Romans 9:3-33:
3 For I could wish that myself were accursed
from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory,
and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the
promises;
5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as
concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
6 Not as though the word of God hath taken
none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
7 Neither, because they are the seed of
Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
8 That is, They which are the children of the
flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are
counted for the seed.
9 For this is the word of promise, At this
time will I come, and Sara shall have a son.
10 And not only this; but when Rebecca also
had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
11 (For the children being not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to
election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve
the younger.
13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but
Esau have I hated.
14 What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have
compassion.
16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor
of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even
for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in
thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will
have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet
find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest
against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou
made me thus?
21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of
the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and
to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath
fitted to destruction:
23 And that he might make known the riches of
his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the
Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
25 As he saith also in Osee, I will call them
my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
26 And it shall come to pass, that in the
place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be
called the children of the living God.
27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel,
Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a
remnant shall be saved:
28 For he will finish the work, and cut it
short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
29 And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord
of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto
Gomorrha.
30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles,
which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even
the righteousness which is of faith.
31 But Israel, which followed after the law of
righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by
faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that
stumblingstone;
33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a
stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed.
