gn 21:12,* 9:7 Gn 21:12; Heb 11:188 That is, it is not the children by physical descent  * 9:8 Lit children of the flesh who are God’s children,  * 9:8 Rm 8:14 but the children of the promise  * 9:8 Rm 4:13,16; Gl 3:29; 4:28; Heb 11:11 are considered to be the offspring. 9 For this is the statement of the promise: At this time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.* 9:9 Gn 18:10,14,* 9:9 Gn 18:10,1410 And not only that,  * 9:10 Rm 5:3 but Rebekah conceived children  * 9:10 Gn 25:21 through one man, our father Isaac. 11 For though her sons had not been born yet or done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to election might stand  * 9:11 Rm 4:17; 8:28  — 12 not from works but from the one who calls — she was told, The older will serve the younger.* 9:12 Gn 25:23,* 9:12 Gn 25:2313 As it is written: I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.* 9:13 Mal 1:2–3,* 9:13 Mal 1:2–3

14 What should we say then?  * 9:14 Rm 3:5 Is there injustice with God?  * 9:14 2Ch 19:7; Rm 2:11 Absolutely not!  * 9:14 Lk 20:1615 For he tells Moses, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.* 9:15 Ex 33:19,* 9:15 Ex 33:1916 So then, it does not depend on human will or effort  * 9:16 Gl 2:2 but on God who shows mercy.  * 9:16 Eph 2:817 For the Scripture tells Pharaoh, I raised you up for this reason so that I may display my power in you and that my name may be proclaimed in the whole earth.* 9:17 Ex 9:16,* 9:17 Ex 9:1618 So then, he has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and he hardens whom he wants to harden.  * 9:18 Ex 4:21; 7:3; 9:12; 10:20,27; 11:10; 14:4,7; Dt 2:30; Jos 11:20; Jn 12:40; Rm 11:7,25

19 You will say to me,  * 9:19 Rm 11:19; 1Co 15:25; Jms 2:18 therefore, "Why then does he still find fault?  * 9:19 Rm 3:7 For who resists his will? "  * 9:19 2Ch 20:6; Jb 9:12; Dn 4:3520 On the contrary, who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?  * 9:20 Jb 33:13 Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, "Why did you make me like this? "  * 9:20 Is 29:16; 45:9; 64:8; Jr 18:6; 2Tm 2:2021 Or has the potter no right over the clay,  * 9:21 Is 64:8; Jr 18:6 to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor? 22 And what if God, wanting to display his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience  * 9:22 Rm 2:4 objects of wrath prepared for destruction?  * 9:22 Pr 16:4; 1Pt 2:823 And what if he did this to make known the riches of his glory  * 9:23 Rm 2:4; Eph 3:16 on objects of mercy  * 9:23 Ac 9:15 that he prepared beforehand for glory  * 9:23 Rm 8:29  —  24 on us, the ones he also called,  * 9:24 Rm 8:28 not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?  * 9:24 Rm 3:2925 As it  * 9:25 Or he also says in Hosea,

I will call Not My People, My People,

and she who is Unloved, Beloved.* 9:25 Hs 2:23,* 9:25 Hs 2:23; 1Pt 2:10

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.* 9:26 Hs 1:10,* 9:26 Hs 1:10; Mt 16:16

27 But Isaiah cries out concerning Israel,

Though the number of Israelites

is like the sand of the sea,* 9:27 Gn 22:17

only the remnant will be saved;* 9:27 Rm 11:5

28 since the Lord will execute his sentence

completely and decisively on the earth.* 9:28 Or land,* 9:27–28 Is 10:22–23; 28:22; Hs 1:10,* 9:27–28 Is 10:22–23; 28:22

29 And just as Isaiah predicted:

If the Lord of Armies had not left us offspring,* 9:29 Jms 5:4

we would have become like Sodom,

and we would have been made like Gomorrah.* 9:29 Is 1:9,* 9:29 Dt 29:23; Is 1:9; 13:19; Jr 49:18; 50:40; Am 4:11

30 What should we say then?  * 9:30 Rm 9:14 Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness — namely the righteousness that comes from faith.  * 9:30 Rm 1:17; 3:21; 10:6; Gl 2:16; 3:24; Php 3:9; Heb 11:731 But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness,  * 9:31 Is 51:1; Rm 10:2,20; 11:7 has not achieved the righteousness of the law.  * 9:31 Other mss read the law for righteousness,* 9:31 Gl 5:432 Why is that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were by works.  * 9:32 Other mss add of the law They stumbled over the stumbling stone.  * 9:32 1Pt 2:6,833 As it is written,

Look, I am putting a stone in Zion to stumble over

and a rock to trip over,

and the one who believes on him* 9:33 Rm 10:11

will not be put to shame.* 9:33 Is 8:14; 28:16,* 9:33 Is 8:14; 28:16; Rm 5:5