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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//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 11 CEV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><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/11.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/11-1.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="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">CEV</a> > Romans 11</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/10.htm" title="Romans 10">◄</a> Romans 11 <a href="../romans/12.htm" title="Romans 12">►</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">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s1">God Has Not Rejected His People</h3><p class="par"><span class="v45_11_1"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.1" class="v45_11_1">1</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.11.1!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Am I saying that God has turned his back on his people? Certainly not! I am one of the people of Israel, and I myself am a descendant of Abraham from the tribe of Benjamin. </span><span class="v45_11_2"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.2" class="v45_11_2">2</span>God did not turn his back on his chosen people. Don't you remember reading in the Scriptures how Elijah complained to God about the people of Israel? </span><span class="v45_11_3"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.3" class="v45_11_3">3</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.11.3!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> He said, “Lord, they killed your prophets and destroyed your altars. I am the only one left, and now they want to kill me.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v45_11_4"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.4" class="v45_11_4">4</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.11.4!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> But the Lord told Elijah, “I still have 7,000 followers who have not worshiped Baal.” </span><span class="v45_11_5"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.5" class="v45_11_5">5</span>It is the same way now. God treated the people of Israel with undeserved grace, and so a few of them are still his followers. </span><span class="v45_11_6"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.6" class="v45_11_6">6</span>This happened because of God's undeserved kindness and not because of anything they have done. It could not have happened except for God's gift of undeserved grace.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v45_11_7"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.7" class="v45_11_7">7</span>This means that only a chosen few of the people of Israel found what all of them were searching for. And the rest of them were stubborn, </span><span class="v45_11_8"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.8" class="v45_11_8">8</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.11.8!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> just as the Scriptures say,</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_11_8">“God made them so stupid</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_11_8">that their eyes are blind,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_11_8">and their ears</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_11_8">are still deaf.”</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="par"><span class="v45_11_9"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.9" class="v45_11_9">9</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.11.9!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Then David said,</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_11_9">“Turn their meals</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_11_9">into bait for a trap,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_11_9">so that they will stumble</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_11_9">and be given</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_11_9">what they deserve.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_11_10"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.10" class="v45_11_10">10</span>Blindfold their eyes!</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_11_10">Don't let them see.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_11_10">Bend their backs</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_11_10">beneath a burden</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_11_10">that will never be lifted.”</span></p><h3 class="s1">Gentiles Will Be Saved</h3><p class="par"><span class="v45_11_11"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.11" class="v45_11_11">11</span>Do I mean that the people of Israel fell, never to get up again? Certainly not! Their failure made it possible for the Gentiles to be saved, and this will make the people of Israel jealous. </span><span class="v45_11_12"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.12" class="v45_11_12">12</span>But if the rest of the world's people were helped so much by their sin and loss, they will be helped even more by their full return.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v45_11_13"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.13" class="v45_11_13">13</span>I am now speaking to you Gentiles, and as long as I am an apostle to you, I will take pride in my work. </span><span class="v45_11_14"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.14" class="v45_11_14">14</span>I hope in this way to make some of my own people jealous enough to be saved. </span><span class="v45_11_15"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.15" class="v45_11_15">15</span>When Israel rejected God,<a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.11.15!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> the rest of the people in the world were able to turn to him. So when God makes friends with Israel, it will be like bringing the dead back to life. </span><span class="v45_11_16"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.16" class="v45_11_16">16</span>If part of a batch of dough is made holy by being offered to God, then all of the dough is holy. If the roots of a tree are holy, the rest of the tree is holy too.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v45_11_17"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.17" class="v45_11_17">17</span>You Gentiles are like branches of a wild olive tree made to be part of a cultivated olive tree. You have taken the place of some branches that were cut away from it. And because of this, you enjoy the blessings that come from being part of that cultivated tree. </span><span class="v45_11_18"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.18" class="v45_11_18">18</span>But don't think you are better than the branches that were cut away. Just remember you are not supporting the roots of this tree. Its roots are supporting you.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v45_11_19"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.19" class="v45_11_19">19</span>Maybe you think those branches were cut away, so you could be put in their place. </span><span class="v45_11_20"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.20" class="v45_11_20">20</span>That's true enough. But they were cut away because they did not have faith, and you are where you are because you do have faith. So don't be proud, but be afraid. </span><span class="v45_11_21"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.21" class="v45_11_21">21</span>If God cut away those natural branches, couldn't he do the same to you?</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v45_11_22"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.22" class="v45_11_22">22</span>Now you see both how kind and how hard God can be. He was hard on those who fell, but he was kind to you. And he will keep on being kind to you, if you keep on trusting in his kindness. Otherwise, you will be cut away too.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v45_11_23"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.23" class="v45_11_23">23</span>If those other branches will start having faith, they will be made a part of that tree again. God has the power to put them back. </span><span class="v45_11_24"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.24" class="v45_11_24">24</span>After all, it wasn't natural for branches to be cut from a wild olive tree and to be made part of a cultivated olive tree. So it is much more likely that God will join the natural branches back to the cultivated olive tree.</span></p><h3 class="s1">The People of Israel Will Be Brought Back</h3><p class="par"><span class="v45_11_25"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.25" class="v45_11_25">25</span>My friends, I don't want you Gentiles to be too proud of yourselves. So I will explain the mystery of what has happened to the people of Israel. Some of them have become stubborn, and they will stay like that until the complete number of you Gentiles has come in. </span><span class="v45_11_26"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.26" class="v45_11_26">26</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.11.26!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> In this way all of Israel will be saved, as the Scriptures say,</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_11_26">“From Zion someone will come</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_11_26">to rescue us.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_11_26">Then Jacob's descendants</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_11_26">will stop being evil.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_11_27"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.27" class="v45_11_27">27</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.11.27!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> This is what the Lord</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_11_27">has promised to do</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_11_27">when he forgives their sins.”</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="par"><span class="v45_11_28"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.28" class="v45_11_28">28</span>The people of Israel are treated as God's enemies, so the good news can come to you Gentiles. But they are still the chosen ones, and God loves them because of their famous ancestors. </span><span class="v45_11_29"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.29" class="v45_11_29">29</span>God doesn't take back the gifts he has given or disown the people he has chosen.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v45_11_30"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.30" class="v45_11_30">30</span>At one time you Gentiles rejected God. But now Israel has rejected God, and you have been shown mercy. </span><span class="v45_11_31"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.31" class="v45_11_31">31</span>And because of the mercy shown to you, they will also be shown mercy. </span><span class="v45_11_32"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.32" class="v45_11_32">32</span>All people have disobeyed God, and that's why he treats them as prisoners. But he does this, so that he can have mercy on all of them.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v45_11_33"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.33" class="v45_11_33">33</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.11.33!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Who can measure the wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God? Who can understand his decisions or explain what he does?</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_11_34"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.34" class="v45_11_34">34</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.11.34!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> “Has anyone known</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_11_34">the thoughts of the Lord</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_11_34">or given him advice?</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_11_35"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.35" class="v45_11_35">35</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.11.35!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Has anyone loaned</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_11_35">something to the Lord</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_11_35">that must be repaid?”</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="m"><span class="v45_11_36"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.11.36" class="v45_11_36">36</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.11.36!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Everything comes from the Lord. All things were made because of him and will return to him. Praise the Lord forever! Amen.</span></p></div> </div> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">11.15 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">When Israel rejected God: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Or “When Israel was rejected.”</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. 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