Romans 9:1-29

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— 2that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3For ^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. 4They are ^fIsraelites, and to them belong ^gthe adoption, ^hthe glory, ⁱthe covenants, ^jthe giving of the law, ^kthe worship, and ^lthe promises. 5To them belong ^mthe patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, ⁿwho is God over all, ^oblessed forever. Amen.

6But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7and not all are children of Abraham ^pbecause they are his offspring, but ^q“Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8This 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. 9For this is what the promise said: ^s“About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” 10And not only so, but ^talso when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11though 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— 12she was told, ^v“The older will serve the younger.” 13As it is written, ^w“Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

14What shall we say then? ^xIs there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15For he says to Moses, ^y“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16So then it depends not on human will or exertion, ▼

▼Greek  not of him who wills or runs

but on God, who has mercy. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ^aa“For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

19You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For ^abwho can resist his will?” 20But who are you, O man, ^acto answer back to God? ^adWill what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 ^aeHas the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump ^afone vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience ^agvessels of wrath ^ahprepared for destruction, 23in order to make known ^aithe riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he ^ajhas prepared beforehand for glory— 24even us whom he ^akhas called, ^alnot from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25As indeed he says in Hosea,

^am“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
26 ^an“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ^ao‘sons of the living God.’”
27And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: ^ap“Though the number of the sons of Israel ▼

▼Or children of Israel

be as the sand of the sea, ^aronly a remnant of them will be saved, 28for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” 29And as Isaiah predicted,

^as, ^at“If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,
^auwe would have been like Sodom
and become like Gomorrah.”