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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 9 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><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="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">CEV</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">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s1">God's Choice of Israel</h3><p class="par"><span class="v45_9_1"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.1" class="v45_9_1">1</span>I am a follower of Christ, and the Holy Spirit is a witness to my conscience. So I tell the truth and I am not lying when I say </span><span class="v45_9_2"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.2" class="v45_9_2">2</span>my heart is broken and I am in great sorrow. </span><span class="v45_9_3"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.3" class="v45_9_3">3</span>I would gladly be placed under God's curse and be separated from Christ for the good of my own people. </span><span class="v45_9_4"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.4" class="v45_9_4">4</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.9.4!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> They are the descendants of Israel, and they are also God's chosen people. God showed them his glory. He made agreements with them and gave them his Law. The temple is theirs and so are the promises that God made to them. </span><span class="v45_9_5"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.5" class="v45_9_5">5</span>They have those famous ancestors, who were also the ancestors of the Christ.<a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.9.5!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> I pray that God, who rules over all, will be praised forever!<a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.9.5!f.2" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> Amen.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v45_9_6"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.6" class="v45_9_6">6</span>It cannot be said that God broke his promise. After all, not all of the people of Israel are the true people of God. </span><span class="v45_9_7"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.7-Rom.9.8" class="v45_9_7">7-8</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.9.7-Rom.9.8!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> In fact, when God made the promise to Abraham, he meant only Abraham's descendants by his son Isaac. God was talking only about Isaac when he promised </span><span class="v45_9_9"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.9" class="v45_9_9">9</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.9.9!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Sarah, “At this time next year I will return, and you will already have a son.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v45_9_10"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.10" class="v45_9_10">10</span>Don't forget what happened to the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah. </span><span class="v45_9_11"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.11-Rom.9.12" class="v45_9_11">11-12</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.9.11-Rom.9.12!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Even before they were born or had done anything good or bad, the Lord told Rebekah that her older son would serve the younger one. The Lord said this to show he makes his own choices and it wasn't because of anything either of them had done. </span><span class="v45_9_13"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.13" class="v45_9_13">13</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.9.13!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> That's why the Scriptures say that the Lord liked Jacob more than Esau.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v45_9_14"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.14" class="v45_9_14">14</span>Are we saying God is unfair? Certainly not! </span><span class="v45_9_15"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.15" class="v45_9_15">15</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.9.15!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> The Lord told Moses that he has pity and mercy on anyone he wants to. </span><span class="v45_9_16"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.16" class="v45_9_16">16</span>Everything then depends on God's mercy and not on what people want or do. </span><span class="v45_9_17"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.17" class="v45_9_17">17</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.9.17!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> In the Scriptures the Lord says to the king of Egypt, “I let you become king, so that I could show you my power and be praised by all people on earth.” </span><span class="v45_9_18"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.18" class="v45_9_18">18</span>Everything depends on what God decides to do, and he can either have pity on people or make them stubborn.</span></p><h3 class="s1">God's Anger and Mercy</h3><p class="par"><span class="v45_9_19"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.19" class="v45_9_19">19</span>Someone may ask, “How can God blame us, if he makes us behave in the way he wants us to?” </span><span class="v45_9_20"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.20" class="v45_9_20">20</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.9.20!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> But, my friend, I ask, “Who do you think you are to question God? Does the clay have the right to ask the potter why he shaped it the way he did? </span><span class="v45_9_21"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.21" class="v45_9_21">21</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.9.21!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Doesn't a potter have the right to make a fancy bowl and a plain bowl out of the same lump of clay?”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v45_9_22"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.22" class="v45_9_22">22</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.9.22!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> God wanted to show his anger and reveal his power against everyone who deserved to be destroyed. But instead, he patiently put up with them. </span><span class="v45_9_23"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.23" class="v45_9_23">23</span>He did this by showing how glorious he is when he has pity on the people he has chosen to share in his glory. </span><span class="v45_9_24"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.24" class="v45_9_24">24</span>Whether Jews or Gentiles, we are those chosen ones, </span><span class="v45_9_25"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.25" class="v45_9_25">25</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.9.25!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> just as the Lord says in the book of Hosea,</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_9_25">“Although they are not</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_9_25">my people,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_9_25">I will make them my people.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_9_25">I will treat with love</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_9_25">those nations</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_9_25">that have never been loved.</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_9_26"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.26" class="v45_9_26">26</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.9.26!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> “Once they were told,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_9_26">‘You are not my people.’</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_9_26">But in that very place</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_9_26">they will be called</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_9_26">children of the living God.”</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="par"><span class="v45_9_27"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.27" class="v45_9_27">27</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.9.27!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> And this is what the prophet Isaiah said about the people of Israel,</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_9_27">“The people of Israel</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_9_27">are as many</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_9_27">as the grains of sand</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_9_27">along the beach.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_9_27">But only a few who are left</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_9_27">will be saved.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_9_28"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.28" class="v45_9_28">28</span>The Lord will be quick</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_9_28">and sure to do on earth</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_9_28">what he has warned</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_9_28">he will do.”</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="par"><span class="v45_9_29"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.29" class="v45_9_29">29</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.9.29!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Isaiah also said,</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_9_29">“If the Lord All-Powerful</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_9_29">had not spared some</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_9_29">of our descendants,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_9_29">we would have been destroyed</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_9_29">like the cities of Sodom</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_9_29">and Gomorrah.”<a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.9.29!f.2" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span></p><h3 class="s1">Israel and the Good News</h3><p class="par"><span class="v45_9_30"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.30" class="v45_9_30">30</span>What does all of this mean? It means that the Gentiles were not trying to be acceptable to God, but they found that he would accept them if they had faith. </span><span class="v45_9_31"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.31-Rom.9.32" class="v45_9_31">31-32</span>It also means that the people of Israel were not acceptable to God. And why not? It was because they were trying<a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.9.31-Rom.9.32!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> to be acceptable by obeying the Law instead of by having faith in God. The people of Israel fell over the stone that makes people stumble, </span><span class="v45_9_33"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.9.33" class="v45_9_33">33</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.9.33!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> just as God says in the Scriptures,</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_9_33">“Look! I am placing in Zion</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_9_33">a stone to make people</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_9_33">stumble and fall.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_9_33">But those who have faith</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_9_33">in that one will never</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_9_33">be disappointed.”</span></p></div> </div> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">9.5 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Christ: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Or “Messiah.”</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">9.5 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Christ. I pray that God, who rules over all, will be praised forever: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Or “Christ, who rules over all. I pray that God will be praised forever” or “Christ. And I pray that Christ, who is God and rules over all, will be praised forever.”</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">9.29 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Sodom and Gomorrah: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">During the time of Abraham the Lord destroyed these two cities because their people were so sinful.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">9.31,32 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">because they were trying: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Or “while they were trying” or “even though they were trying.”</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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