Romans Chapter 9 Back Next{9:1} I tell the truth in
Christ. I am not lying, my
conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit,
{9:2} that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my
heart.
{9:3} For I could wish that I myself were
accursed from Christ for my
brothers' sake, my relatives according to the
flesh,
{9:4} who are Israelites; whose is the
adoption, the glory, the
covenants, the giving of the
law, the service, and the promises;
{9:5} of whom are the
fathers, and from whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God,
blessed forever.
Amen.
{9:6} But it is not as though the word of God has come to nothing. For they are not all
Israel, that are of Israel.
{9:7} Neither, because they are
Abraham's seed, are they all children. But, "In
Isaac will your seed be called."[
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{9:8} That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as a seed.
{9:9} For this is a word of promise, "At the appointed time I will come, and Sarah will have a son."[
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{9:10} Not only so, but Rebecca also conceived by one, by our father Isaac.
{9:11} For being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand,
not of works, but of him who calls,
{9:12} it was said to her, "The
elder will serve the younger."[
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{9:13} Even as it is written, "
Jacob I loved, but
Esau I hated."[
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{9:14} What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? May it never be!
{9:15} For he said 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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{9:16} So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy.
{9:17} For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the
earth."[
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{9:18} So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.
{9:19} You will say then to me, "Why does he still find fault? For who withstands his will?"
{9:20} But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, "Why did you make me like this?"[
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{9:21} Or hasn't the potter a right over the
clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel for honor, and another for dishonor?
{9:22} What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath made for destruction,
{9:23} and that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory,
{9:24} us, whom he also called, not from the
Jews only, but also from the
Gentiles?
{9:25} As he says also in
Hosea, "I will call them 'my people,' which were not my people; and her 'beloved,' who was not beloved."[
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{9:26} "It will be that in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' There they will be called 'children of the living God.'"[
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{9:27}
Isaiah cries concerning Israel, "If the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant who will be saved;
{9:28} for He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth."[
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{9:29} As Isaiah has said before, "Unless the Lord of Armies had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and would have been made like
Gomorrah."[
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{9:30} What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who didn't follow after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith;
{9:31} but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, didn't arrive at the law of righteousness.
{9:32} Why? Because they didn't seek it by faith, but as it were by works of the law. They stumbled over the stumbling stone;
{9:33} even as it is written, "Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense; and no one who believes in him will be disappointed."[
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Romans Chapter 9 Back Next