| 1 | I am speaking the truth in Christ; I am not lying. My conscience offers testimony to me in the Holy Spirit, |
| 2 | because the sadness within me is great, and there is a continuous sorrow in my heart. |
| 3 | For I was desiring that I myself might be anathemized from Christ, for the sake of my brothers, who are my kinsmen according to the flesh. |
| 4 | These are the Israelites, to whom belongs adoption as sons, and the glory and the testament, and the giving and following of the law, and the promises. |
| 5 | Theirs are the fathers, and from them, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is over all things, blessed God, for all eternity. Amen. |
| 6 | But it is not that the Word of God has perished. For not all those who are Israelites are of Israel. |
| 7 | And not all sons are the offspring of Abraham: "For your offspring will be invoked in Isaac." |
| 8 | In other words, those who are the sons of God are not those who are sons of the flesh, but those who are sons of the Promise; these are considered to be the offspring. |
| 9 | For the word of promise is this: "I will return at the proper time. And there shall be a son for Sarah." |
| 10 | And she was not alone. For Rebecca also, having conceived by Isaac our father, from one act, |
| 11 | when the children had not yet been born, and had not yet done anything good or bad (such that the purpose of God might be based on their choice), |
| 12 | and not because of deeds, but because of a calling, it was said to her: "The elder shall serve the younger." |
| 13 | So also it was written: "I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau." |
| 14 | What should we say next? Is there unfairness with God? Let it not be so! |
| 15 | For to Moses he says: "I will pity whomever I pity. And I will offer mercy to whomever I will pity." |
| 16 | Therefore, it is not based on those who choose, nor on those who excel, but on God who takes pity. |
| 17 | For Scripture says to the Pharaoh: "I have raised you up for this purpose, so that I may reveal my power by you, and so that my name may be announced to all the earth." |
| 18 | Therefore, he takes pity on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. |
| 19 | And so, you would say to me: "Then why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?" |
| 20 | O man, who are you to question God? How can the thing that has been formed say to the One who formed him: "Why have you made me this way?" |
| 21 | And does not the potter have the authority over the clay to make, from the same material, indeed, one vessel unto honor, yet truly another unto disgrace? |
| 22 | What if God, wanting to reveal his wrath and to make his power known, endured, with much patience, vessels deserving wrath, fit to be destroyed, |
| 23 | so that he might reveal the wealth of his glory, within these vessels of mercy, which he has prepared unto glory? |
| 24 | And so it is with those of us whom he has also called, not only from among the Jews, but even from among the Gentiles, |
| 25 | just as he says in Hosea: "I will call those who were not my people, 'my people,' and she who was not beloved, 'beloved,' and she who had not obtained mercy, 'one who has obtained mercy.' |
| 26 | And this shall be: in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' there they shall be called the sons of the living God." |
| 27 | And Isaiah cried out on behalf of Israel: "When the number of the sons of Israel is like the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. |
| 28 | For he shall complete his word, while abbreviating it out of equity. For the Lord shall accomplish a brief word upon the earth." |
| 29 | And it is just as Isaiah predicted: "Unless the Lord of hosts had bequeathed offspring, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made similar to Gomorrah." |
| 30 | What should we say next? That the Gentiles who did not follow justice have attained justice, even the justice that is of faith. |
| 31 | Yet truly, Israel, though following the law of justice, has not arrived at the law of justice. |
| 32 | Why is this? Because they did not seek it from faith, but as if it were from works. For they stumbled over a stumbling block, |
| 33 | just as it was written: "Behold, I am placing a stumbling block in Zion, and a rock of scandal. But whoever believes in him shall not be confounded." |
