1  I am telling the truth in Christ (I am not lying!), for my conscience assures me in the Holy Spirit – 2  I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3  For I could wish that I myself were accursed – cut off from Christ – for the sake of my people, my fellow countrymen, 4  who are Israelites. To them belong the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises. 5  To them belong the patriarchs, and from them, by human descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever! Amen.

6  It is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all those who are descended from Israel are truly Israel, 7  nor are all the children Abraham’s true descendants; rather “ through Isaac will your descendants be counted.” 8  This means it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God; rather, the children of promise are counted as descendants. 9  For this is what the promise declared: “ About a year from now I will return and Sarah will have a son.” 10  Not only that, but when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our ancestor Isaac – 11  even before they were born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose in election would stand, not by works but by his calling) – 12  it was said to her, “ The older will serve the younger,” 13  just as it is written: “ Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

14  What shall we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not! 15  For he says to Moses: “ I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16  So then, it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy. 17  For the scripture says to Pharaoh: “ For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18  So then, God has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden.

19  You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who has ever resisted his will?” 20  But who indeed are you – a mere human being – to talk back to God? Does what is molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21  Has the potter no right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use? 22  But what if God, willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath prepared for destruction? 23  And what if he is willing to make known the wealth of his glory on the objects of mercy that he has prepared beforehand for glory – 24  even us, whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25  As he also says in Hosea:

27  And Isaiah cries out on behalf of Israel, “Though the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved, 28  for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth completely and quickly.” 29  Just as Isaiah predicted,

30  What shall we say then? – that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness obtained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith, 31  but Israel even though pursuing a law of righteousness did not attain it. 32  Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33  just as it is written,