The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Romans 09
1 I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying,
my conscience testifying with me in the
Holy Spirit
2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing
pain in my heart.
3 For I could wish that I myself were
accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake,
my relatives according to the flesh
4 who are Israelites; whose is the adoption,
the glory, the covenants, the giving of
the law, the service, and the promises;
5 of whom are the fathers, and from
whom is Christ as concerning the flesh,
who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen.
6 But it is not as though the word of God
has come to nothing. For they are not all
Israel that are of Israel.
7 Neither, because they are Abraham’s
offspring, are they all children. But,
“your offspring will be accounted as from
Isaac.”*
8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh
who are children of God, but the children
of the promise are counted as heirs.
9 For this is a word of promise: “At the
appointed time I will come, and Sarah will
have a son.”*
10 Not only so, but Rebekah also conceived
by one, by our father Isaac.
11 For being not yet born, neither having
done anything good or bad, that the
purpose of God according to electionmight
stand, not of works, but of him who calls,†
12 it was said to her, “The elder will serve
the younger.”*
13 Even as itis written, “Jacob Iloved, but
Esau I hated.”*
14 What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? May it never be!
15 For he said to Moses, “I will have
mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will
have compassion on whom I have compassion.”*
16 So thenitisnot ofhimwho wills, nor of
him who runs, but of God who has mercy.
17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For
this very purpose I caused you to be raised
up, thatI might show in you my power, and
that my name might be proclaimed in all
the earth.”*
18 So then, he has mercy on whom he
desires, and he hardens whom he desires.
19 You will say then to me, “Why does
he still find fault? For who withstands his
will?”
20 But indeed, O man, who are you to
reply against God? Will the thing formed
askhimwho formed it, “Why did youmake
me like this?”*
21 Or hasn’t the potter a right over the
clay, from the same lump to make one
part a vessel for honor, and another for
dishonor?
22 What if God, willing to show his wrath
and to make his power known, endured
with much patience vessels of wrath
prepared for destruction,
23 and that he might make known the
riches of his glory on vessels of mercy,
which he prepared beforehand for glory—
24 us, whom he also called, not from the
Jews only, but also from the Gentiles?
25 As he says also in Hosea,
“I will call them ‘my people,’ which were
not my people; and her ‘beloved,’ who was not
beloved.”*
26 “It will be that in the 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 concerning Israel,
“If the number of the children of Israel are
as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant
who will be saved;
28 forhe will finish the work andcutit short
in righteousness, because the Lord will make a short
work upon the earth.”*
29 As Isaiah has said before,
“Unless the Lord of Armies‡ had
left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom,
and would have been made like Gomorrah.”*
30 What shall we say then? That the
Gentiles, who didn’tfollow after
righteousness, attained to righteousness,
even the righteousness which is of faith;
31 but Israel, following after a law of
righteousness, didn’t arrive at the law of
righteousness.
32 Why? Because they didn’t seek it by
faith, but as it were by works of the law.
They stumbled over the stumbling stone,
33 even as it is written, “Behold,§ I lay in
Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense;
and no one who believes in him will be
disappointed.”*