[English Bible] Romans chapter 9

Ro. 9:1 I speak the truth in Christ — I am not lying, my conscience

confirms it in the Holy Spirit —

Ro. 9:2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.

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Ro. 9:3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from

Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race,

Ro. 9:4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the

divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the

temple worship and the promises.

Ro. 9:5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human

ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, for ever praised! [Or

Christ, who is over all. God be for ever praised! Or Christ.

God who is over all be for ever praised!] Amen.

Ro. 9:6 It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are

descended from Israel are Israel.

Ro. 9:7 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.” [Gen. 21:12]

Ro. 9:8 In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s

children, but it is the children of the promise who are

regarded as Abraham’s offspring.

Ro. 9:9 For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed

time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.” [Gen.

18:10,14]

Ro. 9:10 Not only that, but Rebekah’s children had one and the same

father, our father Isaac.

Ro. 9:11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good

or bad — in order that God’s purpose in election might

stand:

Ro. 9:12 not by works but by him who calls — she was told, “The

older will serve the younger.” [Gen. 25:23]

Ro. 9:13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” [Mal.

1:2,3]

Ro. 9:14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!

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Ro. 9:15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have

mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have

compassion.” [Exodus 33:19]

Ro. 9:16 It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but

on God’s mercy.

Ro. 9:17 For the 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.” [Exodus 9:16]

Ro. 9:18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy,

and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

Ro. 9:19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame

us? For who resists his will?”

Ro. 9:20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is

formed say to him who formed it, `Why did you make me like

this?’“ [Isaiah 29:16; 45:9]

Ro. 9:21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same

lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for

common use?

Ro. 9:22 What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his

power known, bore with great patience the objects of his

wrath — prepared for destruction?

Ro. 9:23 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 —

Ro. 9:24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also

from the Gentiles?

Ro. 9:25 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,” [Hosea 2:23]

Ro. 9:26 and, “It will happen that in the very place where it was said to

them, `You are not my people,’ they will be called `sons of

the living God’.” [Hosea 1:10]

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Ro. 9:27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the

Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be

saved.

Ro. 9:28 For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed

and finality.” [Isaiah 10:22,23]

Ro. 9:29 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.” [Isaiah 1:9]

Ro. 9:30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not

pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is

by faith;

Ro. 9:31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not

attained it.

Ro. 9:32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it

were by works. They stumbled over the “stumbling-stone”.

Ro. 9:33 As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to

stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who

trusts in him will never be put to shame.” [Isaiah 8:14; 28:16]