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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Romans 9 NLT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/romans/9.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/romans/9-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NLT</a> > Romans 9</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../romans/8.htm" title="Romans 8">◄</a> Romans 9 <a href="../romans/10.htm" title="Romans 10">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/romans/9.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="hdg">God’s Selection of Israel</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters.<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">a</span></a> I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children.<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">b</span></a> God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">c</span></a></p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people! <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,”<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">d</span></a> though Abraham had other children, too. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>For God had promised, “I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">e</span></a></p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>This son was our ancestor Isaac. When he married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins.<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">f</span></a> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes; <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son.”<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">g</span></a> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.”<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">h</span></a></p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not! <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>For God said to Moses,</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1">“I will show mercy to anyone I choose,</p><p class="line2">and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.”<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">i</span></a></p><p class="b"/><p class="m"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, “I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth.”<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">j</span></a> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>And we are among those whom he selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>Concerning the Gentiles, God says in the prophecy of Hosea,</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1">“Those who were not my people,</p><p class="line2">I will now call my people.</p><p class="line1">And I will love those</p><p class="line2">whom I did not love before.”<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">k</span></a></p><p class="b"/><p class="m"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>And,</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1">“Then, at the place where they were told,</p><p class="line2">‘You are not my people,’</p><p class="line1">there they will be called</p><p class="line2">‘children of the living God.’”<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">l</span></a></p><p class="b"/><p class="m"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>And concerning Israel, Isaiah the prophet cried out,</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1">“Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore,</p><p class="line2">only a remnant will be saved.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>For the LORD will carry out his sentence upon the earth</p><p class="line2">quickly and with finality.”<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">m</span></a></p><p class="b"/><p class="m"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>And Isaiah said the same thing in another place:</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1">“If the LORD of Heaven’s Armies</p><p class="line2">had not spared a few of our children,</p><p class="line1">we would have been wiped out like Sodom,</p><p class="line2">destroyed like Gomorrah.”<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">n</span></a></p><p class="hdg">Israel’s Unbelief</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">o</span></a> instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-33.htm"><b>33</b></a></span>God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, </p><p class="b"/><p class="line1">“I am placing a stone in Jerusalem<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">p</span></a> that makes people stumble,</p><p class="line2">a rock that makes them fall.</p><p class="line1">But anyone who trusts in him</p><p class="line2">will never be disgraced.”<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">q</span></a></p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn">a</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">9:3 </span><span class="ft">Greek </span><span class="it">my brothers.</span><br><span class="fn">b</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">9:4 </span><span class="ft">Greek </span><span class="it">chosen for sonship.</span><br><span class="fn">c</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">9:5 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">May God, the one who rules over everything, be praised forever. Amen.</span><br><span class="fn">d</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">9:7 </span><span class="ft">Gen 21:12.</span><br><span class="fn">e</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">9:9 </span><span class="ft">Gen 18:10, 14.</span><br><span class="fn">f</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">9:10 </span><span class="ft">Greek </span><span class="it">she conceived children through this one man.</span><br><span class="fn">g</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">9:12 </span><span class="ft">Gen 25:23.</span><br><span class="fn">h</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">9:13 </span><span class="ft">Mal 1:2-3.</span><br><span class="fn">i</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">9:15 </span><span class="ft">Exod 33:19.</span><br><span class="fn">j</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">9:17 </span><span class="ft">Exod 9:16 (Greek version).</span><br><span class="fn">k</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">9:25 </span><span class="ft">Hos 2:23.</span><br><span class="fn">l</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">9:26 </span><span class="ft">Greek </span><span class="it">sons of the living God.</span><span class="ft"> Hos 1:10.</span><br><span class="fn">m</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">9:27-28 </span><span class="ft">Isa 10:22-23 (Greek version).</span><br><span class="fn">n</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">9:29 </span><span class="ft">Isa 1:9 (Greek version).</span><br><span class="fn">o</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">9:32 </span><span class="ft">Greek </span><span class="it">by works.</span><br><span class="fn">p</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">9:33a </span><span class="ft">Greek </span><span class="it">in Zion.</span><br><span class="fn">q</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">9:33b </span><span class="ft">Isa 8:14; 28:16 (Greek version).</span><br></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><em>Holy Bible</em>, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. 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