Romans 9
New King James Version

Israel’s Rejection of Christ

9 I^(A)tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,²^(B)that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.³For^(C)I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my^[a]countrymen according to the flesh,⁴who are Israelites,^(D)to whompertainthe adoption,^(E)the glory,^(F)the covenants,^(G)the giving of the law,^(H)the serviceof God,and^(I)the promises;⁵^(J)of whomarethe fathers and from^(K)whom, according to the flesh, Christcame,^(L)who is over all,theeternally blessed God. Amen.

Israel’s Rejection and God’s Purpose^(M)

⁶^(N)But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For^(O)theyarenot all Israel whoareof Israel,⁷^(P)norare theyall children because they are the seed of Abraham; but,^(Q)“In Isaac your seed shall be called.”⁸That is, those whoarethe children of the flesh, thesearenot the children of God; but^(R)the children of the promise are counted as the seed.⁹For thisisthe word of promise:^(S)“At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.”

¹⁰And not onlythis,but when^(T)Rebecca also had conceived by one man,evenby our father Isaac¹¹(forthe childrennot yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of^(U)Him who calls),¹²it was said to her,^(V)“The older shall serve the younger.”¹³As it is written,^(W)“Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”

Israel’s Rejection and God’s Justice

¹⁴What shall we say then?^(X)Is thereunrighteousness with God? Certainly not!¹⁵For He says to Moses,^(Y)“I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”¹⁶So thenit isnot of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.¹⁷For^(Z)the Scripture says to the Pharaoh,^(AA)“For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.”¹⁸Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He^(AB)hardens.

¹⁹You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For^(AC)who has resisted His will?”²⁰But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God?^(AD)Will the thing formed say to him who formedit, “Why have you made me like this?”²¹Does not the^(AE)potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make^(AF)one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

²²Whatif God, wanting to showHiswrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering^(AG)the vessels of wrath^(AH)prepared for destruction,²³and that He might make known^(AI)the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had^(AJ)prepared beforehand for glory,²⁴even us whom He^(AK)called,^(AL)not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

²⁵As He says also in Hosea:

^(AM)“I will call them My people, who were not My people,
And her beloved, who was not beloved.”
²⁶“And^(AN)it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,
‘Youarenot My people,’
There they shall be called sons of the living God.”

²⁷Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:

^(AO)“Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea,
^(AP)The remnant will be saved.
²⁸For^[b]He will finish the work and cutitshort in righteousness,
^(AQ)Because theLordwill make a short work upon the earth.”

²⁹And as Isaiah said before:

^(AR)“Unless theLordof^[c]Sabaoth had left us a seed,
^(AS)We would have become like Sodom,
And we would have been made like Gomorrah.”

Present Condition of Israel

³⁰What shall we say then?^(AT)That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness,^(AU)even the righteousness of faith;³¹but Israel,^(AV)pursuing the law of righteousness,^(AW)has not attained to the law^[d]of righteousness.³²Why? Becausethey didnotseek itby faith, but as it were,^[e]by the works of the law. For^(AX)they stumbled at that stumbling stone.³³As it is written: