9:1¹ I am telling the truth in Christ (I am not lying!), for my conscience assures me² in the Holy Spirit— 9:2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.³ 9:3 For I could wish⁴ that I myself were accursed—cut off from Christ—for the sake of my people,⁵ my fellow countrymen,⁶ 9:4 who are Israelites. To them belong⁷ the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple worship,⁸ and the promises. 9:5 To them belong the patriarchs,⁹ and from them,¹⁰ by human descent,¹¹ came the Christ,¹² who is God over all, blessed forever!¹³ Amen.

9:6 It is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all those who are descended from Israel are truly Israel,¹⁴ 9:7 nor are all the children Abraham’s true descendants; rather “through Isaac will your descendants be traced.”¹⁵ 9:8 This means¹⁶ it is not the children of the flesh¹⁷ who are the children of God; rather, the children of promise are counted as descendants. 9:9 For this is what the promise declared:¹⁸ “About a year from now¹⁹ I will return and Sarah will have a son.”²⁰ 9:10 Not only that, but when Rebekah had conceived children by one man,²¹ our ancestor Isaac— 9:11 even before they were born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose in election²² would stand, not by works but by²³ his calling)²⁴— 9:12 it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger,”²⁵ 9:13 just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”²⁶

9:14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not! 9:15 For he says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”²⁷ 9:16 So then,²⁸ it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on the mercy of God.²⁹ 9:17 For the scripture says to Pharaoh:³⁰ “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”³¹ 9:18 So then,³² God³³ has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden.³⁴

9:19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who has ever resisted his will?” 9:20 But who indeed are you—a mere human being³⁵—to talk back to God?³⁶ Does what is molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?”³⁷ 9:21 Has the potter no right to make from the same lump of clay³⁸ one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use?³⁹ 9:22 But what if God, willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects⁴⁰ of wrath⁴¹ prepared for destruction?⁴² 9:23 And what if he is willing to make known the wealth of his glory on the objects⁴³ of mercy that he has prepared beforehand for glory— 9:24 even us, whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 9:25 As he also says in Hosea:

“I will call those who were not my people, ‘My people,’ and I will call her who was unloved,⁴⁴ ‘My beloved.’”⁴⁵
9:26 “And in the very place⁴⁶ where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”⁴⁷

9:27 And Isaiah cries out on behalf of Israel, “Though the number of the children⁴⁸ of Israel are as the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved, 9:28 for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth completely and quickly.”⁴⁹ 9:29 Just⁵⁰ as Isaiah predicted,

“If the Lord of armies⁵¹ had not left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
and we would have resembled Gomorrah.”⁵²

9:30 What shall we say then?—that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness obtained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 9:31 but Israel even though pursuing⁵³ a law of righteousness⁵⁴ did not attain it.⁵⁵ 9:32 Why not? Because they pursued⁵⁶ it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works.⁵⁷ They stumbled over the stumbling stone,⁵⁸ 9:33 just as it is written,

“See, I am laying in Zion a stone that will cause people to stumble,
a rock that will make them fall;⁵⁹
yet the one who believes in him will not be put to shame.”¹