Rom 9:1-15 | ESV | STEP | I am speaking the truth in Christ —I am not lying ; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit

x Deut. 32:4; 2 Chr. 19:7; Job 8:3; 34:10; Ps. 92:15

Romans 9:1-15

God’s Sovereign Choice

1 ^aI am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For ^bI could wish that I myself were ^caccursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, ^{▼▼Or brothers and sisters} my kinsmen ^eaccording to the flesh. 4 They are ^fIsraelites, and to them belong ^gthe adoption, ^hthe glory, ⁱthe covenants, ^jthe giving of the law, ^kthe worship, and ^lthe promises. 5 To them belong ^mthe patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, ⁿwho is God over all, ^oblessed forever. Amen.

6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham ^pbecause they are his offspring, but ^q“Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but ^rthe children of the promise are counted as offspring. 9 For this is what the promise said: ^s“About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” 10 And not only so, but ^talso when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of ^uhim who calls— 12 she was told, ^v“The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, ^w“Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

14 What shall we say then? ^xIs there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, ^y“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”