Romans 9
1 [Now I would like to discuss the fact that most of my fellow Israelites have rejected Christ]. Because of my relationship with Christ, I say completely truthfully [what I will now tell you]. I am not lying [DOU]! My conscience confirms what I [say] because the Holy Spirit [controls it].
I am speaking the truth in Christ; I am not lying. My conscience offers testimony to me in the Holy Spirit,
2 [I tell you that] I grieve very greatly and deeply [DOU] [about my fellow Israelites].
because the sadness within me is great, and there is a continuous sorrow in my heart.
3 I personally would be willing to let [God] curse me [and, as a result, be separated] from Christ, [if that would] help my fellow Israelites, my natural kinsmen, [to believe in Christ].
For I was desiring that I myself might be anathemized from Christ, for the sake of my brothers, who are my kinsmen according to the flesh.
4 We [Jews] are [Israelites, God’s chosen] descendants of [Jacob]. [God has always considered] us as his children [MET]. It was to our ancestors [that he used to appear] gloriously [while they were in the desert]. It was with them that [God made] covenants [several times]. It was to them [that God] gave the laws [at Sinai Mountain]. They were the ones [to whom God showed how they should] worship him. They were the ones [to whom God] promised many things, [especially that the Messiah would come from their race].
These are the Israelites, to whom belongs adoption as sons, and the glory and the testament, and the giving and following of the law, and the promises.
5 It was our ancestors, [Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whom God chose to found our nation]. And, [most importantly], it was from us Israelites that the Messiah received his human nature. [Nevertheless, most of my fellow Israelites have rejected Christ], who is the one who controls all things! He is God, the one who is worthy that we praise him forever! This is true! (OR, Amen!) (aiōn g165)
Theirs are the fathers, and from them, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is over all things, blessed God, for all eternity. Amen. (aiōn g165)
6 [God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that their descendants would all inherit his blessings]. But [although most of my fellow Israelites have rejected Christ], that does not [prove] that God has failed [to do] the things that he promised, because it is not all who are descended from Jacob and who [call themselves the people of] Israel whom [God considers] to be truly his people.
But it is not that the Word of God has perished. For not all those who are Israelites are of Israel.
7 And it is also not all of Abraham’s natural descendants that [God considers] to be his people. Instead, [God considers only some of them to be Abraham’s children]. [This agrees with what God told Abraham]: “It is Isaac, [not any of your(sg) other sons], whom [I] will consider [to be the true father of] your descendants.”
And not all sons are the offspring of Abraham: “For your offspring will be invoked in Isaac.”
8 That means that it is not all the natural-born descendants [of Abraham] whom God [considers as] his children. Instead, it is those who [believed what God] promised whom [he] considers to be his children.
In other words, those who are the sons of God are not those who are sons of the flesh, but those who are sons of the Promise; these are considered to be the offspring.
9 [You know that what God] promised [to Abraham] was this: “About this time [next year] Sarah [your wife] will bear a son [as a result of my enabling] [MTY] [her to do so].” [So Abraham knew that it was not through Ishmael, the son that he already had, that God would fulfill what he had promised him] (OR, [that his true descendants would come]).
For the word of promise is this: “I will return at the proper time. And there shall be a son for Sarah.”
10 And not only then did God show [that he did not determine who would be his true children according to who their ancestors were. He showed it again] when Rebecca conceived [twins] by our ancestor Isaac.
And she was not alone. For Rebecca also, having conceived by Isaac our father, from one act,
11 Before [the twins, Jacob and Esau], were born, when neither one had yet done anything good or bad, [God] said to Rebecca [about the twins she was to bear], “The older one shall later serve the younger one, [contrary to normal custom].” [God said this] in order that [we] might [clearly] understand that what he purposed [for people] was according to what he himself determined. That is, people’s [eternal destiny] does not depend on what they do. Instead, their destiny depends on [God], the one who chooses them.
when the children had not yet been born, and had not yet done anything good or bad (such that the purpose of God might be based on their choice),
and not because of deeds, but because of a calling, it was said to her: “The elder shall serve the younger.”
13 And [this teaching is] ([supported/shown to be true]) [by] what is written [in the Scriptures] {what [a prophet] recorded} [that God said]: “I favored Jacob, [the younger son]. I did not favor [HYP] Esau, [the older son].”
So also it was written: “I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.”
14 [Someone] might say, “(Is God unjust [by choosing the ones he wants to choose?/I think] that God is unjust [by choosing the ones he wants to choose!])” [RHQ] [I would reply], “[He is] certainly not [unjust]!”
What should we say next? Is there unfairness with God? Let it not be so!
15 God told Moses, “I will pity and help anyone whom I choose [DOU]!”
For to Moses he says: “I will pity whomever I pity. And I will offer mercy to whomever I will pity.”
16 So [God chooses people], not because they want [God to choose them] or because they try hard [to do things so that he] will [accept them]. Instead he chooses people because he himself has mercy [on undeserving ones].
Therefore, it is not based on those who choose, nor on those who excel, but on God who takes pity.
17 [Moses] recorded [PRS] [that God had told] Pharaoh, “This is why I gave you [(sg)] authority [MTY]: It was in order that I might show [by how I oppose] you [how exceedingly] powerful I am, and in order that people everywhere [HYP] would hear about me [MTY].”
For Scripture says to the Pharaoh: “I have raised you up for this purpose, so that I may reveal my power by you, and so that my name may be announced to all the earth.”
18 So [we conclude that God] kindly helps the ones he wants to act kindly towards. But he makes stubborn the ones [such as Pharaoh] that he wants [to make stubborn].
Therefore, he takes pity on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
19 [One of] you may [object to this by] saying to me, “[Because God determines ahead of time everything that people do, that also implies that he wants us to do everything that we do]. (No one has resisted what God has willed!/Who has resisted what God has willed?) [RHQ] Therefore, (it would not be right that God would still condemn [a person for having sinned]!/why does God still condemn [a person for having sinned]?) [RHQ]”
And so, you would say to me: “Then why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”
20 [I would reply that since] you [(sg)] are [just a] human being, (you do not [have any right at all to] criticize God!/[who are you to] say that what God does is wrong?) [RHQ] [As a potter is the one who creates a clay pot, God is the one who created you]. (A clay pot [MET] certainly would not [have a right to criticize] the potter by asking [PRS], “Why did you [(sg)] make me this way?”/Would a clay pot [have a right to criticize] the potter by asking [PRS], “Why did you [(sg)] make me this way?”) [RHQ]
O man, who are you to question God? How can the thing that has been formed say to the One who formed him: “Why have you made me this way?”
21 Instead, (the potter certainly has the right to [take] some clay and from one lump [of clay] make one pot that people will honor and [make another] one for ordinary purposes [MET]./does not a potter have the right to [take] some clay and from one lump [of clay] make one pot that people will honor and [make another] pot for ordinary purposes?) [MET, RHQ] [Similarly, God has the right to carry out what he purposes for people].
And does not the potter have the authority over the clay to make, from the same material, indeed, one vessel unto honor, yet truly another unto disgrace?
22 Although God desires to show that he is angry [about sin], and [although he desires to] make clear that he can powerfully [punish people who have sinned], he tolerated very patiently the people [MET] who caused him to be angry and who deserved to be destroyed (OR, who were made to be destroyed).
What if God, wanting to reveal his wrath and to make his power known, endured, with much patience, vessels deserving wrath, fit to be destroyed,
23 [God has been patient] in order that he might make clear how very wonderfully [he acts toward those] [MET] whom he intended to act mercifully towards and whom he prepared ahead of time in order that they might [live] gloriously [in heaven].
so that he might reveal the wealth of his glory, within these vessels of mercy, which he has prepared unto glory?
24 That means us whom he chose—not only [us] Jews but also non-Jews.
And so it is with those of us whom he has also called, not only from among the Jews, but even from among the Gentiles,
25 [These words that] Hosea wrote [MTY] that [God] said also (show that God has the right/[support God’s right]) [to choose from among both Jews and non-Jews] [MTY]: I will declare that many people who were not my people are now my people. I will declare that many people whom I did not love [HYP] before, I love now.
just as he says in Hosea: “I will call those who were not my people, ‘my people,’ and she who was not beloved, ‘beloved,’ and she who had not obtained mercy, ‘one who has obtained mercy.’
26 And [another prophet wrote]: What will happen is that in the places where [God] told them before, “You are not my people,” in those same places [people] will declare truthfully that they are children of God, who is completely powerful.
And this shall be: in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they shall be called the sons of the living God.”
27 Isaiah also exclaimed concerning the Israelites: Even though the Israelites are [so many that no one can count them, like] sand [particles on the beach beside] the ocean, [only] a small part of them will be saved {[God] will save [only] a small part of them},
And Isaiah cried out on behalf of Israel: “When the number of the sons of Israel is like the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.
28 because the Lord will punish completely and speedily the [people who live on] this earth, as he said that he would do.
For he shall complete his word, while abbreviating it out of equity. For the Lord shall accomplish a brief word upon the earth.”
29 [Also, we can understand from what the prophet] Isaiah said [that God would not save] anyone if he did not show mercy: If the Lord, who controls everything in heaven, had not mercifully allowed some of our descendants to survive, we would have become like the people of [the cities of] Sodom and Gomorrah, who were [SIM, DOU] completely destroyed.
And it is just as Isaiah predicted: “Unless the Lord of hosts had bequeathed offspring, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made similar to Gomorrah.”
30 We must conclude this: [RHQ] Although non-Jews did not search out [a way by which] God would erase the record of their sins, they actually found that way because they trusted [in what Christ did for them].
What should we say next? That the Gentiles who did not follow justice have attained justice, even the justice that is of faith.
31 But although [the people of] Israel sought a basis [by which God would] erase the record of their sins, they did not succeed in [fulfilling the true purpose of the] laws [that God gave to Moses].
Yet truly, Israel, though following the law of justice, has not arrived at the law of justice.
32 The reason [RHQ] [that they did not succeed] is that they did not trust that [God would provide a way to save them]. Instead, they were trying to do certain things [in order that God would accept them. Because they did not expect the Messiah to die, the Israelites] felt disgusted about [Jesus’ death, which is like] the stone [MET] on which people stumble.
Why is this? Because they did not seek it from faith, but as if it were from works. For they stumbled over a stumbling block,
33 This is what [a prophet] predicted when he wrote these words that [God said about the Messiah]: Listen! I am placing in Israel [MTY] [one who is like] a stone [MET] on which people will stumble. What he does will offend people [DOU]. Nevertheless, those who believe in him will not be disappointed.
just as it was written: “Behold, I am placing a stumbling block in Zion, and a rock of scandal. But whoever believes in him shall not be confounded.”
