English Standard Version

New Living Translation

1I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—

1With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it.

2that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.

2My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief

3For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

3for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them.

4They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.

4They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises.

5To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

5Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.

6But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,

6Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people!

7and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”

7Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,” though Abraham had other children, too.

8This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

8This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children.

9For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.”

9For God had promised, “I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

10And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac,

10This son was our ancestor Isaac. When he married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins.

11though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—

11But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes;

12she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”

12he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son.”

13As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

13In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.”

14What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!

14Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not!

15For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

15For God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.”

16So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

16So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.

17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

17For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, “I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth.”

18So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

18So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen.

19You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”

19Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?”

20But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”

20No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?”

21Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

21When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into?

22What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,

22In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction.

23in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—

23He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory.

24even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

24And we are among those whom he selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles.

25As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”

25Concerning the Gentiles, God says in the prophecy of Hosea, “Those who were not my people, I will now call my people. And I will love those whom I did not love before.”

26“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”

26And, “Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”

27And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved,

27And concerning Israel, Isaiah the prophet cried out, “Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant will be saved.

28for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.”

28For the LORD will carry out his sentence upon the earth quickly and with finality.”

29And as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.”

29And Isaiah said the same thing in another place: “If the LORD of Heaven’s Armies had not spared a few of our children, we would have been wiped out like Sodom, destroyed like Gomorrah.” Israel’s Unbelief

30What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith;

30What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place.

31but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law.

31But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded.

32Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,

32Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path.

33as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

33God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, “I am placing a stone in Jerusalem that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. But anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”

ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.