Darby Bible Translation

New Living Translation

Paul's Concern for the Jews

I say [the] truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing witness with me in [the] Holy Spirit,

1

God’s Selection of Israel

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

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that I have great grief and uninterrupted pain in my heart,

2

My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief

3

for I have wished, I myself, to be a curse from the Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to flesh;

3

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

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who are Israelites; whose [is] the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the law-giving, and the service, and the promises;

4

They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children.b 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.

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whose [are] the fathers; and of whom, as according to flesh, [is] the Christ, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

5

Abraham, 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.c

6

God's Sovereign Choice

Not however as though the word of God had failed; for not all [are] Israel which [are] of Israel;

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Well 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!

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nor because they are seed of Abraham [are] all children: but, In Isaac shall a seed be called to thee.

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Being 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,”d though Abraham had other children, too.

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That is, [they that are] the children of the flesh, these [are] not the children of God; but the children of the promise are reckoned as seed.

8

This 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.

9

For this word [is] of promise, According to this time I will come, and there shall be a son to Sarah.

9

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

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And not only [that], but Rebecca having conceived by one, Isaac our father,

10

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

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[the children] indeed being not yet born, or having done anything good or worthless (that the purpose of God according to election might abide, not of works, but of him that calls),

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But 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;

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it was said to her, The greater shall serve the less:

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

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according as it is written, I have loved Jacob, and I have hated Esau.

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

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What shall we say then? [Is there] unrighteousness with God? Far be the thought.

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

15

For he says to Moses, I will shew mercy to whom I will shew mercy, and I will feel compassion for whom I will feel compassion.

15

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

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So then [it is] not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shews mercy.

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

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For the scripture says to Pharaoh, For this very thing I have raised thee up from amongst [men], that I might thus shew in thee my power, and so that my name should be declared in all the earth.

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For 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.”j

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So then, to whom he will he shews mercy, and whom he will he hardens.

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

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The Calling of the Gentiles

Thou wilt say to me then, Why does he yet find fault? for who resists his purpose?

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

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Aye, but thou, O man, who art *thou* that answerest again to God? Shall the thing formed say to him that has formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

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No, 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?”

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Or has not the potter authority over the clay, out of the same lump to make one vessel to honour, and another to dishonour?

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When 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?

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And if God, minded to shew his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted for destruction;

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In 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.

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and that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he had before prepared for glory,

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He 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.

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us, whom he has also called, not only from amongst [the] Jews, but also from amongst [the] nations?

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

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As he says also in Hosea, I will call not-my-people My people; and the-not-beloved Beloved.

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Concerning 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.”k

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And it shall be, in the place where it was said to them, *Ye* [are] not my people, there shall they be called Sons of [the] living God.

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

27

But Esaias cries concerning Israel, Should the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant shall be saved:

27

And 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.

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for [he] is bringing the matter to an end, and [cutting [it] short in righteousness; because] a cutting short of the matter will [the] Lord accomplish upon the earth.

28

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

29

And according as Esaias said before, Unless [the] Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and made like even as Gomorrha.

29

And 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.”n

30

Israel's Unbelief

What then shall we say? That [they of the] nations, who did not follow after righteousness, have attained righteousness, but [the] righteousness that is on the principle of faith.

30

Israel’s Unbelief

What 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.

31

But Israel, pursuing after a law of righteousness, has not attained to [that] law.

31

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

32

Wherefore? Because [it was] not on the principle of faith, but as of works. They have stumbled at the stumblingstone,

32

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

33

according as it is written, Behold, I place in Zion a stone of stumbling and rock of offence: and he that believes on him shall not be ashamed.

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

Parallel

Darby Bible Translation

New Living Translation

Romans 9

Romans 9