1 I say, then, Did God cast away His people? let it not be! for I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin:

I ask then: Has God totally rejected and disowned His people? Of course not! Why, I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin!

2 G od did not cast away His people whom He knew before; have ye not known -- in Elijah -- what the Writing saith? how he doth plead with God concerning Israel, saying,

No, God has not rejected and disowned His people He had marked out and appointed and foreknown from the beginning. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?

3 ` Lord, Thy prophets they did kill, and Thy altars they dug down, and I was left alone, and they seek my life;'

Lord, they have killed Your prophets; they have demolished Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.

4 b ut what saith the divine answer to him? `I left to Myself seven thousand men, who did not bow a knee to Baal.'

But what is God’s reply to him? I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal!

5 S o then also in the present time a remnant according to the choice of grace there hath been;

So too at the present time there is a remnant (a small believing minority), selected (chosen) by grace (by God’s unmerited favor and graciousness).

6 a nd if by grace, no more of works, otherwise the grace becometh no more grace; and if of works, it is no more grace, otherwise the work is no more work.

But if it is by grace (His unmerited favor and graciousness), it is no longer conditioned on works or anything men have done. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.

7 W hat then? What Israel doth seek after, this it did not obtain, and the chosen did obtain, and the rest were hardened,

What then ? Israel failed to obtain what it sought. Only the elect (those chosen few) obtained it, while the rest of them became callously indifferent (blinded, hardened, and made insensible to it).

8 a ccording as it hath been written, `God gave to them a spirit of deep sleep, eyes not to see, and ears not to hear,' -- unto this very day,

As it is written, God gave them a spirit (an attitude) of stupor, eyes that should not see and ears that should not hear, down to this very day.

9 a nd David saith, `Let their table become for a snare, and for a trap, and for a stumbling-block, and for a recompense to them;

And David says, Let their table (their feasting, banqueting) become a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a just retribution '> rebounding like a boomerang upon them];

10 l et their eyes be darkened -- not to behold, and their back do Thou always bow down.'

Let their eyes be darkened (dimmed) so that they cannot see, and make them bend their back forever.

11 I say, then, Did they stumble that they might fall? let it not be! but by their fall the salvation to the nations, to arouse them to jealousy;

So I ask, Have they stumbled so as to fall ? By no means! But through their false step and transgression salvation to the Gentiles, so as to arouse Israel and so to make them jealous.

12 a nd if the fall of them the riches of a world, and the diminution of them the riches of nations, how much more the fulness of them?

Now if their stumbling (their lapse, their transgression) has so enriched the world, and if failure means such riches for the Gentiles, think what an enrichment and greater advantage will follow their full reinstatement!

13 F or to you I speak -- to the nations -- inasmuch as I am indeed an apostle of nations, my ministration I do glorify;

But now I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I lay great stress on my ministry and magnify my office,

14 i f by any means I shall arouse to jealousy mine own flesh, and shall save some of them,

In the hope of making my fellow Jews jealous, and thus managing to save some of them.

15 f or if the casting away of them a reconciliation of the world, what the reception -- if not life out of the dead?

For if their rejection and exclusion from the benefits of salvation were for the reconciliation of a world to God, what will their acceptance and admission mean? life from the dead!

16 a nd if the first-fruit holy, the lump also; and if the root holy, the branches also.

Now if the first handful of dough offered as the firstfruits is consecrated (holy), so is the whole mass; and if the root is consecrated (holy), so are the branches.

17 A nd if certain of the branches were broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wast graffed in among them, and a fellow-partaker of the root and of the fatness of the olive tree didst become --

But if some of the branches were broken off, while you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them to share the richness of the olive tree,

18 d o not boast against the branches; and if thou dost boast, thou dost not bear the root, but the root thee!

Do not boast over the branches and pride yourself at their expense. If you do boast and feel superior, remember it is not you that support the root, but the root you.

19 T hou wilt say, then, `The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in;' right!

You will say then, Branches were broken (pruned) off so that I might be grafted in!

20 b y unbelief they were broken off, and thou hast stood by faith; be not high-minded, but be fearing;

That is true. But they were broken (pruned) off because of their unbelief (their lack of real faith), and you are established through faith. So do not become proud and conceited, but rather stand in awe and be reverently afraid.

21 f or if God the natural branches did not spare -- lest perhaps He also shall not spare thee.

For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you.

22 L o, then, goodness and severity of God -- upon those indeed who fell, severity; and upon thee, goodness, if thou mayest remain in the goodness, otherwise, thou also shalt be cut off.

Then note and appreciate the gracious kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s gracious kindness to you—provided you continue in His grace and abide in His kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off (pruned away).

23 A nd those also, if they may not remain in unbelief, shall be graffed in, for God is able again to graff them in;

And even those others, if they do not persist in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.

24 f or if thou, out of the olive tree, wild by nature, wast cut out, and, contrary to nature, wast graffed into a good olive tree, how much rather shall they, who according to nature, be graffed into their own olive tree?

For if you have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and against nature grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much easier will it be to graft these natural back on their own olive tree.

25 F or I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, of this secret -- that ye may not be wise in your own conceits -- that hardness in part to Israel hath happened till the fulness of the nations may come in;

Lest you be self-opinionated (wise in your own conceits), I do not want you to miss this hidden truth and mystery, brethren: a hardening (insensibility) has befallen a part of Israel until the full number of the ingathering of the Gentiles has come in,

26 a nd so all Israel shall be saved, according as it hath been written, `There shall come forth out of Sion he who is delivering, and he shall turn away impiety from Jacob,

And so all Israel will be saved. As it is written, The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will banish ungodliness from Jacob.

27 a nd this to them the covenant from Me, when I may take away their sins.'

And this will be My covenant (My agreement) with them when I shall take away their sins.

28 A s regards, indeed, the good tidings, enemies on your account; and as regards the choice -- beloved on account of the fathers;

From the point of view of the Gospel (good news), they are enemies, which is for your advantage and benefit. But from the point of view of God’s choice (of election, of divine selection), they are still the beloved (dear to Him) for the sake of their forefathers.

29 f or unrepented of the gifts and the calling of God;

For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.

30 f or as ye also once did not believe in God, and now did find kindness by the unbelief of these:

Just as you were once disobedient and rebellious toward God but now have obtained mercy, through their disobedience,

31 s o also these now did not believe, that in your kindness they also may find kindness;

So they also now are being disobedient, that they in turn may one day, through the mercy you are enjoying, also receive mercy.

32 f or God did shut up together the whole to unbelief, that to the whole He might do kindness.

For God has consigned (penned up) all men to disobedience, only that He may have mercy on them all.

33 O depth of riches, and wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable His judgments, and untraceable His ways!

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unfathomable (inscrutable, unsearchable) are His judgments (His decisions)! And how untraceable (mysterious, undiscoverable) are His ways (His methods, His paths)!

34 f or who did know the mind of the Lord? or who did become His counsellor?

For who has known the mind of the Lord and who has understood His thoughts, or who has been His counselor?

35 o r who did first give to Him, and it shall be given back to him again?

Or who has first given God anything that he might be paid back or that he could claim a recompense?

36 b ecause of Him, and through Him, and to Him the all things; to Him the glory -- to the ages. Amen.

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever! Amen (so be it).