| 1 | I ask then, did God reject his people? May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. |
| 2 | God didn't reject his people, which he foreknew. Or don't you know what the Scripture says about Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel: |
| 3 | "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have broken down your altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life." |
| 4 | But how does God answer him? "I have reserved for myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal." |
| 5 | Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. |
| 6 | And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. |
| 7 | What then? That which Israel seeks for, that he didn't obtain, but the chosen ones obtained it, and the rest were hardened. |
| 8 | According as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this very day." |
| 9 | David says, "Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, a stumbling block, and a retribution to them. |
| 10 | Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see. Bow down their back always." |
| 11 | I ask then, did they stumble that they might fall? May it never be! But by their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy. |
| 12 | Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness? |
| 13 | For I speak to you who are Gentiles. Since then as I am an apostle to Gentiles, I glorify my ministry; |
| 14 | if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh, and may save some of them. |
| 15 | For if the rejection of them is the reconciling of the world, what would their acceptance be, but life from the dead? |
| 16 | If the first fruit is holy, so is the lump. If the root is holy, so are the branches. |
| 17 | But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree; |
| 18 | don't boast over the branches. But if you boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you. |
| 19 | You will say then, "Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in." |
| 20 | True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don't be conceited, but fear; |
| 21 | for if God didn't spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. |
| 22 | See then the goodness and severity of God. Toward those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness; otherwise you also will be cut off. |
| 23 | They also, if they don't continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. |
| 24 | For if you were cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more will these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? |
| 25 | For I don't desire you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you won't be wise in your own conceits, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, |
| 26 | and so all Israel will be saved. Even as it is written, "There will come out of Zion the Deliverer, and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. |
| 27 | This is my covenant to them, when I will take away their sins." |
| 28 | Concerning the Good News, they are enemies for your sake. But concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sake. |
| 29 | For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. |
| 30 | For as you in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience, |
| 31 | even so these also have now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they may also obtain mercy. |
| 32 | For God has shut up all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all. |
| 33 | Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out! |
| 34 | "For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" |
| 35 | "Or who has first given to him, and it will be repaid to him again?" |
| 36 | For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen. |
