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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 NIV</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> <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/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="../">NIV</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 International Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/niv/esv/romans/9.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="sectionhead">Paul’s Anguish Over Israel</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/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 people, those of my own race, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or Messiah, who is over all. God be forever praised! Or Messiah. God who is over all be forever praised!">a</a></sup></span> Amen.</p> <p class="sectionhead">God’s Sovereign Choice</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Gen. 21:12">b</a></sup></span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.” <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Gen. 18:10,14">c</a></sup></span> </p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/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 purpose in election might stand: <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/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="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Gen. 25:23">d</a></sup></span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Mal. 1:2,3">e</a></sup></span> </p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>For he says to Moses,</p><div class="stanza"><p class="line1">“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,</p><p class="line2">and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Exodus 33:19">f</a></sup></span> </p></div> <p class="pcontinued"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>For 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="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Exodus 9:16">g</a></sup></span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/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.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ” <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Isaiah 29:16; 45:9">h</a></sup></span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>As he says in Hosea:</p><div class="stanza"><p class="line1">“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;</p><p class="line2">and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,” <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Hosea 2:23">i</a></sup></span> </p></div> <p class="pcontinued"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>and,</p><div class="stanza"><p class="line1">“In the very place where it was said to them,</p><p class="line2">‘You are not my people,’</p><p class="line2">there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ ” <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Hosea 1:10">j</a></sup></span> </p></div> <p class="pcontinued"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:</p><div class="stanza"><p class="line1">“Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,</p><p class="line2">only the 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</p><p class="line2">his sentence on earth with speed and finality.” <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Isaiah 10:22,23 (see Septuagint)">k</a></sup></span> </p></div> <p class="pcontinued"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>It is just as Isaiah said previously:</p><div class="stanza"><p class="line1">“Unless the Lord Almighty</p><p class="line2">had left us descendants,</p><p class="line1">we would have become like Sodom,</p><p class="line2">we would have been like Gomorrah.” <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Isaiah 1:9">l</a></sup></span> </p></div> <p class="sectionhead">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 then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/9-33.htm"><b>33</b></a></span>As it is written:</p><div class="stanza"><p class="line1">“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble</p><p class="line2">and a rock that makes them fall,</p><p class="line2">and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.” <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Isaiah 8:14; 28:16">m</a></sup></span> </p></div><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><A name="footnotes"></a><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">5</span> <span class="footnotebot">Or <i>Messiah, who is over all. God be forever praised!</i> Or <i>Messiah. God who is over all be forever praised!</i></span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">b</span> <span class="fnverse">7</span> <span class="footnotebot">Gen. 21:12</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">c</span> <span class="fnverse">9</span> <span class="footnotebot">Gen. 18:10,14</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">d</span> <span class="fnverse">12</span> <span class="footnotebot">Gen. 25:23</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">e</span> <span class="fnverse">13</span> <span class="footnotebot">Mal. 1:2,3</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">f</span> <span class="fnverse">15</span> <span class="footnotebot">Exodus 33:19</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">g</span> <span class="fnverse">17</span> <span class="footnotebot">Exodus 9:16</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">h</span> <span class="fnverse">20</span> <span class="footnotebot">Isaiah 29:16; 45:9</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">i</span> <span class="fnverse">25</span> <span class="footnotebot">Hosea 2:23</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">j</span> <span class="fnverse">26</span> <span class="footnotebot">Hosea 1:10</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">k</span> <span class="fnverse">28</span> <span class="footnotebot">Isaiah 10:22,23 (see Septuagint)</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">l</span> <span class="fnverse">29</span> <span class="footnotebot">Isaiah 1:9</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">m</span> <span class="fnverse">33</span> <span class="footnotebot">Isaiah 8:14; 28:16</span><br><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><p class="ntext"><a href="http://niv.scripturetext.com/version.htm">New International Version</a> (NIV)</p><p class="ntext2">Holy Bible, New International Version&reg, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by <a href="http://biblica.com">Biblica, Inc.</a>® Used by permission. 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