⁵ It is the same at this time too. There is a small number of Israel's people that God has chosen to trust him. He has chosen them because he is very kind. ⁶ This shows that God has not chosen them because of any good things that they have done. If that was true, we could not say that God was really being kind to them. It would not be his gift.

⁷ So we can say this: Israel's people did not all find what they were looking for. Only those people that God had chosen received it. But the other people of Israel became unable to understand God's message.