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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=1.0; maximum-scale=1.0; user-scalable=0;"/><title>Romans 9 New American Bible</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="/bmcc/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/catholic">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NABRE</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 American Bible Revised Edition</td><td width="1%" valign="top"></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><section id="ch52009" class="chapter"> <h1 class="bksect">V. <span class="ac">Jews and Gentiles in God’s Plan</span><a id="rfn52009001-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn52009001-1">*</a></h1> <h1 id="cn52009" class="cn"></h1> <p class="pf"><span class="hemb">Paul’s Love for Israel.<a id="rfn52009001-2" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn52009001-2">*</a></span> <span id="v52009001" class="ver">1</span>I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie; my conscience joins with the holy Spirit in bearing me witness<a id="ren52009001-a" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009001-a">a</a> <span id="v52009002" class="ver">2</span>that I have great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart. <span id="v52009003" class="ver">3</span>For I could wish that I myself were accursed and separated from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kin according to the flesh.<a id="ren52009003-b" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009003-b">b</a> <span id="v52009004" class="ver">4</span>They are Israelites; theirs the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises;<a id="ren52009004-c" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009004-c">c</a> <span id="v52009005" class="ver">5</span>theirs the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, is the Messiah. God who is over all<a id="rfn52009005-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn52009005-1">*</a> be blessed forever. Amen.<a id="ren52009005-d" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009005-d">d</a></p> <p class="psec"><span class="hemb">God’s Free Choice.</span> <span id="v52009006" class="ver">6</span>But it is not that the word of God has failed. For not all who are of Israel are Israel,<a id="ren52009006-e" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009006-e">e</a> <span id="v52009007" class="ver">7</span>nor are they all children of Abraham because they are his descendants; but “It is through Isaac that descendants shall bear your name.”<a id="ren52009007-f" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009007-f">f</a> <span id="v52009008" class="ver">8</span>This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as descendants.<a id="ren52009008-g" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009008-g">g</a> <span id="v52009009" class="ver">9</span>For this is the wording of the promise, “About this time I shall return and Sarah will have a son.”<a id="ren52009009-h" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009009-h">h</a> <span id="v52009010" class="ver">10</span>And not only that,<a id="ren52009010-i" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009010-i">i</a> but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one husband, our father Isaac<a id="rfn52009010-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn52009010-1">*</a>—<span id="v52009011" class="ver">11</span>before they had yet been born or had done anything, good or bad, in order that God’s elective plan might continue, <span id="v52009012" class="ver">12</span>not by works but by his call—she was told, “The older shall serve the younger.”<a id="ren52009012-j" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009012-j">j</a> <span id="v52009013" class="ver">13</span>As it is written:<a id="ren52009013-k" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009013-k">k</a></p> <div class="senseline"> <p class="slf">“I loved Jacob</p> <p class="sl1l">but hated Esau.”<a id="rfn52009013-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn52009013-1">*</a></p> </div> <p class="pcon"><span id="v52009014" class="ver">14</span><a id="rfn52009014-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn52009014-1">*</a> What then are we to say? Is there injustice on the part of God? Of course not!<a id="ren52009014-l" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009014-l">l</a> <span id="v52009015" class="ver">15</span>For he says to Moses:</p> <div class="senseline"> <p class="slf">“I will show mercy to whom I will,</p> <p class="sl1l">I will take pity on whom I will.”<a id="ren52009015-m" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009015-m">m</a></p> </div> <p class="pcon"><span id="v52009016" class="ver">16</span>So it depends not upon a person’s will or exertion, but upon God, who shows mercy.<a id="ren52009016-n" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009016-n">n</a> <span id="v52009017" class="ver">17</span>For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “This is why I have raised you up, to show my power through you that my name may be proclaimed throughout the earth.”<a id="ren52009017-o" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009017-o">o</a> <span id="v52009018" class="ver">18</span>Consequently, he has mercy upon whom he wills,<a id="ren52009018-p" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009018-p">p</a> and he hardens whom he wills.<a id="rfn52009018-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn52009018-1">*</a></p> <p><span id="v52009019" class="ver">19</span><a id="rfn52009019-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn52009019-1">*</a> You will say to me then, “Why [then] does he still find fault? For who can oppose his will?”<a id="ren52009019-q" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009019-q">q</a> <span id="v52009020" class="ver">20</span>But who indeed are you, a human being, to talk back to God?<a id="ren52009020-r" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009020-r">r</a> Will what is made say to its maker, “Why have you created me so?” <span id="v52009021" class="ver">21</span>Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for a noble purpose and another for an ignoble one? <span id="v52009022" class="ver">22</span>What if God, wishing to show his wrath and make known his power, has endured with much patience the vessels of wrath made for destruction?<a id="ren52009022-s" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009022-s">s</a> <span id="v52009023" class="ver">23</span>This was to make known the riches of his glory to the vessels of mercy, which he has prepared previously for glory, <span id="v52009024" class="ver">24</span>namely, us whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles.</p> <p class="psec"><span class="hemb">Witness of the Prophets.</span> <span id="v52009025" class="ver">25</span>As indeed he says in Hosea:</p> <div class="senseline"> <p class="slf">“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’</p> <p class="sl1">and her who was not beloved<a id="rfn52009025-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn52009025-1">*</a> I will call ‘beloved.’<a id="ren52009025-t" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009025-t">t</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v52009026" class="ver">26</span>And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’</p> <p class="sl1l">there they shall be called children of the living God.”<a id="ren52009026-u" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009026-u">u</a></p> </div> <p class="pcon"><span id="v52009027" class="ver">27</span><a id="ren52009027-v" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009027-v">v</a> And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though the number of the Israelites were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will be saved; <span id="v52009028" class="ver">28</span>for decisively and quickly will the Lord execute sentence upon the earth.” <span id="v52009029" class="ver">29</span>And as Isaiah predicted:</p> <div class="senseline"> <p class="slf">“Unless the Lord of hosts had left us descendants,</p> <p class="sl1">we would have become like Sodom</p> <p class="sl1">and have been made like Gomorrah.”<a id="ren52009029-w" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009029-w">w</a></p> </div> <p class="psec"><span class="hemb">Righteousness Based on Faith.<a id="rfn52009030-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn52009030-1">*</a></span> <span id="v52009030" class="ver">30</span>What then shall we say? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have achieved it, that is, righteousness that comes from faith;<a id="ren52009030-x" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009030-x">x</a> <span id="v52009031" class="ver">31</span>but that Israel, who pursued the law of righteousness, did not attain to that law?<a id="ren52009031-y" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009031-y">y</a> <span id="v52009032" class="ver">32</span>Why not? Because they did it not by faith, but as if it could be done by works.<a id="ren52009032-z" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009032-z">z</a> They stumbled over the stone that causes stumbling,<a id="rfn52009032-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn52009032-1">*</a> <span id="v52009033" class="ver">33</span>as it is written:</p> <div class="senseline"> <p class="slf">“Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion</p> <p class="sl1">that will make people stumble</p> <p class="sl1">and a rock that will make them fall,</p> <p class="sl">and whoever believes in him shall not be put to shame.”<a id="ren52009033-a" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en52009033-a">a</a></p> </div> </section> <br /><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="intro.htm"><span class="ac">Book Introduction</span></a></h1><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="footnotes.htm"><span class="ac">Footnotes</span></a></h1></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the <i>New American Bible, revised edition</i> © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. 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