God and the Jewish People

9 I am telling you the truth ·as a follower of Christ [or with Christ as my witness; ^Lin Christ]; I do not lie. My conscience is ·ruled by [or guided by] the Holy Spirit, and it ·tells [testifies to] me I am not lying. ² I have great sorrow and ·always feel much sadness [unceasing/constant anguish]. ³ [^LFor] I would even wish that I were cursed and cut off from ·Christ [or the Messiah] ·if that would help [for the sake of] my Jewish brothers and sisters, my ·people [countrymen; ^Lrelatives according to the flesh]. ⁴ They are the people of Israel, God’s ·chosen [^Ladopted] children. They ·have seen [or have] the glory of God, and they have the ·agreements that God made between himself and his people [^Lcovenants]. God gave them the law of Moses and the ·right way of worship [or temple worship] and his promises. ⁵ ·They are the descendants of our great ancestors [^LThey have the fathers/patriarchs], and ·they are the earthly family into which Christ was born [or from their descendants the Messiah came], ·who is God over all. Praise him forever [or May God, who is over all, be praised forever]! Amen.

⁶ It is not that ·God failed to keep his promise to them [^LGod’s word failed]. ·But only some of the people of Israel are truly God’s people [^LBecause not all those (descended) from Israel are Israel], ⁷ ·and only some of Abraham’s descendants are true children of Abraham [^Lnor are all of Abraham’s seed/descendants (true) children]. But God said to Abraham: “·The descendants I promised you will be from Isaac [or Through Isaac your descendants will carry on your name; Gen. 21:12].” ⁸ This means that ·not all of Abraham’s descendants [^Lit is not the children of the flesh who] are God’s true children. [^LBut; Rather] ·Abraham’s true children [^LThose counted as Abraham’s descendants/seed] are ·those who become God’s children because of the promise God made to Abraham [^Lthe children of the promise]. ⁹ God’s promise to Abraham was this: “·At the right time [At the appointed time; or About this time next year] I will return, and Sarah will have a son [Gen. 18:10, 14].” ¹⁰ And that is not all. Rebekah’s sons ·had the same father, [or were conceived at the same time by] our ·father [ancestor; forefather] Isaac. But before the two boys were born, God told Rebekah, “The older will serve the younger [Gen. 25:23].” This was before the boys had done anything good or bad. God said this so that ·the one chosen would be chosen because of God’s own plan [or the plan/purpose God had chosen would continue/prevail]. ·Jacob was chosen [or God’s plan continued] not because of ·anything Jacob did [^Lworks], but because ·he was the one God wanted to call [or of the One who called him]. ¹³ As the Scripture says, “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau [Mal. 1:2–3].”

¹⁴ So what should we say about this? Is God ·unfair [unjust]? ·In no way [Absolutely not!; May it never be!; 7:13]. ¹⁵ [^LFor] God said to Moses, “I will show ·kindness [mercy] to anyone to whom I want to show ·kindness [mercy], and I will show ·compassion [pity] to anyone to whom I want to show ·compassion [pity; Ex. 33:19].” ¹⁶ So God’s choice does not depend on ·what people want [human desire; or human will] or ·try to do [effort; exertion], but on God’s ·mercy [kindness]. ¹⁷ The Scripture says to ·the king of Egypt [^LPharaoh]: “I ·made you king [^Lraised you up] for this reason: to show my power in you so that my name will be ·talked about [proclaimed] in all the earth [Ex. 9:16].” ¹⁸ So God shows mercy where he wants to show mercy, and he ·makes stubborn [hardens] the people he wants to ·make stubborn [harden].

¹⁹ So one of you will ask me: “Then why does God ·blame us for our sins [^Lblame; find fault]? Who can ·fight [resist; oppose] his will?” ²⁰ ·You are only human, and human beings have no right to question God [^LWho are you, a mere human being, to talk back to God?]. ·An object [or A thing molded] should not ask the ·person who made it [molder], “Why did you make me like this? [Is. 29:16; 45:9]” ²¹ ·The potter can make anything he wants to make [^LDoesn’t the potter have authority over the clay?]. He can use the same ·clay [^Llump] to make one ·thing [vessel; pot] for ·special [honorable] use and another thing for ·daily [common; dishonorable] use.

²² ·It is the same way with God. He [^LWhat if he…?] wanted to show his ·anger [wrath] and to let people see his power. But he ·patiently stayed with [endured with great patience] those ·people he was angry with [^Lvessels/objects of wrath]—people who were ·made ready [prepared] to be destroyed. ²³ He waited with patience so that he could make known ·his rich glory [the riches of his glory] to the ·people who receive his [^Lvessels/objects of] mercy. He has prepared these people ·to have his glory [to experience his glory; ^Lfor glory], ²⁴ and we are those people whom God called. He called us not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles. ²⁵ As ·the Scripture [or God] says in Hosea:

²⁷ And Isaiah cries out about Israel:

²⁹ It is as Isaiah said:

³⁰ ·So what does all this mean [^LWhat, then, shall we say]? Those who are Gentiles ·were not trying to make themselves right with God [^Ldid not pursue righteousness], but they ·were made right with God [obtained righteousness] ·because of their faith [^L—that is, a righteousness that is by faith]. ³¹ The people of Israel tried to ·follow [pursue] a law ·to make themselves right with God [^Lof righteousness]. But they did not ·succeed [reach/attain it], ³² [^LWhy?] because they tried to make themselves right by ·the things they did [works] instead of ·trusting in God to make them right [^Lby faith]. They stumbled over the stone that causes people to stumble. ³³ As it is written in the Scripture: