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

I am telling the truth because I belong to Christ. The Holy Spirit tells my heart that I am not lying.

2 t hat I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.

I have much sorrow. The pain in my heart never leaves.

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

I could even wish that I might be kept from being with Christ if that would help my people to be saved from the punishment of sin. They are of my own flesh and blood.

4 w ho 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,

They are Jews and are the people God chose for Himself. He shared His shining-greatness with them and gave them His Law and a way to worship. They have His promises.

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

The early preachers came from this family. Christ Himself was born of flesh from this family and He is over all things. May God be honored and thanked forever. Let it be so.

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

I am not saying that God did not keep His promises. Not all the Jews are people God chose for Himself.

7 n or are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “ through Isaac your descendants will be named.”

Not all of Abraham’s family are children of God. God told Abraham, “Only the family of Isaac will be called your family.”

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

This means that children born to Abraham are not all children of God. Only those that are born because of God’s promise to Abraham are His children.

9 F or this is the word of promise: “ At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.”

This was the promise God made: “About this time next year I will come, and Sarah will have a son.”

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

Not only this, but there was Rebecca also. Rebecca gave birth to two sons at the same time. Both of them were sons of Isaac.

11 f or 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,

Even before the two sons were born, we see God’s plan of choosing. God could choose whom He wanted. It could not be changed because of anything the older son tried to do about it. It was before either one had done anything good or bad.

12 i t was said to her, “ The older will serve the younger.”

Rebecca was told, “The older son will work for the younger son.”

13 J ust as it is written, “ Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

The Holy Writings say, “I loved Jacob, but hated Esau.”

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

What about it then? Can we say that God is not fair? No, not at all!

15 F or He says to Moses, “ I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

God said to Moses, “I will have loving-kindness and loving-pity for anyone I want to.”

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

These good things from God are not given to someone because he wants them or works to get them. They are given because of His loving-kindness.

17 F or 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.”

The Holy Writings say to Pharaoh, “I made you leader for this reason: I used you to show My power. I used you to make My name known over all the world.”

18 S o then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.

So God has loving-kindness for those He wants to. He makes some have hard hearts if He wants to.

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

But you will ask me, “Why does God blame men for what they do? Who can go against what God wants?”

20 O n 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?

Who are you to talk back to God? A pot being made from clay does not talk to the man making it and say, “Why did you make me like this?”

21 O r 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?

The man making the pots has the right to use the clay as he wants to. He can make two pots from the same piece of clay. One can have an important use. The other one can be of little use.

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

It may be that God wants to show His power and His anger against sin. He waits a long time on some men who are ready to be destroyed.

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

God also wanted to show His shining-greatness to those He has given His loving-kindness. He made them ready for His shining-greatness from the beginning.

24 e ven us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

We are the ones He chose. He did not only choose Jews. He also chose some from among the people who are not Jews.

25 A s He says also in Hosea, “ I will call those who were not My people, ‘My people,’ And her who was not beloved, ‘beloved.’”

In the Book of Hosea He says, “Those who are not My people, I will call, ‘My people.’ Those who are not loved, I will call, ‘My loved ones.’”

26 “ 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.”

“And where it said, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called sons of the living God.”

27 I saiah 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;

Isaiah says this about the Jews, “Even if there are as many Jews as the sand by the sea, only a few of them will be saved from the punishment of sin.

28 f or the Lord will execute His word on the earth, thoroughly and quickly.”

For the Lord will do on earth what He says in His Word. He will work fast when He says what will happen here.”

29 A nd 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.”

Isaiah said also, “If God had not left some of the Jews, we would have all been destroyed like the people who lived in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.”

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

What are we to say about these things? The people who are not Jews were not made right with God by the Law. They were made right with God because they put their trust in Him.

31 b ut Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.

The Jews tried to be right with God by obeying the Law, but they did not become right with God.

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

Why? Because they did not put their trust in God. They tried to be right with God by working for it. They tripped over the most important Stone (Christ).

33 j ust 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.”

The Holy Writings say, “See! I put in Jerusalem a Stone that people will trip over. It is a Rock that will make them fall. But the person who puts his trust in the Rock (Christ) will not be put to shame.”