Romans 9

HCSB

Romans 9

Israel’s Rejection of Christ

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1} I speak the truth in Christ^(A)—I am not lying; my conscience is testifying to me with the Holy Spirit^(a)— ^{Tools
2} that I have intense sorrow and continual anguish in my heart. ^{Tools
3} For I could almost wish^(B) to be cursed^(C) and cut off^(b) from the Messiah for the benefit of my brothers, my own flesh and blood. ^{Tools
4} They are Israelites,^(D) and to them belong the adoption,^(E) the glory,^(F) the covenants,^(G) the giving of the law,^(H) the temple service,^(I) and the promises.^(J) ^{Tools
5} The ancestors are theirs,^(K) and from them, by physical descent,^(c) came the Messiah,^(L) who is God^(M) over all,^(N) praised forever.^(d)^(O) Amen.

God’s Gracious Election of Israel

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6} But it is not as though the word of God has failed.^(P) For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.^(Q) ^{Tools
7} Neither are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants.^(e)^(R) On the contrary, your offspring will be traced^(f) through Isaac.^(S)^(g) ^{Tools
8} That is, it is not the children by physical descent^(h) who are God’s children,^(T) but the children of the promise^(U) are considered to be the offspring. ^{Tools
9} For this is the statement of the promise: At this time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.^(V)⁽ⁱ⁾ ^{Tools
10} And not only that,^(W) but also Rebekah received a promise when she became pregnant^(j)^(X) by one man, our ancestor Isaac. ^{Tools
11} For though her sons had not been born yet or done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to election might stand—^(Y) ^{Tools
12} not from works but from the One who calls—she was told: The older will serve the younger.^(Z)^(k) ^{Tools
13} As it is written: I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.^(AA)^(l)

God’s Selection Is Just

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14} What should we say then?^(AB) Is there injustice with God?^(AC) Absolutely not!^(AD) ^{Tools
15} For He tells Moses:

I will show mercy
to whom I will show mercy,
and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion.^(AE)^(m)

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16} So then it does not depend on human will or effort⁽ⁿ⁾^(AF) but on God who shows mercy.^(AG) ^{Tools
17} For the Scripture tells Pharaoh:

I raised you up for this reason
so that I may display My power in you
and that My name may be proclaimed in all the earth.^(AH)^(o)

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18} So then, He shows mercy to those He wants to, and He hardens those He wants to harden.^(AI)

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19} You will say to me,^(AJ) therefore, “Why then does He still find fault?^(AK) For who can resist His will?”^(AL) ^{Tools
20} But who are you, a mere man, to talk back to God?^(AM) Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”^(AN) ^{Tools
21} Or has the potter no right over the clay,^(AO) to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor? ^{Tools
22} And what if God, desiring to display His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience^(AP) objects of wrath ready for destruction?^(AQ) ^{Tools
23} And what if He did this to make known the riches of His glory^(AR) on objects of mercy^(AS) that He prepared beforehand for glory^(AT)— ^{Tools
24} on us, the ones He also called,^(AU) not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?^(AV) ^{Tools
25} As He also says in Hosea:

I will call Not My People, My People,
and she who is Unloved, Beloved.^(AW)^(p)

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26}

And it will be in the place where they were told,
you are not My people,
there they will be called sons of the living God.^(AX)^(q)

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27} But Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:

Though the number of Israel’s sons
is like the sand of the sea,^(AY)
only the remnant will be saved;^(AZ)

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28}

for the Lord will execute His sentence
completely and decisively on the earth.^(r)^(BA)^(s)

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29} And just as Isaiah predicted:

If the Lord of Hosts^(t) had not left us offspring,^(BB)
we would have become like Sodom,
and we would have been made like Gomorrah.^(BC)^(u)

Israel’s Present State

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30} What should we say then?^(BD) Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness—namely the righteousness that comes from faith.^(BE) ^{Tools
31} But Israel, pursuing the law for righteousness,^(BF) has not achieved the righteousness of the law.^(v)^(BG) ^{Tools
32} Why is that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were by works.^(w) They stumbled over the stumbling stone.^(BH) ^{Tools
33} As it is written:

Look! I am putting a stone in Zion to stumble over
and a rock to trip over,
yet the one who believes on Him^(BI)
will not be put to shame.^(BJ)^(x)

Footnotes:

a. Romans 9:1: Or testifying with me by the Holy Spirit

b. Romans 9:3: Lit were anathema

c. Romans 9:5: Lit them, according to the flesh

d. Romans 9:5: Or the Messiah, the One who is over all, the God who is blessed forever, or Messiah. God, who is over all, be blessed forever

e. Romans 9:7: Lit seed

f. Romans 9:7: Lit called

g. Romans 9:7: Gn 21:12

h. Romans 9:8: Lit children of the flesh

i. Romans 9:9: Gn 18:10,14

j. Romans 9:10: Or Rebekah conceived by the one act of sexual intercourse

k. Romans 9:12: Gn 25:23

l. Romans 9:13: Mal 1:2-3

m. Romans 9:15: Ex 33:19

n. Romans 9:16: Or on the one running; lit on the one willing

o. Romans 9:17: Ex 9:16

p. Romans 9:25: Hs 2:23

q. Romans 9:26: Hs 1:10

r. Romans 9:28: Or land

s. Romans 9:28: Is 10:22-23; 28:22; Hs 1:10

t. Romans 9:29: Gk Sabaoth; this word is a transliteration of the Hb word for Hosts, or Armies.

u. Romans 9:29: Is 1:9

v. Romans 9:31: Other mss read the law for righteousness

w. Romans 9:32: Other mss add of the law

x. Romans 9:33: Is 8:14; 28:16

Cross references:

A. Romans 9:1: Romans 1:9; 2 Corinthians 11:10

B. Romans 9:3: Exodus 32:32

C. Romans 9:3: 1 Corinthians 12:3; 1 Corinthians 16:22; 1 Corinthians 16:9

D. Romans 9:4: Romans 8:6

E. Romans 9:4: Exodus 4:22; Romans 8:15

F. Romans 9:4: Exodus 40:34; Ezekiel 1:28; Hebrews 9:5

G. Romans 9:4: Genesis 17:2; Deuteronomy 29:14; Luke 1:72; Acts 3:25; Ephesians 2:12

H. Romans 9:4: Deuteronomy 4:13-14; Psalm 147:19

I. Romans 9:4: Deuteronomy 7:6; Deuteronomy 14:1; Hebrews 9:1; Hebrews 9:6

J. Romans 9:4: Acts 2:39; Acts 13:32; Ephesians 2:12

K. Romans 9:5: Acts 3:13; Romans 11:28

L. Romans 9:5: Matthew 1:1-16; Romans 1:3

M. Romans 9:5: John 1:1; Colossians 2:9

N. Romans 9:5: Colossians 1:16-19

O. Romans 9:5: Romans 1:25

P. Romans 9:6: Numbers 23:19

Q. Romans 9:6: John 1:47; Romans 2:28-29

R. Romans 9:7: John 8:33; John 8:39

S. Romans 9:7: Genesis 21:12; Hebrews 11:18

T. Romans 9:8: Romans 8:14

U. Romans 9:8: Romans 4:13; Romans 4:16; Hebrews 11:11

V. Romans 9:9: Genesis 18:10; Genesis 18:14

W. Romans 9:10: Romans 5:3

X. Romans 9:10: Genesis 25:21

Y. Romans 9:11: Romans 4:17; Romans 8:28

Z. Romans 9:12: Genesis 25:23

AA. Romans 9:13: Malachi 1:2-3

AB. Romans 9:14: Romans 3:5

AC. Romans 9:14: 2 Chronicles 19:7; Romans 2:11

AD. Romans 9:14: Luke 20:16

AE. Romans 9:15: Exodus 33:19

AF. Romans 9:16: Galatians 2:2

AG. Romans 9:16: Ephesians 2:8

AH. Romans 9:17: Exodus 9:16

AI. Romans 9:18: Exodus 4:21; Exodus 7:3; Exodus 9:12; Exodus 10:20; Exodus 10:27; Exodus 11:10; Exodus 14:4; Exodus 14:7; Deuteronomy 2:30; Joshua 11:20; John 12:40; Romans 11:7; Romans 11:25

AJ. Romans 9:19: Romans 11:19; 1 Corinthians 15:25

AK. Romans 9:19: Romans 3:7

AL. Romans 9:19: 2 Chronicles 20:6; Job 9:12; Daniel 4:35

AM. Romans 9:20: Job 33:13

AN. Romans 9:20: Isaiah 29:16; Isaiah 45:9; Isaiah 64:8; Jeremiah 18:6

AO. Romans 9:21: Isaiah 64:8; Jeremiah 18:6

AP. Romans 9:22: Romans 2:4

AQ. Romans 9:22: Proverbs 16:4; 1 Peter 2:8

AR. Romans 9:23: Romans 2:4; Ephesians 3:16

AS. Romans 9:23: Acts 9:15

AT. Romans 9:23: Romans 8:29

AU. Romans 9:24: Romans 8:28

AV. Romans 9:24: Romans 3:29

AW. Romans 9:25: 1 Peter 2:10

AX. Romans 9:26: Matthew 16:16

AY. Romans 9:27: Genesis 22:17

AZ. Romans 9:27: Romans 11:5

BA. Romans 9:27: Isaiah 10:22-23; Isaiah 28:22

BB. Romans 9:29: James 5:4

BC. Romans 9:29: Deuteronomy 29:23; Isaiah 1:9; Isaiah 13:19; Jeremiah 49:18; Jeremiah 50:40; Amos 4:11

BD. Romans 9:30: Romans 9:14

BE. Romans 9:30: Romans 1:17; Romans 3:21; Romans 10:6; Romans 3:24; Philippians 3:9; Hebrews 11:7

BF. Romans 9:31: Isaiah 51:1; Romans 10:2; Romans 10:20; Romans 11:7

BG. Romans 9:31: Galatians 5:4

BH. Romans 9:32: 1 Peter 2:6; 1 Peter 2:8

BI. Romans 9:33: Romans 10:11

BJ. Romans 9:33: Isaiah 8:14; Isaiah 28:16; Romans 5:5