1 T ruth I say in Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing testimony 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 grief and unceasing pain in my heart --

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

3 f or I was wishing, I myself, to be anathema from the Christ -- for my brethren, my kindred, 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, whose the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the lawgiving, and the 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 the fathers, and of whom the Christ, according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed to the ages. 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 A nd it is not possible that the word of God hath failed; for not all who of Israel are these 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 because they are seed of Abraham all children, but -- `in Isaac shall a seed be called to thee;'

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, the children of the flesh -- these not children of God; but the children of the promise are reckoned for seed;

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 the word of promise this; `According to this time I will come, and there shall be to Sarah 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, but also Rebecca, having conceived by one -- Isaac our father --

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 ( for they being not yet born, neither having done anything good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to choice, might remain; not of works, but of Him who is calling,) it was said to her --

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 ` The greater shall serve the less;'

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

13 a ccording as it hath been written, `Jacob I did love, and Esau I did hate.'

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

14 W hat, then, shall we say? unrighteousness with God? let it not be!

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

15 f or to Moses He saith, `I will do kindness to whom I do kindness, 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 -- not of him who is willing, nor of him who is running, but of God who is doing kindness:

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 Writing saith to Pharaoh -- `For this very thing I did raise thee up, that I might shew in thee My power, and that My name might be declared in all the land;'

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, to whom He willeth, He doth kindness, and to whom He willeth, He doth harden.

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

19 T hou wilt say, then, to me, `Why yet doth He find fault? for His counsel who hath resisted?'

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

20 n ay, but, O man, who art thou that art answering again to God? shall the thing formed say to Him who did form, Why me didst thou make thus?

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 h ath not the potter authority over the clay, out of the same lump to make the one vessel to honour, and the one to dishonour?

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 A nd if God, willing to shew the wrath and to make known His power, did endure, in much long suffering, vessels of wrath fitted 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 that He might make known the riches of His glory on vessels of kindness, that He before prepared for glory, whom also He did call -- us --

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 n ot only out of Jews, but also out of nations,

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 also in Hosea He saith, `I will call what not My people -- My people; and her 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 a nd it shall be -- in the place where it was said to them, Ye 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 A nd Isaiah doth cry concerning Israel, `If the number of the sons of Israel may be as the sand of the sea, the remnant shall 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 a matter He is finishing, and is cutting short in righteousness, because a matter cut short will the Lord do upon the land.

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 according as Isaiah saith before, `Except the Lord of Sabaoth did leave to us a seed, as Sodom we had become, and as Gomorrah we had been made like.'

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, then, shall we say? that nations who are not pursuing righteousness did attain to righteousness, and righteousness that of 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 a nd Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, at a law of righteousness did not arrive;

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

32 w herefore? because -- not by faith, but as by works of law; for they did stumble at the stone of stumbling,

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 a ccording as it hath been written, `Lo, I place in Sion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence; and every one who is believing thereon shall not be ashamed.'

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.”