Israel’s Rejection

9 I am telling the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears witness to me in the Holy Spirit— ² that my grief is great and there is constant distress in my heart. ³ For I could wish myself to be accursed from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my fellow countrymen according to the flesh, ⁴ who are Israelites, to whom belong the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the temple service, and the promises, ⁵ to whom belong the patriarchs, and from whom is the Christ according to human descent, who is God over all, blessed forever^[a]! Amen.

⁶ But it is not as if the word of God had failed. For not all those who are descended from Israel are truly Israel, ⁷ nor are they all children because they are descendants of Abraham, but “In Isaac will your descendants be named.”^{[b] 8} That is, it is not the children by human descent^[c] who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as descendants. ⁹ For the statement of the promise is this: “At this time I will return and Sarah will have^[d] a son.”^{[e] 10} And not only this, but also when^[f] Rebecca conceived children by one man,^[g] Isaac our father— ¹¹ for although they^[h] had not yet been born, or done anything good or evil, in order that the purpose of God according to election might remain, ¹² not by works but by the one who calls—it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger,”^{[i] 13} just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”^[j]

God’s Sovereign Choice to Show Mercy

¹⁴ What then shall we say? There is no injustice with God, is there?^[k] May it never be! ¹⁵ For to Moses he says, “I will have mercy on whomever I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I have compassion.”^{[l] 16} Consequently therefore, it does not depend on the^[m] one who wills or on the one who runs, but on God who shows mercy. ¹⁷ For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very reason I have raised you up, so that I may demonstrate my power in you, and so that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”^{[n] 18} Consequently therefore, he has mercy on whomever he wishes, and he hardens whomever he wishes.

¹⁹ Therefore you will say to me, “Why then does he still find fault? For who has resisted^[o] his will? ²⁰ On the contrary, O man, who are you who answers back to God? Will what is molded say to the one who molded it, “Why did you make me like this”?^{[p] 21} Or does the potter not have authority over the clay, to make from the same lump a vessel that is for honorable use^[q] and one that is for ordinary use^[r]? ²² And what if God, wanting to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? ²³ And he did so^[s] in order that he could make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy that he prepared beforehand for glory, ²⁴ us whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? ²⁵ As he also says in Hosea,

²⁷ And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel,

²⁹ And just as Isaiah foretold,

³⁰ What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness—even the righteousness that is by faith. ³¹ But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, did not attain to the law. ³² Why that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if by works. They stumbled over the stone that causes people to stumble^[y], ³³ just as it is written,