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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</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/bsb/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="/bmc//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="/romans/">Romans</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 align="center" id="jump2"><a href="/niv/romans/9.htm">NIV</a> • <a href="/nlt/romans/9.htm">NLT</a> • <a href="/esv/romans/9.htm">ESV</a> • <a href="/kjv/romans/9.htm">KJV</a> • <a href="/nkjv/romans/9.htm">NKJ</a> • <a href="/nasb/romans/9.htm">NAS</a></div><br /><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="1%" valign="top">BSB</td><td width="99%" valign="top" align="right"><a href="/parallel/romans/9.htm" style="font-weight:normal" title="Parallel Chapters">Parallel Chapters ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><A name="2"></a><p class="hdg">Paul’s Concern for the Jews<p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>I speak the truth in Christ; I am not lying, as confirmed by my conscience in the Holy Spirit. <A name="3"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>I have deep sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. <A name="4"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my own flesh and blood, <A name="5"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory and the covenants; theirs the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises. <A name="6"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them proceeds the human descent of Christ, who is God over all, forever worthy of praise!<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">a</a></span> Amen. <A name="7"></a><p class="hdg">God’s Sovereign Choice<br /><span class="cross">(<a href ="../genesis/25.htm#19">Genesis 25:19–28</a>; <a href ="../malachi/1.htm">Malachi 1:1–5</a>)</span><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>It is not as though God’s word has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. <A name="8"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>Nor because they are Abraham’s descendants are they all his children. On the contrary, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.”<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">b</a></span> <A name="9"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>So it is not the children of the flesh who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as offspring. <A name="10"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>For this is what the promise stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">c</a></span> <A name="11"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>Not only that, but Rebecca’s children were conceived by one man, our father Isaac. <A name="12"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God’s plan of election might stand, <A name="13"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>not by works but by Him who calls, she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">d</a></span> <A name="14"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>So it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">e</a></span> <A name="15"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Certainly not! <A name="16"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>For He says to Moses: <p class="indent1stline">“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, <p class="indent2"> and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">f</a></span> <A name="17"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>So then, it does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. <A name="18"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">g</a></span> <A name="19"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden. <A name="20"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>One of you will say to me, “Then why does God still find fault? For who can resist His will?” <A name="21"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?”<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">h</a></span> <A name="22"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special occasions and another for common use? <A name="23"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>What if God, intending to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the vessels of His wrath, prepared for destruction? <A name="24"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>What if He did this to make the riches of His glory known to the vessels of His mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory— <A name="25"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>including us, whom He has called not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles? <A name="26"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>As He says in Hosea: <p class="indent1stline">“I will call them ‘My People’ who are not My people, <p class="indent2"> and I will call her ‘My Beloved’ who is not My beloved,”<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">i</a></span> <A name="27"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>and, <p class="indent1stline">“It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, <p class="indent2">‘You are not My people,’ <p class="indent1"> they will be called <p class="indent2">‘sons of the living God.’<span class="thinq"> </span>”<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">j</a></span> <A name="28"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: <p class="indent1stline">“Though the number of the Israelites is like the sand of the sea, <p class="indent2"> only the remnant will be saved. <A name="29"></a><p class="indent1"><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>For the Lord will carry out His sentence on the earth <p class="indent2"> thoroughly and decisively.”<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">k</a></span> <A name="30"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>It is just as Isaiah foretold: <p class="indent1stline">“Unless the Lord of Hosts had left us descendants, <p class="indent2"> we would have become like Sodom, <p class="indent2"> we would have resembled Gomorrah.”<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">l</a></span> <A name="31"></a><p class="hdg">Israel’s Unbelief<p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>What then will we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; <A name="32"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. <A name="33"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>Why not? Because their pursuit was not by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-33.htm"><b>33</b></a></span>as it is written: <p class="indent1stline">“See, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling <p class="indent2"> and a rock of offense;<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">m</a></span> <p class="indent1"> and the one who believes in Him <p class="indent2"> will never be put to shame.”<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">n</a></span> </p><A name="fn"></a><div id="fnlink"><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:</b><br><br><span class="fnverse">5</span> <span class="footnotesbot">a</span> Or <i>forever blessed</i><span class="thin"> </span><br><span class="fnverse">7</span> <span class="footnotesbot">b</span> <a href="../genesis/21.htm#12">Genesis 21:12</a><br><span class="fnverse">9</span> <span class="footnotesbot">c</span> <a href="../genesis/18.htm#14">Genesis 18:14</a><br><span class="fnverse">12</span> <span class="footnotesbot">d</span> <a href="../genesis/25.htm#23">Genesis 25:23</a><br><span class="fnverse">13</span> <span class="footnotesbot">e</span> <a href="../malachi/1.htm#2">Malachi 1:2–3</a><br><span class="fnverse">15</span> <span class="footnotesbot">f</span> <a href="../exodus/33.htm#19">Exodus 33:19</a><br><span class="fnverse">17</span> <span class="footnotesbot">g</span> <a href="../exodus/9.htm#16">Exodus 9:16</a> (see also LXX)<br><span class="fnverse">20</span> <span class="footnotesbot">h</span> <a href="../isaiah/29.htm#16">Isaiah 29:16</a>; <a href="../isaiah/45.htm#9">Isaiah 45:9</a><br><span class="fnverse">25</span> <span class="footnotesbot">i</span> <a href="../hosea/2.htm#23">Hosea 2:23</a><br><span class="fnverse">26</span> <span class="footnotesbot">j</span> <a href="../hosea/1.htm#10">Hosea 1:10</a><br><span class="fnverse">28</span> <span class="footnotesbot">k</span> <a href="../isaiah/10.htm#22">Isaiah 10:22–23</a> (see also LXX)<br><span class="fnverse">29</span> <span class="footnotesbot">l</span> <a href="../isaiah/1.htm#9">Isaiah 1:9</a> (see also LXX)<br><span class="fnverse">33</span> <span class="footnotesbot">m</span> <a href="../isaiah/8.htm#14">Isaiah 8:14</a><br><span class="fnverse">33</span> <span class="footnotesbot">n</span> <a href="../isaiah/28.htm#16">Isaiah 28:16</a> (see also LXX)<br><br /></div><br /></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Berean Bible (<a href=http://berean.bible>www.Berean.Bible</a>) <a href=http://bereanbible.com>Berean Study Bible (BSB)</a> © 2016, 2020 by <a href=http://biblehub.com>Bible Hub</a> and <a href=http://berean.bible>Berean.Bible</a>. 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