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New American Standard Bible

Paul’s Anguish Over Israel

I speak the truth in Christ — I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit —

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Solicitude for Israel

I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit,

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I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.

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that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.

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For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race,

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For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,

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the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.

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who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises,

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Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised!a Amen.

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whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

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God’s Sovereign Choice

It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.

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But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel;

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Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”b

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nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED.”

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In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.

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That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.

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For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”c

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For this is the word of promise: “AT THIS TIME I WILL COME, AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON.”

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Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac.

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And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac;

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Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad — in order that God’s purpose in election might stand:

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for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls,

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not by works but by him who calls — she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”d

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it was said to her, “THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.”

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Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”e

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Just as it is written, “JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.”

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What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!

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What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!

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

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For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.”

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It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

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So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.

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

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For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.”

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Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

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So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.

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One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?”

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You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?”

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But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ”h

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On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it?

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Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?

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Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?

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What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath — prepared for destruction?

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What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?

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What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory —

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And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,

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

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even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

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As he says in Hosea:
“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;
and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”i

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As He says also in Hosea,
“I WILL CALL THOSE WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, ‘MY PEOPLE,’
AND HER WHO WAS NOT BELOVED, ‘BELOVED.’”

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and,
“In the very place where it was said to them,
‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ ”j

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“AND IT SHALL BE THAT IN THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS SAID TO THEM, ‘YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE,’
THERE THEY SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF THE LIVING GOD.”

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Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:
“Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,
only the remnant will be saved.

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Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “THOUGH THE NUMBER OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL BE LIKE THE SAND OF THE SEA, IT IS THE REMNANT THAT WILL BE SAVED;

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For the Lord will carry out
his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”k

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FOR THE LORD WILL EXECUTE HIS WORD ON THE EARTH, THOROUGHLY AND QUICKLY.”

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It is just as Isaiah said previously:
“Unless the Lord Almighty
had left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have been like Gomorrah.”l

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And just as Isaiah foretold,
“UNLESS THE LORD OF SABAOTH HAD LEFT TO US A POSTERITY,
WE WOULD HAVE BECOME LIKE SODOM, AND WOULD HAVE RESEMBLED GOMORRAH.”

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Israel’s Unbelief

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

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What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith;

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but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal.

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but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.

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Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.

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Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,

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As it is written:
“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall,
and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”m

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just as it is written,
“BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE,
AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”

Parallel

New International Version

New American Standard Bible

Romans 9

Romans 9